Less net privilege for public servants

The policy that is already in draft form is expected to be unveiled sometime mid year and is geared towards improving productivity in the public service.

Chatting on MSN Messenger, updating your Hi5 profile, surfing amazon.com for some cool bargains? Well if you are a public servant, be prepared to do that on your own time, as soon you will not be able to surf the information highway at work unless it is for official government business.

The policy that is already in draft form is expected to be unveiled sometime mid year and is geared towards improving productivity in the public service and utilizing internet access for the purpose for which it was provided.{{more}}

Minister of Telecomunications Dr Jerrol Thompson made this disclosure during a recent interview with the SEARCHLIGHT.

Thompson also suggested that parents need to take a greater interest in the internet habits and activities of their children stating that there is little that can really be done to protect children from any illegal pursuits that they may or may not encourage on line.

“Parents can’t just feel proud that their children are computer literate but must also seek to be literate.”

The minister believes that it is imperative that parents have the ability to check out search histories and even all the advanced discovery and detection skills to be able to monitor their children’s practices.

Government’s 3 million dollar Information Communication Technology (ICT) program which will be launched within the next three months, will assist parents in getting the training they need.

About three weeks ago a high ranking press official in the United States’ department of Homeland Security was arrested during a sting operation after he struck up sexual conversations with an undercover police detective posing as a 14-year-old girl.

The Minister, while expressing disgust over the report and the sign post of what may actually be going on all over the world, even here in St Vincent and the Grenadines, lamented that the various Governmental authorities worldwide are caught between a rock and a hard place in dealing with such matters.

“People are up in arms if they feel that their privacy is invaded but also want such offences to be punished,” stated the Minister as he reflected on the ongoing dispute between the US government and the international search engine Google. The two are at loggerheads over requests for the disclosure of certain records the Government determines to be crucial to Homeland security, but the company is fighting, successfully thus far, to keep the records private and confidential.