You should also institute a policy that deals with the accidental loading of explicit material. Perhaps it's best to instruct employees to notify a supervisor if an X-rated pop-up window appears so that no unwarranted disciplinary action is taken. Finally, make sure everyone understands the penalties involved with accessing inappropriate material.

After everyone understands what the company expects of them when they're online, it's time to get the solutions running.

So what's the right kind of technology to keep your employees on task?

Decisions, Decisions

Filters. The filter could be all you really need; in any case, it's a strong foundation. Filters can be used to block access to specified IP addresses, keywords, phrases, and more. You can set preferences yourself, or purchase an automated solution that scours the Web for words, phrases, and context (e.g., it allows an employee of a bottle-washing plant to search the Net for "jugs"), and then reports findings and blocks access accordingly. These applications can be customized to deliver notices of bad behavior to higher-ups, network admins, or the user/violator.

A close relative of the filter, 'file quarantine' solutions can be installed to halt all potential downloads at the firewall level, allowing supervisors to inspect files of questionable origin or content. This protects the rules in the company handbook and the network from virus attacks.

Type Tattletales. On the market are software suites and pre-loaded servers that catch users typing inappropriate terms in search engines, and actually prevent them from doing so. You pick the words and phrases, the solutions do the rest. You can even set the application to snitch on the user. Some applications will simultaneously install and update filters on proxy servers, preventing crafty folks from working around the system. How long before Yahoo! will recognize "S-H-I-P minus P, plus T" as a search phrase?

Timers. If you want to restrict Net access during certain times (e.g. after normal business hours) you should consider installing these apps. Quite simply, you set the times for access; employees will be securely shut out. Look into buying a solution that will allow a supervisor to override the controls at terminal points in case a necessity arises.

Keystroke Catchers. These solutions allow you to record keystrokes from any screen in the building, or monitor activities in real time. If someone types it, you can see it; perfect for nabbing the people who abuse chat rooms. Naughty material aside, this can also be useful when watching out for employees suspected of leaking proprietary information. Many keystroke monitors have the ability to keep word-for-word logs-but they need regular feeding: scalable hard drive space.

Real-Time Spies. As the name implies, these solutions offer you the chance to actively monitor the way your employees use company equipment. Sit back, relax, and watch Jim in accounts payable dump his entire tech stock portfolio in a marathon online trading session; or get the latest dirt on Jane's 14-year-old second cousin's pregnancy by secretly dropping in on an MSN Messenger chat. If you're buying, look for apps that allow real-time snooping on Web activities, instant message tools, mail, and non-Internet-even job-specific-programs. You can also find solutions that will send this information in real time to remote servers, private Web sites, or networks for your viewing pleasure.

What You Can Do

A senior level IT professional-under the condition of anonymity-said his company's policies regarding use of proprietary equipment are fairly clear. He explained that many gray areas exist in terms of what's appropriate and what's not-and levels thereof; in any case, if a page loads some foul content, and it's purely accidental, the IT department will issue a memo to the employee explaining what happened, and will advise ways to prevent future problems.

If an employee is purposely accessing lewd content, the first offense almost always involves a meeting involving the employee and his supervisors; he may also face the company president. The incident will be noted in the employee's file.

A second offense, at the discretion of company leadership, could involve suspension without pay for a few days, depending on the content in question. Our source said the company usually prefers stern warnings to immediate termination-of course, the latter sometimes cannot be avoided. Other types of incidents noted on the employee's file influence the degree of reprimand.

A third offense, if the employee is really that thick headed, will mean termination. How many warnings and punishments does one person need?

According to our source, employees at his company were also issued a "sharing policy" explaining what's suitable for use in the workplace. The rules were issued to all employees as soon as problematic browsing and e-mailing were discovered. They state that all e-mail messages containing potentially offensive content-sex, race, religion, disability-be destroyed.

The company's IT department deployed a few solutions that manage the flow of content to prevent the influx of lascivious matter. That includes WebSpy (www.webspy.com), an all-in-one solution that filters Web access by keyword, content, and category; produces charts and graphs based on usage and access points; reports usage trends; and reports usage durations by user or IP address. It can also be programmed to block access to certain IP addresses, keywords, and phrases. The company also employs Web sniffers, which are set to monitor the sites employees visit, the duration of the visit, and the user's name or network ID. E-mail monitors-in this case, GFI Software's Mail Essentials (www.gfi.com) are fine-tuned to scan attachments for viruses and route messages with inappropriate content in the subject line or body to the e-mail administrator.

Content management technology is strong. But there's always a path around the system. So if one of your employees is addicted to Aimster and keeps finding ways to tunnel under your cyber-fences, you should suggest a career in software engineering as he's escorted from the building.

So You Want To Play Big Brother

X-Stop by 8e6 Technologies
(www.8e6technologies.com)
Denies access to pre-selected Web sites, FTP sites, newsgroup sites, and denies searches using pre-selected words within search engines. Prevents access to selective ports such as IRC, ICQ, Real Video, Real Audio, etc.; automatically filters proxy servers which prevents bypassing the system; customizable individual filtering profile for end users; automatic daily library updates of new categorized sites; reporting of Internet usage by user or by organization, and more.

Spector by SpectorSoft
(www.spectorsoft.com)
Records all Internet activities, working in the background and taking hundreds of screen shots every hour. Works with Web sites, chat applications, instant message services, e-mail, and keystrokes. Also records Hotmail, Yahoo Mail, and other anonymous e-mail accounts.

Black Box by Enfiltrator
(www.enfiltrator.com)
Tracks computer use, including applications keystrokes, logging user ID, date, time, application, keystrokes, active time, inactive time, and more. Recorded information is searchable and viewable via spreadsheets and charts.

PC-Timer by Safari Software Products
(www.pctimer.com)
Allows businesses to decide who uses what, when, and how long. The system admin allocates time per application to each user; the applications lock out the users when the time has expired. The app gives a two-minute warning to users and prompts them to save and exit. Internet downloads are not interrupted by PC-Timer even if the user is locked out.