RESOLUTION NO. 11-271-99

ADOPTING GUIDELINES FOR INTERNET AND EMAIL USAGE

Whereas, modern technology has advanced the speed of communications through the use of the computer to transmit electronic mail and to access information on the Internet; and

Whereas, some guidelines are needed to establish City policies in this area;

Now, Therefore, BE IT RESOLVED BY THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF GADSDEN, ALABAMA, that the document entitled Internet Policies and Guidelines is hereby adopted as the official policy of the City and shall be implemented by the Mayor.

I hereby certify that the above and foregoing was duly adopted by the City Council of Gadsden, Alabama, at a meeting held on July 20, 1999.

Martha A. Elrod, City Clerk

INTERNET POLICIES AND GUIDELINES

POLICIES AND GUIDELINES ON THE USE OF
CITY INFORMATION SYSTEMS

Purpose/Scope

The City of Gadsden ("City") seeks to provide its employees with technology to conduct the City's official business. The City has installed equipment such as computers and electronic (e-mail) for use to conduct its official business. This document advises all users regarding the access to and the disclosure of information created, transmitted, received and stored via the use of the Internet, City e-mail, and other computer systems (collectively referred to as the "City's information systems").

This policy is intended to guide you in the performance of your duties as a City employee. It is also intended to place you on notice that you should not expect the Internet and e-mail in your possession or those that you use from time to time, and their contents, to be confidential or private. All data, including any that is stored or data printed as a document is subject to audit and review. THERE IS NO EXPECTATION OF PERSONAL PRIVACY IN THE USE OF THE INTERNET AND E-MAIL.

The City reserves the right to monitor Internet use, all e-mail, and other computer transmissions, as well as any stored information, created or received by City employees as part of the City's information systems. Public resources should not be wasted. The City's information systems should operate as efficiently as possible in order to protect the public interest. All computer applications, programs, work-related information created or stored by employees on the City's information systems, is City property.

Except to the extent required in conjunction with an approved, bona fide research project, investigation or other undertaking, no employee shall use a City-owned or Cityleased computer equipment or account to access, download, send, print or store any information system files or services having sexually explicit content. The approval must be given in writing by the department director.

The use of public resources for personal gain and/or private use, such as but not limited to, outside employment or for political campaign purposes, by City employees, is prohibited and punishable by disciplinary action which may include termination and/or criminal prosecution depending on the nature and severity of the transgression. Incidental and occasional personal use may be permitted with the consent of your department director. The term public resource as used in this policy includes not only the authorized use of equipment, hardware, software or other tangible articles, but also the employee time engaging in the unauthorized use while on duty.

Alabama Code Section 36-12-40 requires the City to make all public records available for inspection and to provide copies upon request. Alabama Code Section 41- defines a public record as all written, typed or printed books, papers, letters, documents and maps made or received in performance of law by public officers in the transactions of public business. Any information on the City's information system may be subject to disclosure. If there is some doubt, the employee should contact his or her department or the City Attorney for advice as to whether the information is a public record. Disclosure of certain information to third parties may be limited to situations where disclosure is compelled, such as by a subpoena.

This document addresses general City-wide Internet policies, specific issues related to appropriate content and use of departmental pages, and employee use of the Internet and e-mail. All departments and employees are required to follow these general policies and guidelines. Specific departments may have unique requirements and are encouraged to develop policies to cover those issues. The law and associated policy regarding the use of Internet, e-mail and voice mail are continually evolving. Accordingly, the policies and guidelines should be reviewed regularly and changes made as required.

Each departmental director is responsible for their respective employees' use of the Internet, and for the contents of their department's information presented using these media. Directors are encouraged to actively pursue electronic means of presenting information and services to the public.

ALL CITY EMPLOYEES WITH ACCESS TO COMPUTERS, E-MAIL AND/OR THE INTERNET ARE REQUIRED TO READ, UNDERSTAND AND ABIDE BY THE CITY'S POLICIES.

City-wide Internet Policy

The City of Gadsden encourages its departments to use the Internet to disseminate information to the public and its employees (collectively called "users") to improve communications with the public, and to carry out official business when such business can be accomplished consistent with the following Internet policies and guidelines:

Official City Business. Use the Internet to accomplish official City business consistent with the City's mission. Official City business conducted via the Internet shall comply -with all statutory requirements a well as standards for integrity, accountability, and legal sufficiency. Thus, official City business conducted via the Internet should meet or exceed the standards of performance for traditional methods (such as meetings, use of telephone, etc.).

Reasons to use the Internet. Departments should base decisions to use the Internet on sound business practices. The conduct of business via the Internet is particularly compelling where costs are reduced and/or the services provided to the City's constituents are improved in measurable ways.

