Download Standard Operating Procedures Lovington Fire Department Subject

Standard Operating Procedures
Lovington Fire Department
Subject
Number
Manual
Effective Date
Internet, Email, and Computer Usage
64.0
SOP
02/09/2012
Pages: 7
Prepared By
Revisions
Updated
Approved
Chief Williams
1
7/1/13
Terrance Lizardo, Fire Chief
64.0 Internet, Email, and Computer Usage
64.1 Policy Statement
64.1.1 This policy is not intended to impose restrictions that are contrary to
the Lovington Fire Department’s established culture of openness,
trust and integrity. The Lovington Fire Department is committed to
protecting the City, Department, it’s employees, partners and the
taxpayer from illegal or damaging actions by individuals, either
knowingly or unknowingly.
64.1.2 The use of Lovington Fire Department technology systems, including
computer equipment, software, operating systems, storage media,
fax machines and all forms of Internet and network access, is for
Department business and for authorized purposes only. Brief and
occasional personal use of the electronic mail system or the Internet
is acceptable as long as it is not excessive or inappropriate, occurs
during personal time (lunch or other breaks), and does not result in
expense to the City of Lovington or the Fire Department.
64.1.3 Use is defined as “excessive” if it interferes with normal job
functions, responsiveness or the ability to perform daily job
activities. Electronic communications should not be used to solicit or
sell products or services that are unrelated to Fire Department
business; distract, intimidate, or harass coworkers or third parties; or
disrupt the workplace.
64.1.4 Use of Fire Department computers, networks and Internet access is a
privilege granted by management and may be revoked at any time
for inappropriate conduct carried out on such systems, including, but
not limited to:
64.1.4.1
Sending chain letters or participating in any way in the
creation or transmission of unsolicited commercial e-mail
(“spam”) that is unrelated to legitimate Fire Department
purposes.
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64.1.4.2
Engaging in private or personal business activities,
including excessive use of instant messaging and chat rooms.
64.1.4.3
Misrepresenting oneself or the City of Lovington or Fire
Department.
64.1.4.4
Violating the laws and regulations of the United States or
any other nation or any state, city, province, or other local
jurisdiction in any way.
64.1.4.5
Engaging in unlawful or malicious activities.
64.1.4.6
Deliberately propagating any virus, worm, Trojan horse,
trap-door program code, or other code or file designed to
disrupt, disable, impair, or otherwise harm either the City of
Lovington or Fire Department networks or systems or those
of any other individual or entity.
64.1.4.7
Using abusive, profane, threatening, racist, sexist, or
otherwise objectionable language in either public or private
messages.
64.1.4.8
Sending, receiving or accessing pornographic material(s).
64.1.4.9
Becoming involved in partisan politics.
64.1.4.10 Causing congestion, disruption, disablement, alteration,
or impairment of City of Lovington or Fire Department
networks or systems.
64.1.4.11 Maintaining, organizing, or participating in non-work
related web logs (“blogs”), web journals, “chat rooms”, or
private/personal/instant messaging.
64.1.4.12 Failing to log off any secure, controlled-access computer
or other form of electronic data system to which you are
assigned, if you leave such computer or system unattended.
64.1.4.13
Using recreational games.
64.1.4.14 Defeating or attempting to defeat security restrictions on
company systems and applications.
64.2 Computer Operations
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64.2.1 All hardware and software considerations or purchases should be
reviewed by the computer operations department systems analyst or
designated department personnel.
64.3 Licensing and Agreements
64.3.1 All licensed software purchased by the Fire Department and all
shareware/freeware software used on a trial basis loaded on
Department computer equipment must be used solely for
Department purposes. All licensing agreements and restrictions
must be strictly adhered to and maintained for the life of the
program use.
64.3.2 Personal software shall not be operated on Department computer
equipment without the approval of the Fire Chief.
64.3.3 Software applications and source code developed by or for the
Lovington Fire Department remains the sole property of the
Lovington Fire Department and should be pre-approved for use by
the Fire Chief.
64.3.4 The Lovington Fire Department has licensed the use of certain
commercial software application programs for business purposes.
Third parties retain the ownership and distribution rights to such
software. No employee may create, use, or distribute copies of such
software that are not in compliance with the license agreements for
the software. Violation of this policy can lead to disciplinary action,
up to and including dismissal.
64.4 Ownership and Access of Electronic Mail, Internet Access, and Computer Files
64.4.1 The Lovington Fire Department owns the rights to all data and files
created on any computer, network, or other information system
used by the Fire Department. Supervisors must be given any and all
passwords, keys, or encryption codes before files may be locked in
any manner. Files stored on external media must be accessible at all
times by supervisors. The Fire Chief has the right to inspect any and
all files stored in private areas of the network or on individual
computers or storage media in order to assure compliance with
policy and state and federal laws.
64.4.2 The Fire Chief also reserves the right to monitor and/or inspect
electronic mail messages (including personal/private/instant
messaging systems) and their content, as well as any and all use of
the Internet and of computer equipment used to create, view, or
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Standard Operating Procedures
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access e-mail and Internet content. Employees must be aware that
the electronic mail messages sent and received using Fire
Department equipment are not private and are subject to viewing,
downloading, inspection, released, and archiving by Fire Department
officials at all times.
64.4.3 No employee may access another employee’s computer, computer
files, or electronic mail messages without prior authorization from
either the employee or the Fire Chief.
