Excessive Indulgences. Personal Use of the Internet at the Department of Interior

摘要

The department, which oversees national parks, land management and more, encourages most of its 80,000 employees to use the Internet for work-related duties. A one-week study by the department's Inspector General found, however, that a lot of abuse is going on. Among the study's findings: Computer-use logs revealed more than 4,732 entries relating to sexually explicit Web sites and gambling sites. Some computers accessed sex sites for 30 to 60 minutes during the test period. This activity accounted for more than 24 hours of Internet use during the sample period, which did not include a review of e-mail or other means of transferring prohibited material. Despite these ongoing issues, the department is sensitive to Internet misuse, having had several employees convicted in the past for various offenses, including possession of child pornography. The department has appropriate-use policies in place and conducts regular training, although it does not have a systemwide monitor or blocking system yet. Some bureaus within the department do use such tools, and there are plans to provide them departmentwide. The report concludes: Efforts to prevent, deter and detect Internet access to inappropriate Web sites are inconsistent and must be improved.