Ease of use. Information and services presented via the Internet should emphasize ease of use to reach the broadest audience and impart a friendly manner which would include clear choices, easy navigation, on-screen instruction, etc.

Information Management. Disseminate information that is current, accurate, complete, and consistent with City policy. information released via the Internet is subject to the same official City policies for the release of information via other media (such as printed documents), so that the information disclosed avoids potential problems with copyrights, trademarks, and trade secrets. Information accuracy is particularly important on the Internet. While paper-based information is often not current, information presented electronically is much easier to keep current. Constituents expect this information to be not only current, but often to be the first available source.

Privacy and Security. Protect confidential and proprietary information entrusted to the City. Questions regarding confidential or proprietary information should be directed to the department director. City management has the right to monitor and log all transactions in or out of the system.

Professional Image. Use the Internet to promote a professional image for the City.

Official Use. Internet resources are made available to City employees to support and promote official City business. It is inappropriate for employees to use these resources for personal use, private gain, to state as city positions" those which are not officially endorsed by the City, illegal purposes, or for inappropriate use as defined in these policies and guidelines. The department directors will be held responsible for the content of the Departments' Web sites, for ensuring that the information provided relates to their Department's official duties and responsibilities, and that its use is for official and not for personal purposes.

City Web Site Policies

Purpose

The City of Gadsden World Wide Web site and departmental web sites are fundamental communication tools for providing critical City information. The goal of a web site is to encourage increased "user" participation in City government. The development and use of the City's sites are guided by the Web Site Policy:

Policies

The City's Management Information Services Department (MIS) is responsible for advising City departments regarding the creation and implementation of their respective Web sites, helping City departments to comply with the City's Web policies, and maintaining and securing the City's Bulletin Board System, its menus, web servers and web site. It is the responsibility of department director to ensure that departmental staff adhere to the Web Site Policies.

To preserve the public nature of the City's web sites and to avoid perception that the City endorses or provides favorable treatment to any private person or business enterprise (hereinafter collectively referred to as ,'vendor"), no corporate or commercial logos or links to vendor sites will be allowed on the City's Web site. When a service has been donated by a vendor that enables the development or maintenance of a City departmental Web site, the name may appear once at the bottom of the department's initial page and must include the following statement: "Acknowledgment of (xxxxxx) on this page does not constitute the City's support or endorsement of it or its products or services."

Vendors that create or maintain a home page for any City department must follow all policies established for the City's Web site.

It is the City's intent to provide electronic access to its information through a logical single point of entry. For the Internet, this logical point Of entry is the City's officially registered domain name (www.ci.gadsden.al.us) and each City department or City organization is defined as a sub area within the official domain. The registration of an individual domain name for a City department or a City-related organization is discouraged because each separate domain name fragments the single logical point of entry, would lead to public confusion, and would contribute to administrative, maintenance and mail delivery problems. If a specific domain name is required for a City department, a request should be submitted to MIS for review and recommendation to the Mayor. Upon approval, by the Mayor, MIS will process the registration request.

The City's web sites are for "official use" only. All information disseminated through the City's web sites must be related to the official duties and responsibilities of employees and City departments.

The Alabama Public Records Act applies to information processed, sent and stored on the Internet. Confidential information should not be posted on the City's web sites. Each department director must approve all posted information.

Each department director is responsible for the acceptability of the content contained in their respective departmental web sites.

No City official's web site may be used for campaign-related purposes. No City employee or official may use any other City departmental web site for campaign-related purposes. Such campaign-related purposes include, but are not limited to, the following: statements in support or opposition to any candidate or ballot measure; requests for campaign funds or references to any solicitations of campaign funds; and references to the campaign schedule or activities of any candidate. No City official's web site may link to any private web site related to a candidate's campaign for elective office, but it may link directly to the election-related pages where general election and candidate information can be found.

To encourage participation in and heighten voter interest regarding City elections, the office of the City Clerk will be responsible for providing candidate, ballot and voter information on its web site and will seek ways to provide similar election-related information via that site.

Employee's Internet Usage Policy

The following rules require strict adherence. Any infraction thereof could result in disciplinary action. Disciplinary actions range from verbal warnings to termination; the severity of the misbehavior governs the severity of the disciplinary action.

The use of Internet is restricted to "official City business". Personal use of or time spent for personal gain is strictly prohibited. Authorization for Internet access must be obtained through your department. Once authorization is approved, you are responsible for the security of your account password and you will be held responsible for all use or misuse of your account. You must maintain secure passwords and never use an account assigned to another user.

