Internet, Intranet and E-Mail Misuse

The branch officers would like members to be aware that there are cases being brought against members all over the country for Internet, Intranet and e-mail misuse.

It is vital that members do not access, distribute, browse, download, store or forward any material that is, or could be considered to be, offensive, obscene or of a sexual nature.

This applies to words, images and audio files. Anything of a racist, sexist, pornographic, obscene or offensive nature or anything that could offend because of its political nature will be dealt with very harshly by employers, and if proven will be most likely to end up with a person being dismissed.

All companies have restrictions on personal use of company computer equipment, in particular BT where most of our members work. It must also be remembered that anything likely to bring the company into disrepute will also be dealt with as a very serious matter.

People are not allowed to run a private business, sell, or advertise from their BT computer, and people cannot contribute to chat rooms or similar fora without authority. Down-loading anything that constitutes an infringement of copyright including video, images, and music files is also improper use, as is using Peer to Peer (P2P) applications without authority.

Members must be under no misapprehensions about this, companies do have the ability to track and record e-mails and web page access, and so if caught there really is no hiding place, and no defence.

Our advice is - if in doubt leave it out.