64.4.4 All Fire Department computer hardware, software, and files remains
the property and responsibility of the Fire Department until properly
transferred from inventory or properly disposed of in accordance
with City guidelines and must not be removed from its designated
location.
64.5 Confidentiality of Electronic Mail
64.5.1 Electronic mail is subject at all times to monitoring, and the release
of specific information is subject to applicable state and federal laws
and City of Lovington rules, policies, and procedures on
confidentiality.
64.5.2 It is a violation of Department policy for any employee, including
system administrators and supervisors, to access electronic mail and
computer systems files to satisfy curiosity about the affairs of others.
Employees found to have engaged in such activities will be subject to
disciplinary action.
64.6 Electronic Mail Tampering
64.6.1 Electronic mail messages received should not be altered without the
senders permission; nor should electronic mail be altered and
forwarded to another user and/or unauthorized attachments be
placed on another’s electronic mail message.
64.7 System and Network Activities
64.7.1 The following activities are strictly prohibited, with no exceptions:
64.7.1.1
Violations of the rights of any person or company
protected by copyright, trade secret, patent, or other
intellectual property, or similar laws or regulations, including,
but not limited to, the installation or distribution of “pirated”
or other software products that are not appropriately
licensed for use by the Fire Department.
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64.7.1.2
Unauthorized copying of copyrighted material including,
but not limited to, digitization and distribution of
photographs from magazines, books, or other copyrighted
sources, copyrighted music, and the installation of any
copyrighted software for which the Fire Department or the
end user does not have an active license is strictly prohibited.
64.7.1.3
Exporting software, technical information, encryption
software or technology, in violation of international or
regional export control laws, is illegal. The Fire Chief should
be consulted prior to export of any material that is in
question.
64.7.1.4
Introduction of malicious programs into the network or
server.
64.7.1.5
Revealing your account user name(s) and/or password(s)
to others or allowing use of your account by others.
64.7.1.6
Using a Fire Department computing asset to actively
engage in procuring or transmitting material that is in
violation of sexual harassment or hostile workplace laws and
policies.
64.7.1.7
Effecting security breaches or disruptions of network
communication. Security breaches include, but are not
limited to, accessing data of which the employee is not an
intended recipient or logging into a server or account that
the employee is not expressly authorized to access, unless
these duties are within the scope of regular duties.
64.7.1.8
Executing any form of network monitoring which will
intercept data not intended for the employee, unless this
activity is a part of the employee’s normal job or duty.
64.7.1.9
Circumventing user authentication or security of any
host, network, or account.
64.7.1.10 Download and/or installation of any software onto Fire
Department computing assets without permission from the
Fire Chief.
64.8 Internet Browsing
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64.8.1 The Internet is to be used to further the Fire Department’s mission,
to provide effective service of the highest quality to the City’s
customers and staff, and to support other direct job-related
purposes. Internet access is intended for and should be limited to
the operations of the Fire Department.
64.8.2 Supervisors should work with employees to determine the
appropriateness of using the Internet for professional activities and
career development.
64.8.3 Limited personal use of Internet resources is a special exception to
the general prohibition against the personal use of computer
equipment and software. Personal use of the Internet is acceptable
as long as it is not excessive or inappropriate, occurs during personal
time (lunch or other breaks), and does not result in expense to the
City of Lovington or Fire Department. Users should ensure that the
content viewed on the Internet does not violate City of Lovington or
Department policy or local, state, federal, or international law.
64.8.4 Employees are individually liable for any and all damages incurred as
a result of violating Fire Department security policy, copyright, and
licensing agreements.
64.8.5 All City of Lovington and Fire Department policies and procedures
apply to employee’s conduct on the Internet, especially, but not
exclusively relating to: intellectual property, confidentiality,
information dissemination, standards of conduct, misuse of City or
Department resources, anti-harassment, and information/data
security.
64.9 Security
64.9.1 All Fire Department computing assets will have user accounts and
passwords.
64.9.2 Virus protection software will be installed on all computing assets.
64.9.3 All wireless access points connected to the Fire Department network
or computing assets shall be secured with the highest level of
encryption available. The Fire Chief will grant exceptions to this on a
case-by-case basis.
64.10
Personal Electronic Equipment
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64.10.1 The City of Lovington prohibits the use or possession in the
workplace of any type of camera phone, cell phone camera, digital
camera, video camera, or other form of image recording device
without the express permission of the Fire Chief and each person
whose image is recorded. Employees with such devices should leave
them at home unless expressly permitted by the Fire Chief to do
otherwise. This provision does not apply to Department employees
who must use such devices in connection with their positions of
employment.
64.10.2 Employees should not bring personal computers to the workplace or
connect them to Department electronic systems unless expressly
permitted to do so by the Fire Chief. Any employee bringing a
personal computing device, image recording device, or portable
external media onto Fire Department premises thereby gives
permission to the Fire Chief to inspect the personal computing
device, image recording device, or portable external media at any
time with personnel of the Fire Chief’s choosing and to analyze any
files, other data, or data storage media that may be within or
connectable to the personal computing device, image recording
device, or portable external media device in question. Employees
who do not wish such inspections to be done on their personal
computing device, image recording device, or portable external
media should not bring such items to work at all.
64.10.3 Violation of this policy, or failure to permit an inspection of any
device covered by this policy, shall result in disciplinary action, up to
and possibly including immediate termination of employment. In
addition, the employee may face civil and criminal liability from the
City or from individuals whose rights are harmed by the violation.
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