Building a Better E-mail Acceptable Use Policy
That’s the title of an article in the latest Info-Tech Advisor, a regular newsletter of the Info-Tech Research Group. The article has some good discussion on what such a policy should contain.
The article starts off with this explanation:
E-mail acceptable use policies are not new. Most enterprises use them to communicate expectations to end users and set service limits (such as storage limits for user mailboxes). Take this opportunity to revisit the policy to be sure it includes retention periods, states possible e-discovery uses, and accurately defines acceptable use.
I would take this one step farther though. Instead of doing just an email policy, do a broader based technology use policy that encompasses other things like Internet use, use of any kind of corporate technology (even copiers and phones) , and perhaps even blogging. A broader based and broader worded policy will cover a lot more ground, and can be drafted a bit more generically so it does not get out of date quickly.
The Info-Tech report is only available by paid subscription, but the article is reproduced here with their permission.
