This policy sets forth the requirements and policies of the Greenville Fire District (the District) with regard to access to, review of, or disclosure of electronic mail (“e-mail”) messages sent or received by employees through the District’s e-mail system. It also sets forth the requirements and policies for the proper use by employees of the Internet access provided by the District, department computers and equipment, the District’s computer system for emails, files, data, software, images, voice mails, text messages, social media accounts, electronic communications, and stored electronic communications. It is the responsibility of each employee to understand the District’s Internet, Email and Social Media policy and acceptable versus unacceptable use of the Internet in general. It is also the responsibility of the user to inquire as to acceptable and unacceptable uses prior to use.
The District’s computer system, including all Fire District issued computers, laptops, notebooks, tablets, electronic devices, hardware, the intranet, and access to the Internet provided by the District, are owned by the Fire District. The use of such systems, equipment and access is conditioned upon employee consent to the terms of this policy. The District’s policies have equal force/effect in any online setting. A violation of a policy online or via email is a violation of the policy and may subject the individual to discipline.
The policies and guidelines set forth herein do not constitute a contract. Greenville Fire District reserves the right to change them at any time, at its sole discretion.

I. Appropriate Use

The e-mail system is provided to employees at the expense of Greenville Fire District to assist them in carrying out District business. The e-mail system permits employees to communicate with each other internally.
Employees are expected to check their business email on a regular basis and respond to messages, where applicable, in a timely manner. The Internet access provided by the District also allows employees to communicate with other agencies or municipalities, vendors, etc. External correspondence to agencies, municipalities, building departments, vendors, etc., must be reviewed and approved by Chief prior to delivery and Chief must be copied on all external e-mail messages.
The e-mail system is to be used for business-related purposes only to transmit business information. Greenville Fire District treats all messages sent, received or stored in the e-mail system as business messages. All electronic correspondence should be professional and courteous in manner. Any social media and email use must not interfere, in any way, with an individual’s job function or department operations.

THE SYSTEMS ARE FOR BUSINESS USE. USERS HAVE NO EXPECTATION OF PRIVACY IN MESSAGES SENT OR RECEIVED.

Employees are advised that they have no expectation of privacy in any electronic communication, stored electronic communication, file, image, sound, message, web site visited, or other action or activity while working on a fire department computer, or while using any other computer, cellular telephone, or electronic device that is accessing the fire department computer system, including while accessing the
Internet through the fire department computer system. Employees are advised that they have no expectation of privacy in any electronic communication, stored electronic communication, file, image, sound, or message contained on a portable memory device such as a hard disk, flash drive, memory card, CDRom, DVD, or other media that is attached to/accessible by a fire department computer, or is attached to/accessible by an electronic device that is accessing the fire department computer system.

Employees are reminded that email messages may be subject to public disclosure under the Freedom of Information act, and may be discoverable during litigation. Assume any email sent over the Fire District system will be viewed by the Public.
Greenville Fire District has the capability and right to access, intercept, monitor, review, copy and delete any messages or files sent, received or stored on the e-mail system at any time, for any reason and without prior notice. The District reserves the right to access, review, copy or delete all such messages for any purpose and to disclose them to any party (inside or outside the District) it deems appropriate. It should be noted that although a message or file may be deleted by an employee, it is still possible to retrieve that message. Therefore, ultimate privacy of messages cannot be assured to anyone. Everyone employed by the Greenville Fire District is required to sign an E-Mail Monitoring Consent & Electronic Communications, Computer and Social Media Policy Receipt acknowledging they have read and understand the terms of this policy.
Should employees make incidental use of the e-mail system during personal time to transmit personal messages, such messages will be treated no differently from other messages; i.e., the District reserves the right to access, review, copy, delete or disclose them for any purpose.
Accordingly, employees should not use the e-mail system to send, receive or store any messages they wish to keep private. Users should treat the e-mail system like a shared file system, with the expectation that messages sent, received or stored in the e-mail system (including individual hard discs) will be available for review by any authorized representative of the District for any purpose.

