First Baptist Church Hugo
Internet Usage Policy - Printer Friendly

First Baptist Church (FBC) provides certain employees, members & volunteers (users) access to the vast information resources of the Internet with the intention of increasing productivity and enhancing church-related communication. While this access has the potential for users to do their jobs faster or smarter, there is justifiable concern that it can also be misused. Such misuse can waste time, potentially violate laws, FBC policies, garner negative publicity for the church and potentially expose it to significant legal liabilities. This Internet usage policy, which applies to all users, is designed to facilitate understanding of the expectations for the use of these resources.

The underlying philosophy of this policy is that Internet access from FBC is primarily for church-related purposes including communicating with congregation members and colleagues, researching relevant topics and obtaining useful business information. In addition, all existing laws and FBC policies apply to an user’s conduct on the Internet, especially those that deal with intellectual property protection, privacy, misuse of FBC resources, sexual harassment, information and data security, and confidentiality.

Do not do anything with FBC’s Internet access resources that would otherwise be considered illegal, grossly inappropriate, or offensive to the established value system expressed by FBC as a Christian, non-profit organization. Viewing or downloading erotica, playing internet games, sending non-FBC related mass mailings, and running a private business are obvious examples.

Do not waste FBC time. There are plenty of fascinating sites to explore, but FBC time should be spent conducting FBC business. Employees should use their Internet facilities for non-business research or browsing during lunch and outside of work hours, however occasional and reasonable personal use of FBC resources is permitted, provided that this does not interfere with work performance.

Internet Policy Provisions

1. During any Internet use, users are required to refrain from any activity or communication that would have a negative impact on FBC or the reputation of FBC.

2. User IDs and passwords help maintain individual accountability for Internet resource usage. Any user who obtains a password or ID for an Internet resource must keep that password confidential. FBC policy prohibits the sharing of user IDs or passwords.

3. Each user using FBC’s Internet facility shall identify himself or herself honestly, accurately and completely when corresponding or participating in interactive activities, and shall not send unsolicited mass electronic mail.

4. Only those persons who are duly authorized to speak to the media or public gatherings on behalf of FBC on a particular subject may speak/write in the name of FBC to any newsgroup or chatroom. Other users may participate in newsgroups or chats in the course of business when relevant to their duties, but they do so as individuals speaking only for themselves and should make that clear in their communication. Only those persons who are authorized to speak to the media or public gatherings on behalf of FBC on a particular subject may grant such authority to newsgroup or chat participants.

5. Users are reminded that the Internet is not a secure method of communication. Neither proprietary information nor any information received in confidence by FBC, or the user in the course of his or her employment, may be sent on the Internet unless prior approval is received from the Pastor.

6. The display of any kind of obscene image or document on any FBC computing resource is prohibited. In addition, obscene material may not be archived, stored, distributed, edited, or recorded using FBC network, printing, or computing resources. If you find yourself connected accidentally to a site that contains sexually explicit or offensive material, you must disconnect from that site immediately and report the incident.

7. Freeware, shareware and commercial software from the Internet may be subject to computer viruses, may not work properly, or may be subject to copyright infringement laws. Installation of such software may adversely impact your computer’s performance by using system resources. Users may download only software with direct business use, and must arrange to have such software properly licensed and registered. Users may not use FBC Internet facilities to download entertainment software or games, or to play games against opponents over the Internet. No user may use FBC facilities knowingly to download or distribute pirated software or data. Any software or files downloaded via the Internet may be used only in ways that are consistent with their licenses or copyrights. Any file that is downloaded must be scanned for viruses before it is run or accessed.

8. No user may use FBC’s facilities to deliberately propagate any virus, worm, Trojan horse, trap-door, or back-door program code or knowingly disable or overload any computer system, network, or to circumvent any system intended to protect the privacy or security of another user.

9. FBC’s Internet facilities and computing resources must not be used to knowingly violate the laws and regulations of the United States or any other nation, or the laws and regulations of any state, city, province or local jurisdiction in any material way.

10. Users should not have any expectation of privacy as to his or her Internet usage. It is possible to monitor Internet usage patterns and FBC may inspect any and all files stored on FBC resources to the extent necessary to ensure compliance with this Internet Usage Policy.

11. Infractions of these policies constitute a misuse of FBC assets and therefore is considered a violation of FBC’s Personnel Policy. Any such infraction may result in termination or other disciplinary actions.