Hacking is the unauthorized attempt or entry into any other computer. Never make an unauthorized attempt to enter any computer. Such an action is a violation of the Federal Electronic Communications Privacy Act (ECPA) 18 U.S.C. §2510.

Sending threatening, slanderous, racially and/or sexually harassing messages in strictly prohibited.

The representation of yourself as someone else, real or fictional, or a message sent anonymously is prohibited.

Never copy or transfer electronic files without permission.

Downloading a file from the Internet can bring viruses with it. Update virus protection software monthly to protect against the newest viruses. Scan all downloaded files with virus protection software.

Never send, post or provide access to any confidential City materials or information.

Almost all data and software is subject to the Federal copyright laws. Care should be exercised whenever accessing or copying any information that does not belong to you. Software which requires purchase or reimbursement for its use, such as shareware, requires strict adherence to the terms and conditions specified by the owner unless written permission for unrestricted use has been obtained. When in doubt, consult you department director.

You are obligated to cooperate with any investigation regarding the use of your computer equipment which your department director or the Mayor has authorized.

Chain letters are illegal and may not be transmitted through e-mail.

E-mail requires extensive network capacity. Sending unnecessary e-mail, or not exercising constraint when sending very large files, or sending to a large number of recipients consumes network resources that are needed for critical City business. When the City grants an individual access to the network, it is the responsibility of the employee to respect network resources.

Employee's Internet Usage Guidelines

Internet Sites

If you are using information from an Internet site for strategic City business decisions, you should verify the integrity of that information. You should verify whether the site is updated on a regular basis (the lack of revision date might indicate out-of-date information) and that is a valid provider of the information you are seeking. Just because it is there does not mean that is accurate or valid.

MIS has no control or responsibility for content on an external server not under the control of the City. information may be offensive and/or unsuitable for dissemination.

Sexually explicit material is prohibited except for limited purposes with the written approval of the department director.

Electronic Mail (E-mail)

The following guidelines apply to the use of e-mail.

MAIL ON THE INTERNET IS NOT SECURE. Never include in an email message anything that you want to keep private and confidential because e-mail is sent encrypted and is easily read.

Management has the right to access all e-mail files created, received or stored on City-funded systems and such files can be accessed without prior notification.

Be careful when send ing replies - make sure you are sending to a group when you want to send to a group, and to an individual when you want to send to an individual. It is best to address directly to a sender(s). Check carefully, the "To" and "From" before sending mail. It can prevent unintentional errors.

While your e-mail address travels with your e-mail for replies, you should also include a signature (an identifier that automatically appends to your e-mail message) that contains the method(s) by which others can contact you. (Usually your mailing address, phone number, fax number, etc.).

For important items, let senders know you have received their e-mail, even if you cannot respond in depth immediately. They need to know their email is not lost.

Watch punctuation and spelling. It can reflect on your professionalism. Use automatic checking programs if available.

Internet Mailing List and Usenet News Groups

The e-mail guidelines apply here as well.

Actively disclaim speaking for the City unless you have authority to do so.

Be sure to change your mailing address if your account changes. Do not simply forward your e-mail from your old account to your new one. This creates a burden on the City's information systems. Be careful when using auto-reply features in e-mail when you belong to mailing lists. Auto-reply replies are often sent to the entire list indiscriminately and your reply may not be important to all on the list; e.g. most do not care that you are on vacation, and worse, your message may have been intended for only one recipient.

As a new member of a news group, monitor the messages for a while to understand the history and personality of the group. Jumping right into the discussion may make you look foolish if you lack background information.

Do no re-post any messages without permission Even messages have copyrighted protection.

Do not post personal messages to a mailing list or USENET news group.

If you survey the group, as a courtesy, post a summary of the results.

Be sure to properly acknowledge with quotations any material borrowed from others. Be careful of plagiarism.

Do not post any messages anonymously. The professional community views this practice as bad form As a matter of policy the USENET community and system managers are asked to track down offenders.

Be careful when you repast any requests. Some requests are fraudulent.

State the subject of your message clearly in the subject line.

Before joining mailing lists and news groups, consider how much time these activities require. Also, for Usenet, look at the news.announce.newusers group. It contains information to assist you.

Be sure to read the Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) for your group(s).

Never send any hostile messages (flames). If you receive a "flame", do not overreact. Remember that not everyone is as polite as you are.

FTP (File Transfer Protocol)

These guidelines cover use of FTP (or download) sites.

Do not FTP to any system on which you do not have an account, or which does not advertise anonymous FTP services.

Downloaded files may contain viruses. Scan all downloaded files with virus prevention software.