The District provides Internet access and Internet e-mail for business purposes. This is the same principal that applies to all of our facilities: Phone, fax, postage, etc. Greenville Fire District has the capability to review all Internet uses made by employees. Accordingly, employees should not use the Internet access for non-business purposes during business hours, and at no time for purposes which the employee wishes to

be kept private or for inappropriate, prohibited or unauthorized usage. Users should expect that Internet use will be reviewed by authorized District representatives.

II. Prohibited Uses
a. Use of the e-mail and Internet systems to engage in any communications that are in violation of the District’s policies is strictly prohibited.

i. Specific unacceptable uses include, but are not limited to:

1. Use of the Internet for any purposes, which violate a Federal, State or local law or District policy.
2. Use for any personal for-profit activities.
3. Use for purposes not directly related to the mission, contract, or work tasks of the District, subject to reasonable exceptions.
4. Use for private business, including commercial advertising.
5. The unauthorized installation, use, storage or distribution of copyrighted software or materials on the District’s computers.
6. Distribution of Greenville Fire District’s intellectual property, outside the District, without the expressed authorization of the Chief or Board of Commissioners.
7. Use for access to and distribution of indecent or obscene material or pornography. There is a tremendous amount of sexually explicit material on the Internet. Our system should not be used at any time to access it, download it, display it, transmit it, or send or receive tasteless humor. The District does not tolerate actions that may create a hostile or abusive work environment.
8. Use for access to and distribution of computer games.
9. Use for distribution of spam e-mail messages.
10. Use of Internet services so as to interfere with or disrupt network users, services, or equipment.
11. Intentionally seek out information, distribute information, obtain copies of, or modify files and other data, which is private, confidential or not open to public inspection or release.
12. No intentional copy is to be made of any software, electronic file, program or data without a prior, good faith determination that such copying is, in fact, permissible. Any efforts to obtain permission should be adequately documented.
13. Users intentionally representing themselves electronically as others or engaging in any misleading conduct and/or failing to properly identify oneself.
14. Accessing, or trying to access, another user’s e-mail account.
15. Obtaining, or distributing, another user’s e-mail account.

16. Intentionally developing programs designed to harass other users or infiltrate a computer or computing system and/or damage or alter the software components of same.
17. Use for fund raising or public relations activities not specifically related to District activities.
18. Soliciting for political, religious or other non-departmental reasons.
19. Advertising purely commercial activities or events.
20. The District’s policies regarding equal employment opportunity and sexual harassment apply with equal force to e-mail communications. Hate mail, transmission of defamatory, obscene, offensive or harassing messages, discriminatory remarks, sexual harassment or messages that disclose personal information about other individuals without authorization, is strictly prohibited.

III. Broadcast Messages

To prevent the e-mail system from overloading, choose your recipients carefully. Limit messages sent throughout the entire District. The e-mail system should not be used in any way to solicit co-employees to donate money to cause or to purchase any item without the direct consent of the Chief of the Department or the Board of Fire Commissioners.

IV. Copyrighted Information

Use of the e-mail and Internet system to copy and/or transmit any documents, software, or other information protected by the Copyright Laws of the United States is prohibited unless the District has provided written authorization to do so.
V. Storing and Deleting E-Mail Messages

Employees are not to delete emails unless and until authorized by the District’s record retention policy. Emails that pertain to a matter under litigation shall be retained until such time as the Fire Chief or his/her designee authorize the deletion in writing.

VI. Confidential Information

Fire District personnel routinely handle information that is considered to be confidential under federal and state law. This includes information relative to incidents, investigations, patients, and employees, and may include confidential personal information, financial information, and medical information. E-mail messages should be treated in the same way

as confidential printed material. The following are examples of circumstances where confidentiality standards may be violated.

a. You leave the e-mail program running on your screen or leave an e-mail message on your screen. This allows others to view your e-mail should they sit at your computer.

b. A confidential message is printed on a shared printer down the hall. Anyone with access to that printer can review this document.
c. An e-mail message is inadvertently sent to someone who was not intended or authorized by law to receive it. Caution should be exercised with any confidential message before it is sent.

