Ian, Tim,
The dilemma that universities face here is that if you do ANY monitoring
but miss some pornography then it could be argued that you were failing in
your duties. With our traffic volumes of tens of thousands of messages per
week and dozens of systems on campus we could not realistically monotor
anyway.
The accepted view is that we should do no monitoring but ensure that we
have a signed statement from the students agreeing to a code of conduct.
We can then put all the responsibility on their shoulders (or so we
hope!). Naturally, if we find abuse because of odd traffic patterns or
have students asking for help in printing images (yes - it happens!) then
we are obliged to investigate. Prudent but not very ethical I'm afraid.
If you think this unsound please do say.
For schools with under 18 year olds it is much harder - they have a duty of
care and ethics to think about.
Regards
Phil Brady
[log in to unmask] wrote:
>
> In a message dated 23/03/2000 11:56:29 GMT Standard Time,
> [log in to unmask] writes:
>
> "It's my view from a data protection angle that anyone who sends an email via
> the Internet is putting its contents and as much personal info as goes with
> it (email address etc) in the public domain."
>
> Hi Tim
>
> The only problem with this theory is that many employees are not given a
> choice when it comes to e-mail addresses. The norm is that IT department
> chooses it for you and gives you:
>
> [log in to unmask]
>
> The data controller is therefore disclosing your details to the whole world,
> often without your consent, don't you agree?
>
> But in terms of the original thread, I would agree that monitoring all
> e-mails (after informing staff that you will intercept and there's no such
> thing as a private e-mail) is a good idea if you have an e-mail policy to
> enforce.
>
> Ian Buckland
> MD
> Keep IT Legal Ltd
--
Phil Brady
Information Services
University of Wales Bangor
Adeilad Deiniol
Deiniol Rd.
Bangor LL57 2UX
Tel +44 1248 382960 Fax +44 1248 383826
Email [log in to unmask]
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