Observe working hours or posted for FTP sites. Most sites request that you NOT FTP between their local hours of 8 a.m. - 5 p.m.

Do not FTP during your site's prime hours due to network impact on other users.

Look locally before downloading a file from a geographically remote site. Your system manager can help you find the closest site.

Do not download on the off chance you will "need it someday." Conversely, do not search for "neat stuff' to FTP. If you discover that you do not need what you have downloaded, delete it. You can always get it again if you discover you need it later.

Observe any posted restrictions on the FTP server.

Do not log in with your real user name and node address as your password on anonymous FTP servers.

TELNET

These guidelines cover the use of TELNET.

Do not TELNET to machines on which you have no account, or where there is no guest account. Do not attempt to TELNET deliberately into anonymous FTP servers.

When you TELNET, observe any posted restrictions.

Do not attempt to TELNET into ports without authorization.

Netiquette

These are Netiquette guidelines:

Be aware of system etiquette. The computer you use may have limits regarding disk space usage. E-mail takes up space. You should regularly delete and/or archive any messages you wish to save.

Remember that the recipient is a person with feelings. Since they cannot see you, they may not know when you are joking. Be sure to include visual or verbal clues like the emoticons, e.g., smiley face :-) or , to indicate emotions.

DO NOT SEND MESSAGES ALL IN CAPITALS. It looks as if you are shouting. Use initial capitals or some other symbol for emphasis. For example: This IS what I meant. That *is* what I meant.

Remember that some people have to pay for each byte of data they receive. Please keep messages to the point without appearing terse or rude.

Only send e-mail to people that would want it or are expecting it. Sending unsolicited e-mail to large groups of people is called "spamming."

Definitions

Domain Name: A domain name is the way to identify and locate an address ,on the Internet. The domain name, also called the fully-qualified domain name or FQDN, is a computer's name in text form, for example: ci.gadsden.al.us. The domain name is used to send e-mail, make FTP requests, etc. Before any message is sent on the Internet, the domain name is converted internally to a numerical address, an Internet protocol address, .vhich is what the computers on the Internet deal with directly.

Electronic Mail: Electronic Mail (e-mail) may include non-interactive communication of text, data, images or voice messages between a sender and designed recipients(s) by systems utilizing telecommunications links. It may also include correspondence transmitted and stored electronically using software facilities called "email," "facsimile," or "messaging" system; or voice messages transmitted and stored for later retrieval from a computer system.

FTP: File transfer protocol; a program that allows you to transfer data between different computers on a network.

Hacking: Attempting to break into another system on which you have no account or authorization.

Information system: Telecommunications, cable television, personal computers and computer networks, including the internet, USENET, bulletin board systems, news groups, on-line systems and telephone networks.

Internet: A worldwide network of networks, connecting informational networks communicating through a common communications language, or "protocol."

Mailing list: A service that sends e-mail to everyone on a list whenever email is sent to the service, permitted a group of users to exchange e-mail on a particular topic.

MIME: A protocol which lets Internet users attach nontext files to e-mail messages. Stands for Multipurpose Internet Mail Extension. Lets users send mail in any format including graphic images, formatted documents, and audio, video and compressed data files.

Netiquette: A combination of "network" and "etiquette." It is the practice of good manners in a networked environment.

News Groups: Discussion groups with common themes on USENET.

Sexually explicit conduct: Any material (1) that depicts or describes, in a patently offensive way, sexual conduct, actual or simulated, normal or perverted; and (2) which the average person, applying contemporary community standards, would find, taken as a whole, appeals to the prurient interest; and (3) which a reasonable person would find, taken as a whole, lacks serious literary, artistic, political or scientific value, as those terms are defined in Alabama Code Sections 13A- 12-190 and 13A- 12-200. 1.

TELNET: A program that allows remote log in to another computer.

TCP/IP: Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol; the, communications protocol used by computers connected to the Internet.

USENET: A collection of computer discussion (news) groups.

UUENCODE: A utility which converts binary files on a personal computer into ASCII files. Stands for Unixto-Unix Encode and was first developed for use with UNIX computers.

INTERNET POLICES AND GUIDELINES

I have read and reviewed the Internet Policies and Guidelines (Guidelines). By signing this form, I agree to abide by the Guidelines currently in place and I agree to review periodically any changes or modifications. I recognize that the law and associated policy regarding the use of Internet, electronic mail, and the City's information systems are continually evolving. Therefore, I understand that my regular review of policy is required. I understand updates to the policies and guidelines will be available on the City's main Web page (http://www.ci.gadsden.al.us.) I also understand it should be included in my browser bookmark lists for easy reference.

To be included in employee's personnel file.