And of course there is the issue of cyber-harassment. People have been fired from their jobs for downloading pornography in the workplace. A little different again from reading the newspaper (depending of course, I suppose on which newspaper you are referring to). Monica Dr. Monica Whitty Queen's University Belfast School of Psychology David Keir Building Northern Ireland BT7 1NN Phone: +44 (0)28 9097 5654 Email: m.whitty@qub.ac.uk http://www.psych.qub.ac.uk/staff/teaching/whitty/profile/ -----Original Message----- From: air-l-bounces@listserv.aoir.org [mailto:air-l-bounces@listserv.aoir.org] On Behalf Of Alex Kuskis Sent: 24 April 2006 15:57 To: air-l@listserv.aoir.org Subject: Re: [Air-l] Internet ethics This legal ruling seems to me to be an anomoly, as personal Web-surfing and watching are clearly NOT akin to reading a newspaper or talking on the phone. As TV and movies join online gaming as major forms of entertainment and distraction on the Web, business will restrict at-work Web usage, if it hasn't already. Otherwise, the loss of productivity will be too great, as the following item suggests. ..........Alex Kuskis Online March Madness Most Watched (Where Else?) At Work Some 77% percent of the live video streams of the first round of the NCAA tournament originated from work locations. By Antone Gonsalves, TechWeb.com March 31, 2006 URL: http://www.informationweek.com/story/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=184419789 Work was the most popular place to watch online video during the first two days of March Madness college baseketball, a Web research firm said Friday. On March 16 and 17, 77 percent of the live video streams of the first round of the NCAA tournament originated from work locations, ComScore Networks said. CBS Sportsline, CBS Sports and the NCAA teamed up for the inaugural broadcast of March Madness on the Web. The live coverage delivered 14.9 million streams during the first two days, and 16.4 million streams over the first four days, which covered two rounds of the championship. Not everyone trying to watch on the Web got to see the live broadcasts. During the first day, 79 percent of 608,000 unique visitors accessing the feed actually viewed the game, ComScore said. On the second day, 88 percent of the 524,000 people accessing the video actually saw the games. "The popularity of March Madness On Demand is a testament to the significant progress of streaming video over the past few years," Peter Daboll, president of ComScore, said in a statement. ----- Original Message ----- From: "Gail Taylor" <gdtaylor@uiuc.edu> To: <air-l@listserv.aoir.org> Sent: Monday, April 24, 2006 10:02 AM Subject: [Air-l] Internet ethics
Hi everyone,
I'm starting to track the manner in which employees are being disciplined by their employers for using Internet- based technologies during their on- and off-duty work hours. I came across a news story this morning that might be of interest to others of you who might be doing the same.
An administrative judge in the U.S. has ruled that "surfing the web is equivalent to reading a newspaper or talking on the phone" in workplace settings. The employee in question works for a government agency. Do you think this ruling is one that private sector employers will see as a signal to rethink and restructure current definitions of employee appropriate use of Internet-based technologies?
-- Gail
Gail Taylor, M.Ed. Human Resource Education Ph.D. Student University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign
***************************************************** Judge: Web-Surfing Worker Can't Be Fired
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