Caution should also be exercised when using the Internet. The Internet is an easy, inexpensive way to engage in business communications. Do not rely on the Internet for critical communications due to the possibility of confidentiality and data compromise concerns.
By definition, any message sent via the Internet is unsecured.

Users must exercise a greater degree of caution when transmitting confidential information on the e-mail system than with other means of communicating (e.g. written memoranda, letters or phone calls) because of the reduced human effort required to redistribute such information.
Confidential information should never be transmitted or forwarded to individuals or companies not expressly authorized to receive that information and should not be sent or forwarded to other users inside the District who do not need to know the information. Always use care in addressing e-mail messages to make certain that the messages are not inadvertently sent to outsiders or the wrong people inside the District. In particular, exercise care when using distribution lists to make certain that all addressees are appropriated recipients of the information. Lists are not always kept current and individuals using lists should take measures to ensure that the lists are current. Refrain from routinely forwarding messages with confidential information to multiple parties unless there is a clear business need to do so. Be aware that if you respond to an attachment, that attachment may be forwarded to the wrong person.

As a general rule, employees may not forward, distribute or incorporate into other work, material retrieved from a web site or other external system. Very limited use may be permitted in certain circumstances. Any employee desiring to reproduce or store the contents of a screen or web site should contact the Computer System Administrator or Chief of the Department to ascertain whether the intended use is permissible.

Common sense and an absolute commitment to maintaining confidentiality are key to using electronic communications safely and effectively.

VII. Unsolicited Attachments to E-Mail Messages
Do not, at any time, open unsolicited attachments to e-mail messages since they are sometimes used to transmit virus packages that can affect not only the receiving computer, but all computers connected to the District’s network. Do not in any circumstances open an e-mail attachment which
has an “.exe” as part of the name. Viruses can attach themselves to these programs. If you receive an e-mail with an .exe attachment, DO NOT OPEN IT AND DO NOT SEND IT TO ANYONE ELSE IN THE
OFFICE. Notify the Computer System Administrator immediately.

VIII. E-Mail Etiquette

Please remember that your e-mail messages may be read by someone other that the addressee and may someday have to be disclosed to outside parties. As such, always make certain that your messages are courteous, professional and businesslike.

IX. Computer System and Network Resources

a. Ownership Rights
All computer equipment, and software provided to employees is property of the Greenville Fire District and must be surrendered upon demand.
b. Software Licensing
All data and programs present on the workstations, laptops, or internal networks are property of the Greenville Fire District and may not be copied, moved, altered, transmitted, or used on non-Greenville Fire District equipment under any circumstances, without the express written permission of the Chief of the Department or the Board of Fire Commissioners. Only software which has been properly licensed, and approved by the Greenville Fire District, may be installed on workstations, laptops, or internal networks. See APPPENDIX A for a list of software which has been properly licensed and approved by the Greenville Fire District. Should non-approved or unlicensed software be discovered, it will be subject to immediate removal, without regard for incidental loss or hardship to the user(s).

c. Passwords and Network Security
Members will be required to use passwords to protect their user accounts. User account passwords are essential to safeguarding the Greenville Fire District’s internal network security. In addition to protecting district systems from unauthorized access, passwords allow each user to store sensitive data in private locations, accessible only to that user. Any use that occurs on an employee’s workstation under that employee’s login is presumed to be performed by that employee. Employees must log off the computer when not using it, and before leaving the computer unattended.
Also, for e-mail messages, passwords are used to validate the identity of the sender. User account passwords are under the authority of the District. Therefore, if requested, for any reason, passwords and other sensitive information needed to access an employee’s account or site must be surrendered to a District official.
X. Violation of Policy
a. Should any violations of this policy occur, possible disciplinary actions may be taken and may include, but is not limited to, termination or suspension. In cases involving less serious violations, disciplinary action may consist of warning or reprimand. Remedial action may also include counseling, changes in work assignments, or other measures designed to prevent future misconduct. The measure of discipline will correspond to the gravity of the offense as weighed by its potential effect on the District and fellow employees.