Internet Usage and Privacy in the Army Essay

Introduction

The use of the internet and email has grown over the last two decades. Today, individuals, companies, and fields have embraced the internet for communication. Many others use it for socialization. Historically, the army had been banned from the use of the internet for communication or for socialization. This, however, changed in the year 2010 when the social media policy in force was reviewed, and thus this order was reversed. From this time onwards, the army has been able to use the internet for communication and well as socialization (Locker, 2010).

Internet and email use

I mostly use the internet for socialization. I joined Facebook and Twitter. These two have been the most important sites I usually visit while online. Using these two, I usually reconnect with my family and friends. I also use them to share with my colleagues. When general communication has been passed from our seniors, we usually update ourselves and how such will affect us through the sites. I sometimes also receive some general communication from my seniors through these sites. This is when they (seniors) display it in what we call “public domain.” Such information is usually one which is not sensitive and which needs to be passed on to others. I use the email platform to send personal messages. They include messages to my relations, my friends, as well as colleagues at work.

Privacy policies

In the army, disclosure of information when such was supposed to be kept secret has devastating effects (Locker, 2010). This is why the internet is usually viewed with caution. Its use can easily make one reveal much about the actions and plans of the force and thus create a situation where objectives are not met because the plans are overturned by enemy forces. In the army, we find that even using the company computer can be a serious risk. There are hackers who can access the company information using the connection line one used while online or communicating with them. To avoid the possibility of exposing information, we are required to take ensure the following:

1. To always use the privacy tools of our social sites. This includes, for example, posting directly to the ‘walls’ of those we are communicating with as opposed to making communication ‘public.’
2. To ensure we lock the computer as well as the room when we are leaving. This is to ensure that no one enters the place or the computer when one has just used it. It limits the chance for any hacker to use the information left as computer memory.
3. To use passwords well and keep them as secret as possible. We are required not to write the passwords on papers. This is to avoid the use of such by other people to log-in to the accounts we have been using. We are required to begin this by creating passwords that are hard to memorize easily. This is intended to help make it difficult for anyone to easily remember our passwords in the case that they accidentally here them. We are also required to keep the company log-in passwords as secretive as possible and never to tell them to anyone.
4. To keep our status on the online conversations as unclassified as possible. This is to help make it impossible for any party to use the information we display to link it with the job we do. It helps us to be as vague as possible on the internet communication and thus not attract any unscrupulous individuals who may want to follow our participation on these channels to find out information for use against us (Read-Smith & Ginn, 2011).

Laws regulating employee email and Internet privacy

The law which applies here is the ECPA (Electronic Communications Privacy Act-18 U.S.C). The law provides the following:

1. Protection of the employee from unauthorized use or access to information by the employer. This includes the emails or conversations on the internet.
2. Protection of the employee from intrusion by the employer of the internet communication the employer may not intercept the communication of the employee

The social media policy also provides many protections to the employee. This includes, for example, allowing employees the use of social media.

Why companies implement email and Internet use policies

Companies will implement email and internet use policies for the following reasons:

1. To avoid disclosure of confidential information about the company. This is because such can be used by some forces to raise scandals or criminalize activities of the company. For the army, this disclosure can easily mean the downfall of the whole force.
2. To avoid informing competing forces. This disclosure may be used to make the competitor easily win by seeking some advantage to the plans of the company. For the army, the use of information by an enemy means a loss to the enemy.

For the company, thus, it is important for the employees to use these policies when using the internet and email because:

1. Employees generally know the secrets of the company. They may willingly or unwillingly disclose. An army, for example, knows much about its operations. They can willingly or unwillingly disclose information about the force (Locker, 2010).
2. Employees have varied interests. Some may be destined to make the company fail, thus may disclose. The example here is an army that is disgruntled. Such can seek to betray others or the force.

Assumptions made by employees about their privacy at work

The various assumptions made by the employee include:

1. That the computer they are using is secured and thus will not be hacked. This is the case for the company computer. The army using such is assuming that the company has protected it.
2. That they are safe from imposition by the employer. The army is, for example, assuming that the seniors are not “watching over” what he or she is doing (Locker, 2010).

How these policies affect employee privacy at work

The privacy policies usually make the employee to be limited in communication. As an example, there are sites that are banned by companies, and thus employees are limited from the benefit of accessing them for information or socialization (Read-Smith & Ginn, 2011).

Conclusion

As identified, in the forces, I use email and the internet for communication and socialization. In terms of communication, I use it to send personal emails to my relations as well as colleagues and sometimes seniors. For socialization, I use it for reconnecting with events and persons at home as well as my friends. As identified, the policies relating to the internet and email use at work include the use of passwords, log-in addresses, as well as ensuring the computer and house are secured. According to what is discussed, these measures limit the employee in what he or she can do. According to the paper, the employee is protected by the ECPA

Recommendations

From the above, I recommend that:

Measures are put in place to ensure more access to the internet by the army.

That, limitations on what an army can do online, are reduced.

References

Locker, K.O. (2010). Business and administrative communication. New York: McGraw-Hill/Irwin.

Read-Smith, J., & Ginn, M. L. (2011). Records management. Mason, OH: South-Western Cengage Learning.