Ethics and computers: Bowling Green's computer policy.

• Author: Wilson, Melissa
• Position: Kentucky

As computer usage increases in governments, It often is accompanied by concerns about procedures and security. To address those concerns, one Kentucky city developed a written employee computer ethics and procedures handbook that all computer users must read and agree to before accessing the city's computer system.

The City of Bowling Green, the seat of Warren County in south-central Kentucky (population 41,688), employs 350 individuals full time, with another 104 people assisting the city as part-time or seasonal employees. In 1993, 200 of the city's employees were using computers for word processing, citizens assistance, financials, payroll, occupational licenses, police records management, fire runs, fleet management, cemetery lot records, and building permits and inspections. That year, a request for proposals was issued for a new citywide computer software and hardware system. The contract was awarded for a turnkey computer system totaling $2.1 million. A wide variety of software, ranging from finance and public safety to public works and parks and recreation, was purchased to run on new hardware.

In April 1994, the information systems staff determined that a policy should be established to aid in preventing abuse of city equipment. The city's training/PC specialist was asked to research computer systems ethics policies; however, she found that there were no records of any such detailed policies. In effect, the city was on new ground as it prepared its ethics policy.

The drafting process for the policy was a long one. After the document was created, it was thoroughly reviewed by information systems staff. After receiving comments from the city's systems consultant, the chief financial officer who heads the finance department's information systems division approved the policy. Once the policy gained approval from the city attorney, a municipal order was presented to and approved by the city commissioners on June 21, 1994.

Before an employee is granted access to the city's computer system, the employee must read the policy and sign the two agreement sheets provided at the end of the document. The signing of the agreement sheets must be witnessed by either the chief financial officer or one of the three information systems staff members. One signed copy is for the employee to keep, and the other is kept on file with the information systems division.

Thus far, the policy has been beneficial in allowing employees to understand uses and sanctions related to city-owned equipment, such as unauthorized copying of licensed software, modifying files, and allowing access to unauthorized users. The "Computer Procedures and Ethics Policy" serves as an outline of steps that can be taken to ensure that equipment and software can be used to benefit the city in the most advantageous way. The sections that follow present excerpts from the policy booklet.

Computer Ethics Policy

The general standards of conduct expected of a city employee or public official also apply to the use of city computing resources. The resources include:

* hardware: physical equipment used for processing or data communications;

* software: programs, programming languages, instructions, or routines which are used to perform work on a computer;

* data: information such as records or...