I had to read parts of a book, “I.T. WARS”, as part of my employee orientation at a new job. The book talks about a whole new culture as being necessary – an eCulture – for a true understanding of appropriate use and security, being that most mistakes involving content, and identity/data breaches, are due to simple human errors and ignorance. It has great chapters on acceptable use, as well as security, risk, content management, project management, and so on. Just Google “IT WARS” – check out a couple links down and read the Business Forum interview with the author David Scott. (Full title is “I.T. WARS: Managing the Business-Technology Weave in the New Millennium”).

Here at work, we had terrible problems with people forwarding inappropriate e-mails (mostly jokes in poor taste, and political stuff). We ran the risk of offending clients, to say the least. We were also vulnerable to viruses. We have a “blended environment” here – mostly due to personal laptops that access our work network from homes (our IT department provides service to these personal laptops too).

Controlling surfing and ensuring that inappropriate content isn’t circulated is extremely important. We are now in the process of making sure our sister agencies and subcontractors are adhering to a secure Acceptable Use policy.