Thanks for nothing PineRidge.....LOL

[Inspector507]

<font color="blue"> Inspector,
May I ask if you are a unionized employee or management? </font> Management.....I guess I should know better than to look at tractors on a work computer on my time /forums/images/graemlins/blush.gif

<font color="blue"> 3. Machines can be remote controlled </font>
Anytime we have a machine not working correctly, we call our IT guy, who works for Technology, and low and behold, a red light comes on in the taskbar and your cursor goes wherever he/she directs it.

<font color="blue"> I might have read Inspectors post wrong, but to me it sounded like they were collecting data on his person and presenting it to authoritative sources for possible action. </font>
Right now I hear that they are doing a scan/record for 24 hours, once a week. No one knows what day it will be. Actually, I am doing research on other cities Building Dept's right now. Yesterday, I clicked on www.intromemphis.com and the site was <font color="red"> BLOCKED </font> by Technology/Surf Control. So now I suppose I'll have another hit against me.

Anything I do, that is stored on "media", is a public record and must be kept for a certain length of time. All of my e-mails, my internet log, my notes I take during meetings...etc.
The thing about my last post that upsets me so much is, I am trying to defend myself and my co-workers from harassment because of an innocent act, and they could deny me having the information to do so. Now if the newspaper/radio/etc. wanted that log, they'd get it within 10 days after paying a fee for the copying. If I have to, I'll go to Technology in person and fill out the same request as they would, pay the same fee that they would and get the darned info.

 

[nobull1]

</font><font color="blue" class="small">( [colour:"blue"] Inspector,
May I ask if you are a unionized employee or management? </font> Management.....I guess I should know better than to look at tractors on a work computer on my time /forums/images/graemlins/blush.gif

My reason for asking was to suggest what type of response to the situation. Unionized employees would be able to turn this around and blame lack of proper documentation( clear and precise rules of use, along with proper training in computer use/misuse) and claim harassment. Failure to give a letter of apology could mean stress leave and potential legal problems(unions serve a purpose sometimes) The problem with management is you don't have a union to back you up. The employer can have their way with management with less concern of the repercussions. Although some of the above might be of use but not near as threating as from a unionized employee. Just make sure to sign your letters with the last line of my sig /forums/images/graemlins/smirk.gif

 

[riptides]

Ahhh....

</font><font color="blue" class="small">( It is hypocritical to say that you think you should be able to do as you please with your home computer, and then to think that the company can't do the same with theirs... up to and including logs and monitoring software that verify that the systems are being used in a way that conforms to their policy. This really is a black and white issue.
)</font>

My train of thought on this whole matter was a tidbit of information was used to start a process that may result in corrective action.

Seems the companies polices are read log, tell individual the have misappropriated computer-use, build case, leave individual out of loop.

Sounds like guilty by process log entry.

I feel they had better come at me with more than just one thing, a redirect of a URL... in this case.

Getut, do you remember the FBI raid on Los Alamos a few years ago? After the incident which prompted national attention. Data was traveling over a wire at a rapid pace.
They tracked it to a lab. To a person. A whole process started up to "get" another possible traitor.

Turns out, some persons keyboard had a pile of books on it.

The surf control progams are flawed IMHO as they require due diligence for upkeeps. A simple HTML message can be constructed to bypass filters/inspection packages that can redirect you to web sites that are inappropriate but not yet blocked. Now who is at fault when the log is read?

Yes, black and white in the big picture, but when that one log is read, not.

-Mike Z. /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

 

[getut]

</font><font color="blue" class="small">( Yes, black and white in the big picture, but when that one log is read, not.)</font>

Thanks for clarifying and now that I understand your point, I agree wholeheartedly. We were actually trying to make the same point. The logs have to be used... but they have to be UNDERSTOOD as a whole, not looked at piecemill and the administrators have to allow for situations out of the control of the user (such as offsite links) and they even have to take into account that users may occassionally browse to questionable sites not knowing it is bad until they get there. Give them a chance to realize it.

It sounds like all this is NOT happening to Inspector, but we won't know until the process is completed. Being that I work in the industry, I HOPE that we are all talking about speculative issues only. I hope in the end it all turns out all right.. and I suspect it will. But I still think the IT department will have to turn it in as a "close call" to Human Resources and human resources will probably give the old dreaded speech about... we realize you did nothing wrong, but will have to document this "close call" and please be careful in the future. Until proven wrong, have faith that they will do the right thing even though they probably won't release any information until the investigation and research phase is complete.

 

[getut]

Oh and one last thing. The "fleshed out" or robust security policy for a company does not get that way overnight. If a company is growing, it takes time to tweak a policy and get it to fit that company well. It may well be that you have hit a grey area in their policy as it is currently written. In some of the posts above, I listed some typical ways these are handled, but your situation may be causing them to re-think their policy. Give them a chance and see how it plays out.

Folks in IT security are VERY often semi-jokingly compared to Nazi's. We are not evil and don't try to make life rough. Although yes.. it is fun sometimes when those documents you work on for the big presentation sometimes go corrupted just before you print it out. Whoops.. didn't mean to type that. /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif

 

[Inspector507]

Update of sorts......
I made the "hit list" again last week. You guessed it, Pine Ridge's site.... /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif
This information has to be weeks or months old. I may not be the sharpest knife in the drawer, but I sure am smart enough to stop ALL non-work related Internet use while at work after being accused of all this (oh yeah....I now keep a log of all websites that I do have to visit). At least this time they said it was only 3 hits instead of 6 (without dates and times). When I asked about the status of my request for their records, I was told..... "They're having issues with their software and can't print out the log you requested"
I was also told that our Division was the only one that had requested records/logs and it was making our Director look bad, so may I need to chill out. 3 employees out of 7,000 citywide and we're the only ones requesting documentation?? ....what a joke. I'm concerned with the hundreds (citywide) that are being harassed with this crap.
The lucky ones that have union protection have been told that things are being looked into. Probably doesn't help me at this point. Won't help my Administrator either, she's a lawyer and knows that we have rights to this info. She feels that she is on the way out because of this stuff, but I give her credit, she copies everything and takes it home. She even gave me her home number today in case she's no longer around and I need some paperwork or need an Attorney in the future /forums/images/graemlins/laugh.gif

BTW, this update was for last weeks list. She did not get a new list this week. Wonder if they just didn't give her one because I/we "made waves"?? Miraculous that their software went on the fritz and her Division had no infractions at the same time.

 

[riptides]

Grrr.... hang in there.

</font><font color="blue" class="small">( "They're having issues with their software and can't print out the log you requested" )</font>


Oh! Well I am having issues with allegations and seeing how this is progressing, have called the state comptrollers office for clarification on how they are meeting various government requlations and mandates if your telling my they cannot produce a log. They said an auditor would come visit you, your name again? Yes? Hello?

Above, just made me feel better. No value added.

-Mike Z. /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

 

[Inspector507]

Still have not gotten the log I requested, somewhere between our Director and the Director of Technology my request got denied or thrown in the trash.

BUT, I think I figured it out. I was in the Administrators office today while she shook her finger at one of my employees. I got to see a printout of the "bad" webites and images associated with same, that he had visited. Anyone that is familiar with how a web page is constructed knows that images are stored wherever and just retrieved when that page is opened.

Mike's image, that appears with every post he makes, is hosted on his site. So, every time I opened a thread here on TBN that Mike had responded to, it has a link to his site that is being retrieved.
No wonder I haven't gotten that log...... /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

Don't get me wrong, Mike is running a legitimate e-commerce site, but it does have a listing for Rifles, Pistols, etc. No matter that they are non-firing props. That must be what SurfControl has identified as objectionable.