Information Technology Reference
In-Depth Information
table 8.2
Censorship Guidelin
es
Potential 
Result
Action
Comments
Litigation
Block at all times.
These include hate groups, porn sites, or sites
facilitating illegal activity (e.g., child porn).
Time wasters
Block during
working hours.
These include dating services, chat groups,
etc.
same attention. The business benefits for addressing privacy in detail include leg-
islative compliance (e.g., HIPAA Privacy Rule), new business, customer retention,
and increase to goodwill on the balance sheet. Appendix J provides an outline of a
privacy management program.
8.8.4
Censorship
Do employers have a duty to protect their employees from offensive material? Do
they have a right? One person's offensive material is another's art. Can a balance
be struck? In the case of censoring online material in the workplace, the balance
is between providing a positive work environment (i.e., neither oppressive micro-
management nor big brother) and maintaining acceptable levels of productivity. A
simple yet effective censorship framework is to implement appropriate Internet use
software to filter Internet material using the guidelines in Table 8.2.
Establishing stringent guidelines and restricting access to other potential dis-
tractions such as financial sites, travel information, and sports information is prob-
lematic. Many employees may need access to travel sites for business travel. Most
at the executive level access financial sites and sports information; if the CEO says
unblock, unblock.
Enforcing complex filtering of Internet information may be very costly, only
partially effective, or even totally ineffective. Establishing and communicating pol-
icy and implementing a self-policing system may produce higher compliance rates
than automated blocking. For example, on the organization's intranet, publish a list
of the top ten sites visited. There is no need to associate personal information with
access, just the fact that www.<top 10>.com were accessed. Employee awareness
often prompts self-restraint, especially if the top ten are non-business-related.
8.8.5
Censorship IA
2
Perspective
With respect to IA
2
, censorship, or appropriate use enforcement, is a service within
the IA
2
LoS. Supporting mechanisms may include firewalls, appropriate use soft-
ware, and audit logs.
