How far is too far when it comes to monitoring your government computer?

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Certain employee communications are protected by law. But does that mean everything else is fair game?

I’m curious to hear your thoughts on what is appropriate electronic monitoring and what you consider to be overreaching? Have you set personal restrictions for using your government computer in order to keep personal matters private and/or shielded from any sort of inadvertent or targeted monitoring?

You can comment below or contact me directly. Thanks.

njohnson@federaltimes.com

703-750-8145

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7 Comments

  1. herbert gary maxwell on

    I believe the government should be able to monitor my use of THEIR computer 100% of the time as it belongs to the government use and it should only be used for government purposes.

  2. I don’t do personal business on my gov PC, so that aspect doesn’t bother me. But I do government business on my gov PC that is considered priviledged in some manner. We have need to know limitations on what we can tell others, but the contractors monitoring our PCs are privy to everything that goes on including contract documentation. The contractor grapevine knows what’s going on way before the government staff are told anything. There’s a major breach right there everyday.

  3. @bmj If the contractors who do your IT have access to your documents, you are incompetent. Have you ever heard of password protecting your files?

    And more on topic, yes the Government should be able to monitor my use on their computer.

  4. If the contractors who do your IT have access to your documents, you are incompetent. Have you ever heard of password protecting your files?

    And more on topic, yes the Government should be able to monitor my use on their computer.

  5. password protecting documents does nothing. Look at the FDA ad TSA as an example. They purchased software that does keystroke logging and screen scrapes. password protecting a document is locking the barn door after the horse already got out….

  6. It’s the Government’s computer, so they can restrict, or access anything they want on it. That is part of having the position with the Feds. If you don’t like, find a job in the private sector.

  7. Nicole Johnson on

    Thanks for the lively discussion. Make sure to read Federal Times’ coverage of federal electronic monitoring practices in our Monday issue online.

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