Survey Finds No Internet Abuse By County Employees
By Jared S. Hopkins, The Times-News, Twin Falls, Idaho
Nov. 12–More than three months after Twin Falls County commissioners began monitoring Internet use of county employees, county officials said the workers are not misusing computers and overall online activity has decreased.
The 10 county employees who surf the Web most often use between 2 percent and 3 percent of the county’s bandwidth — a computer network’s capacity for Internet use — indicating a substantial drop from 6 percent during the summer, Commission Chairman Tom Mikesell said.
Most employees were visiting news Web sites — which often have streaming video that crowds bandwidth — and listening to streaming radio, another eater of bandwidth.
“We thought it was abuse,” Mikesell said. “This was just not understanding the system.”
County employees answer to the elected officials who head their departments. An inter-county conflict several years ago over Web site access resulted in firewalls being installed.
“It’s not their time. It’s county time,” Mikesell said. “And if they’re abusing time at the computer — which we found they weren’t — we want to make sure we find a resolution to that.”
Commissioners considered in June limiting or monitoring Internet access by county employees to save money and improve time management. Mikesell said then that he was unsure if it was necessary for about 250 of the 286 county computers to have Internet access.
Mikesell was also concerned about how many employees should be using streaming audio or video — when the commissioners watch the state Legislature, for example — which can create traffic problems and slow the connections.
Three months ago, after Stephenson Computer Consulting devised a program, the county began monitoring.
Mikesell said commissioners were curious whether people were looking at eBay trading, downloading movies, or even viewing pornography.
“We weren’t sure what we were looking for,” he said.
The No. 1 employee Internet user is someone in the sheriff’s office, most likely involved in enforcement of sexual-predator laws, Mikesell said.
“I don’t even want to know what he’s looking at,” he said.
Jared S. Hopkins may be reached at 735-3204 or jhopkins@magicvalley.com.
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