APPENDIX J

 POLICY ON THE USE OF OFFICE TECHNOLOGY

1. The technology resources of the Catholic Diocese are placed at the use of staff to further the mission of the Church. These resources include but are not limited to: computers, servers, fax machines, copiers, the software and hardware of both the computers and the networks as well as the internet and e-mail capabilities of the systems involved.

2. Computers, Internet, and other electronic office technology are the property of the Diocese and employees are expected to use these systems responsibly and primarily for conducting the business of the Church. These resources may never be used to conduct private business, chain mailing or to conduct political campaigning activities. In no way can employees use diocesan property to participate in or intervene in any partisan political campaign on behalf of any candidate for public office. This includes publishing or distributing e-mail that could be construed as a campaigning activity.
 

3. E-mail and other information sent and received within the offices of the Diocese are not personal property of the creator of the message or record. As a result, administration reserves the right to access, review and monitor e-mail, all electronic messages and records as deemed necessary. Employees should be aware that this material in some situations could be potentially discoverable information for purpose of lawsuits and legal inquiry. Employees should not expect privacy in the use of e-mail messages or Internet sites. Administration for its purposes is reviewing and monitoring the use of these electronic systems.
 

4. Employees may not use these technical systems in any way deemed fraudulent, harassing, sexually explicit, profane, obscene, intimidating, defamatory or otherwise unlawful or inappropriate. Examples of forbidden use include sexually explicit messages, cartoons or jokes, propositions or love letters, ethnic or racial slurs; any messages that can be construed to be harassing or disparaging of others based on their sex, race, sexual orientation, age, national orientation or religious beliefs.
 

5. Concealing or misrepresenting your name or affiliation is prohibited as well as altering sources and attribution of messages or sending anonymous or pseudonymous messages.
 

6. Electronic storage on network servers will be periodically deleted after stated time periods. This includes records, e-mail and other folders. Responsibility for maintaining long term information is a matter of specific office policy. The prudent use of resources demands that unnecessary or non-identified material will be deleted regularly.
 

7. Mass mailings of e-mail to all staff or general notice, etc are subject to review in terms of the appropriate use of the resources and time involved.

 

Approved by Bishop Skylstad

May 10, 2001

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