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Workers' privacy under scrutiny

Senate votes to halt bill that would track online habits of state employees.

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Senate votes to halt bill that would track online habits of state employees.

By PETER HIRSCHFELD
VERMONT PRESS BUREAU
MONTPELIER – Senate lawmakers have voted to halt the Douglas administration's plans to monitor the web-viewing habits of thousands of state employees.
In a unanimous voice vote this week, the Senate approved an amendment, attached to the budget bill, that would forbid human resources managers from tracking the Internet activity of Vermont employees working on state-owned computers.
Sen. Vince Illuzzi, who authored the provision, said the vote reflected legislators' concerns over the privacy of state workers.
“Just as we hold back government when it comes to the intrusion of homes and lives of people, we're simply applying that same standard to government itself with regard to its workers,” Illuzzi said Wednesday.
Commissioner of Human Resources Caroline Earle said the Douglas administration will oppose the language and look to have it stricken from the budget when both the House and Senate iron out final details in a committee of conference.
Earle said the software's deterrent qualities will improve performance and productivity among state workers at a time when the state can ill-afford lost hours to idle web surfing.
“The proper question I think needs to be asked is should the state act as any other large, responsible employer to ensure that an employee doing work on taxpayer funded equipment is properly using that equipment?” Earle said.
Earlier this year, lawmakers approved an administration request for $120,000 to purchase Internet blocking software to prevent state workers from gaining access to inappropriate websites. Illuzzi said legislators only later discovered that the technology would also be used to track employees' web-viewing practices.
An internal memo authored by an information-technology director at the Vermont Department of State's Attorneys inflamed worries.
The memo, presented by Illuzzi to fellow appropriations committee members last week, suggested Internet usage lasting longer than 15 minutes will generate an automatic report to human resources professionals in state government.
Earle said the memo is inaccurate. Trained managers, she said, will have to request website data from the software, which will not send automatic reports.
“I think (the Illuzzi) amendment was a result of last-minute, inaccurate information presented to the Senate committee,” Earle said. “And as a result the committee did not have accurate information on which to base a decision.”
Illuzzi said his concerns stand regardless of whether reports are generated automatically or at the behest of a human-resources manager.
“I'm worried about how they use that information when they get it,” Illuzzi said.
Earle said she's surprised by the controversy. Similar web-monitoring software has been in place in state government since 2004. The new appropriation will extend that system into other agencies and departments.
“The state has had a similar web filtering system in place over the last number of years,” Earle said. “And we have had no complaints regarding our responsible use of the monitoring or filtering system.”
Earle said the monitoring software has resulted in “five to 10” disciplinary actions in recent years, including terminations. The exact count, she said, is impossible to pinpoint since the state's data system doesn't track employee grievances by cause.
More importantly, according to Earle, the software prevents employee misconduct by tamping down on inappropriate web use in the first place. At the Agency of Transportation, one of the first state agencies to get the software, Internet page views dropped by 72 percent upon implementation of the software, according to Earle.
“That particular agency observed increased productivity through decreased personal Internet usage by employees,” Earle said. “It didn't create grievances, it avoided them. People knew where the line in the sand was drawn and employees acted accordingly.”