Using the Internet on County Time... Investigation

[Obie]

Let me put this a different way.

Suppose I come over to your house and ask "Hey Bro can I use your puter"Then I log on to my email and accidentally download the mother of all viruses.

This virus is so new that there is no anti-virus protection.It wipes out all of your hard drives and smokes your servers.Going to ever let me use your computer again?

I worked at as place that this happened.Employees surfing was the reason.

We relied on internet access to conduct out business.

[Guest]

Sounds like an Employer problem.

I've worked for the Government for the last 10 years and we get hit all the time with viruses.

We have people/students/public at libraries/etc. using the government servers all the time.

We rely upon the internet to take attendance when the kids come in, do roll throughout the day, communicate throughout the day with other teachers and administrators, etc... yes we rely upon the internet.

We should all know... especially by now... that you don't let strangers on your own computer at work. We all have personal computers... and they are password protected if we do leave our desks.

What is county time and what your duties are may depend on exactly the amount of usage one uses on the computer.

Who is to say that 59 year old getting ready to retire *Joe Slow* has a government job that requires him to use google maps to find locations.

Is it our fault that it takes 59 year old *Joe Slow* 25-30 minutes locating the location on map because they don't understand how to find things just yet....

However 22 year old *Joe Fast* can locate that location in 1 minute and move on to another task which could be 5 minutes of web surfing... and then 15 minutes of more productive work while *Joe Slow* is still looking for that "Map Spot".

Or Say *Joe Slow* is asked to research other states policies on something and the online database is where they need to go. 59 year old Joe Blow takes 3-4 hours researching and then another 2 days writing it out.... because of lack of online research skills and just not knowing exactly where to find things.... but then *Joe Fast* comes along and can get that same job done in 2-3 hours and then move on to even more important tasks while *Joe Slow*.

How much county time should be allotted for each person per project?

Heck... it took the county 4 friggin months to finally set up a new website when they said it would be coming for months. I could have done it their very first day Kenoi took office.

Wonder how much County Money was spent during the 4 months in the "Design" Process of that new site?



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[Obie]

OK Let's try this.

The internet and computers are company tools.If you are using them for non company jobs, you are stealing from the company.

Much like hauling the company trackhoe home to build a swimming pool in your backyard would be.

[Guest]

Agreed

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[Menehune]

Damon - I am not attacking you but have some questions that are a little "edgy". Could you clarify a few things you stated previously and in this posting.

You have said a few times that you do not get paid for blogging but in this post - "I actually get paid to surf the internet from home and blog about it as well." [^]

You described your blog as a personal diary - not a news gathering source for pertinent information. Why then would it be proper for a paid employ to be reading your blog on company time but not "The Diary of Anne Frank"? []

Also the logic that someone who is being paid for 8 hours of work and finishes any task within those 8 hours in some mystical "shorter" time is entitled to slack off and surf the net because another worker is taking longer to complete the same task is ???????????????? [8]

[Guest]

And in some cases... we need to look at who was using what computers for whom and what elected officials for what. 14-15 months is not that long ago.

"...Kenoi said the investigation goes back to January 2008 and includes the potentially illegal use of county computers for political activity, as well as other serious abuses.

"We are not going to tolerate this type of behavior," Kenoi said. "We anticipate action will be taken in the future" that could include employee termination and even prosecution...."

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[Guest]

quote:

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Originally posted by Menehune

Damon - I am not attacking you but have some questions that are a little "edgy". Could you clarify a few things you stated previously and in this posting.

You have said a few times that you do not get paid for blogging but in this post - "I actually get paid to surf the internet from home and blog about it as well." [^]

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Let me clarify if I must. I get paid by my advertisers to post about what I want to post on my blog. It's just a side job and I have to surf the net from at home to find the information I blog about. I've make $120.00 a month right now. If you would like an ad... I will be making $150.00 a month.

I'm not trying to hide anything.

I also work for the Dept. of Education for 20 hours a Week and the Census Bureau for 40 hours a week now for a few more weeks at least.

I blog all day because technology allows me to from anywhere on this island simply by post dating blogs.

The Site I set up for other Bloggers on the Big Island is non maintenance. It's all fed by RSS feeds and very little maintenance. And certainly not intended for profit.

I also maintain a few other blogs and will be starting a few more... but this is just simply a hobby I enjoy.

I don't blog to make money... I blog as a hobby. It's relaxing and enjoyable. Some people like reading a book... I like writing about things.

If someone wants to put an ad on my site... I'll welcome them depending on content.

It won't change the way I blog though.



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[Menehune]

Mahalo - I believe your blog is an excellent advertising vehicle and would consider it; it if I had the need.

[Guest]

quote:

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Originally posted by Menehune

Also the logic that someone who is being paid for 8 hours of work and finishes any task within those 8 hours in some mystical "shorter" time is entitled to slack off and surf the net because another worker is taking longer to complete the same task is ???????????????? [8]

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Why things take for ever to get done... just put ANY OTHER WORD in for "Surf the Net".

Most Government jobs are Unionized which means most employees have a very laid out assignment of what they can and cannot do for what they are paid for.

Most Unions will really grumble if you finish your job and then attempt to go on and do work not assigned to you.

What is a union employee to do when they have finished their union work without getting in trouble with the union? []

To think about 10 years ago...

Companies were trying to figure out how to remove the Solitaire games off of computers!

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[PaulW]

>Think the last time I posted one of those was over 2-3 months ago.

vs

>If someone wants to put an ad on my site... I'll welcome them depending on content.
>It won't change the way I blog though.

So it's just a coincidence that you stopped posting videos of street
brawls and school fights (oh yes you did) when you managed to find
advertisers?

I don't think blogs vs newspapers is a valid comparison. There are
some good blogs out there, but not many.

I think people should be able to have unlimited access to the internet
at work, but a list of what sites they visit and for how long should
be posted on a generally accessible intranet page.