County issues policy update
One commissioner said, “We’re trying to catch up with technology.”
In 2003, Washington County adopted a policy on “Information, Confidentiality, Privacy and Security Standards.” One paragraph of the 29-page document prohibited the use of county e-mail to send offensive messages at a time when BlackBerry marketed an interactive device featuring a keyboard and Myspace was the dominant social network.
Facebook did not appear until 2004 and Twitter until 2006, when the county updated the policy for the first time.
Apple introduced its iPhone in 2007, ushering in a world of change.
The latest policy update “is not intended to govern employees’ establishment or use of personal social media accounts for personal purposes outside the workplace and using noncounty information systems. However, some personal uses of social media may reflect on the county or appear to represent county policy… In addition, accessing and using personal social media accounts by means of county information systems is subject to county policy.”
The seven-page policy supplement the board of commissioners adopted Thursday applies to all uses of social media by county employees maintaining, using or providing oversight of social media tools. They county includes full-time and part-time employees but also contractors, interns and volunteers who contribute content, and members of the public who comment or otherwise interact with the county through its social media websites.
The policy also addresses personal accounts.
“Employees should not expect or assume privacy or confidentiality with respect to any such personal social media use or social media content …. Any user profile, biography or posting on a social media account that identifies that person as a county employee must include a disclaimer along the lines of, “The views I express on this site are my own and do not reflect any official view or position of the County of Washington.”
The policy update bars ethnic slurs, profanity, personal insults, materials that are harassing, defamatory, fraudulent or discriminatory, or other content that would not be acceptable in a county workplace. It also seeks to refrain content that “engages in political, religious, commercial or other communications on personal topics that are not in furtherance of the county’s business, display sexually explicit images, cartoons, joke or messages or other material in violation of the county’s Equal Employment Opportunity and anti-harassment policies.”
Asked what prompted the update, Washington County Commission Chairman Larry Maggi said last week, “That is such a big part of how we do things now.
Whether you like social media or not, it’s an important part of what we do to disseminate information. Although you can’t control what employees do, you have to put limitations so you limit the liabilities of the county from what someone may put out there. We’re not trying to impugn free speech or anything like that.”
Maggi said he was unaware of any internal issues within Washington County, but he learned through the County Commissioners of Pennsylvania that problems have cropped up in other counties. In another county he did not name, someone misrepresented the county on social media, pretending to be the voice of the county.
“It’s very difficult to manage and we’re trying to make sure we protect the county,” Maggi continued. Washington County, Pa., has no Twitter account, for example but “I use it, the commissioners use it, the news media uses it,” he said.
The county wants to honor confidentiality laws, for example, by prohibiting dissemination of information dealing with children or court cases that are closed to the public.
The policy also covers those not employed by the county but who post comments on county websites, such as www.co.washington.pa.us. It has a “Community Voice” feature that allows users to sign up through Facebook or Yahoo. Postings on the site deal with land data and online access to deed records and tax levies, a request for a pedestrian and bicycle path along Route 19 in Washington, and information about homeless shelters.
Maggi said the social media policy update has been in the works for many months.