Web Filtering Catches Man, now Fired, Looking at Gun Websites
CBS News has reported a story about an employee who was dismissed for looking at gun parts websites on a company computer. The dismissed employee had raised a lawsuit against the company alleging that the gun-web-site issue was simply an excuse to fire him because of his medical condition and absence from work.
The article contains links to several PDFs of the legal documents related to the cases, which are well worth reading.
One of the interesting aspects of the case was that the employee claimed he had been singled out and that other staff who had been visiting non-work related sites had been dealt with in the same way. Indeed the company was unable to prove that other employees had been dealt with in the same way.
The other interesting point is that the employee claimed that the gun websites he visited were not explicitly mentioned in the company’s Acceptable Use Policy (AUP). The company’s AUP lists several types of inappropriate content which are specifically prohibited but does not mention guns. However, the AUP has several other sections which specifically prohibit company computing resources being used for personal use. This appears to have been sufficient grounds for the employee being dismissed and the appeal dismissed by the judge.
When we work with companies who are using our Web filter, we always try and ensure that they evaluate their existing AUP or create one if they don’t have one. We also emphasise that it’s critical to ensure that employees fully understand what is and what isn’t acceptable and the potential consequences for breeching the AUP.
The Bloxx website has links to a number of useful websites and documents on Internet polices and web filtering’s role in proactively enforcing them.
