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 Saying surfing the web is equivalent to reading a newspaper or talking on the phone, an administrative law judge has suggested that only a reprimand is appropriate as punishment for a city worker accused of failing to heed warnings to stay off the Internet. Administrative Law Judge John Spooner reached his decision in the case of Toquir Choudhri, a 14-year veteran of the Department of Education who had been accused of ignoring supervisors who told him to stop browsing the Internet at work. The ruling came after Mayor Michael Bloomberg fired a worker in the city's legislative office in Albany earlier this year after he saw the man playing a game of solitaire on his computer. In his decision, Spooner wrote: "It should be observed that the Internet has become the modern equivalent of a telephone or a daily newspaper, providing a combination of communication and information that most employees use as frequently in their personal lives as for their work." He added: "For this reason, city agencies permit workers to use a telephone for personal calls, so long as this does not interfere with their overall work performance. Many agencies apply the same standard to the use of the Internet for personal purposes." Spooner dispensed the lightest possible punishment on Choudhri, a reprimand, after a search of Choudhri's computer files revealed he had visited several news and travel sites. Martin Druyan, Choudhri's lawyer, called the ruling "very reasonable."
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
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
_______________________________________________ The air-l@listserv.aoir.org mailing list is provided by the Association of Internet Researchers http://aoir.org Subscribe, change options or unsubscribe at: http://listserv.aoir.org/listinfo.cgi/air-l-aoir.org Join the Association of Internet Researchers: http://www.aoir.org/
Most large corporations and universities (and, frankly, anywhere with competent tech folks...) already heavily filter and censor employee access to the internet. The government agency, in this case, is doing a pretty poor job of controlling what employees are and are not able to do with their computing resources. Taking vendor bundled games off of computers is usually step 1. Step 2 is usually to lock down the border firewall such that access to things like myspace, yahoomail, gmail, hotmail, and slashdot are denied. ;) --e On Mon, 24 Apr 2006, Gail Taylor wrote:
Date: Mon, 24 Apr 2006 09:02:45 -0500 From: Gail Taylor <gdtaylor@uiuc.edu> Reply-To: air-l@listserv.aoir.org To: air-l@listserv.aoir.org 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
Saying surfing the web is equivalent to reading a newspaper or talking on the phone, an administrative law judge has suggested that only a reprimand is appropriate as punishment for a city worker accused of failing to heed warnings to stay off the Internet.
Administrative Law Judge John Spooner reached his decision in the case of Toquir Choudhri, a 14-year veteran of the Department of Education who had been accused of ignoring supervisors who told him to stop browsing the Internet at work.
The ruling came after Mayor Michael Bloomberg fired a worker in the city's legislative office in Albany earlier this year after he saw the man playing a game of solitaire on his computer.
In his decision, Spooner wrote: "It should be observed that the Internet has become the modern equivalent of a telephone or a daily newspaper, providing a combination of communication and information that most employees use as frequently in their personal lives as for their work."
He added: "For this reason, city agencies permit workers to use a telephone for personal calls, so long as this does not interfere with their overall work performance. Many agencies apply the same standard to the use of the Internet for personal purposes."
Spooner dispensed the lightest possible punishment on Choudhri, a reprimand, after a search of Choudhri's computer files revealed he had visited several news and travel sites.
Martin Druyan, Choudhri's lawyer, called the ruling "very reasonable."
_______________________________________________ The air-l@listserv.aoir.org mailing list is provided by the Association of Internet Researchers http://aoir.org Subscribe, change options or unsubscribe at: http://listserv.aoir.org/listinfo.cgi/air-l-aoir.org
Join the Association of Internet Researchers: http://www.aoir.org/
All, Ultimately, I don't think a "one size fits nobody approach" will work. What happens when most mobiles have cheap or free web access? Last weeks episode of "Lost" on your iPod anyone? I seem to recall that there is some research in Organizational Communication that shows that taking regular small breaks (NOT watching an entire quarter of basketball!) of non-work activities increases productivity. Simply put, it is not reasonable, practical, or productive to demand 100% of on-the-clock time to be spent working. Besides, if you are accomplishing what is expected of you, what's the problem? On a more specific ethical note, does the mayor in this case get monitored or reprimanded when he is checking his stock portfolio on city time? Is the CEO monitored and does she get suspended for booking her personal vacation (or more likely having the assistant do it on company time) online? This, I think, is the bigger "if your prick me do I not bleed?" ethical questions when it comes to such workplace rules, especially concerning surveillance. What is the bigger threat, mail-room person stealing office supplies or CFO embezzling millions? I would guess that a degree of internet noodling will be come common place and, just like extended lunch and coffee breaks or leaving too early, enforcement will kick in when there is a problem. -TED Ted M. Coopman Department of Communication University of Washington On Mon, 24 Apr 2006 elw@stderr.org wrote:
Most large corporations and universities (and, frankly, anywhere with competent tech folks...) already heavily filter and censor employee access to the internet.
The government agency, in this case, is doing a pretty poor job of controlling what employees are and are not able to do with their computing resources.
Taking vendor bundled games off of computers is usually step 1. Step 2 is usually to lock down the border firewall such that access to things like myspace, yahoomail, gmail, hotmail, and slashdot are denied. ;)
--e
On Mon, 24 Apr 2006, Gail Taylor wrote:
Date: Mon, 24 Apr 2006 09:02:45 -0500 From: Gail Taylor <gdtaylor@uiuc.edu> Reply-To: air-l@listserv.aoir.org To: air-l@listserv.aoir.org 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
Saying surfing the web is equivalent to reading a newspaper or talking on the phone, an administrative law judge has suggested that only a reprimand is appropriate as punishment for a city worker accused of failing to heed warnings to stay off the Internet.
Administrative Law Judge John Spooner reached his decision in the case of Toquir Choudhri, a 14-year veteran of the Department of Education who had been accused of ignoring supervisors who told him to stop browsing the Internet at work.
The ruling came after Mayor Michael Bloomberg fired a worker in the city's legislative office in Albany earlier this year after he saw the man playing a game of solitaire on his computer.
In his decision, Spooner wrote: "It should be observed that the Internet has become the modern equivalent of a telephone or a daily newspaper, providing a combination of communication and information that most employees use as frequently in their personal lives as for their work."
He added: "For this reason, city agencies permit workers to use a telephone for personal calls, so long as this does not interfere with their overall work performance. Many agencies apply the same standard to the use of the Internet for personal purposes."
Spooner dispensed the lightest possible punishment on Choudhri, a reprimand, after a search of Choudhri's computer files revealed he had visited several news and travel sites.
Martin Druyan, Choudhri's lawyer, called the ruling "very reasonable."
_______________________________________________ The air-l@listserv.aoir.org mailing list is provided by the Association of Internet Researchers http://aoir.org Subscribe, change options or unsubscribe at: http://listserv.aoir.org/listinfo.cgi/air-l-aoir.org
Join the Association of Internet Researchers: http://www.aoir.org/
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participants (5)
-
Alex Kuskis -
elw＠stderr.org -
Gail Taylor -
mwhitty -
Ted M Coopman