12 - The Oakville Beaver, Wednesday May 31, 2006 Spying allegation refuted by mayor and council By Angela Blackburn OAKVILLE BEAVER STAFF Are filters that block SPAM, pornography and hate Web sites and rules that allow for investigation upon suspicion of criminal activity or contravention of corporate policy acceptable rules for big business on the information highway -- or are they a means to spy? Or is there a lot of hullabaloo about such questions because it's an election year? The question hit Town of Oakville council Monday night with a vengeance after what Mayor Ann Mulvale called "stinging allegations" were made on mayoral candidate Rob Burton's campaign Web site blog. Late last week, Burton who challenged Mulvale for the mayor's job in 2003, and is running again in this November's municipal election posted a new entry to his Web site blog entitled, "Mayor To Spy On Town Calls, E-mails." At issue was a collection of policies -- that have been used as administrative procedures at the Town since 2002, but which were up for council endorsement -- that spell out the proper use of infor- Look for XS Cargo's flyer in Wednesday's Oakville Beaver (*Selected areas only) 1224 Dundas Street East, Mississauga 905-270-3933 mation technology, everycion of violathing from cell phones to "Nobody is tion of the law e-mails, by those associat- monitoring two or Town polied with the Town, from million messages a cy. councillors to summer year. We just don't "There is students. nothing sinisThe item was pulled have the manpower ter and nothout of the Administrative to do that function." ing peculiar Services Committee recabout this, in ommendations that were Gord Lalonde, fact it's a good up for council approval as Oakville's Acting government Mulvale cited the "sting- Corporate Services practice recing allegations" posted on Commissioner ommended Burton's blog along with by the federal a claim that Ward 4 government, Councillor Allan Elgar was going to seek it's guidance from the a recorded council vote on the issue. Treasury Board of Canada," Neither Mulvale nor Elgar had said Mulvale. attended last week's committee meeting Elgar said he was conas they were at a Conservation Halton cerned that filters may preevent picking up an award in recognition vent a constituent's e-mail of the Town's environmental strategic from reaching a councillor. plan. Lalonde said the chances Oakville's Acting Corporate Services of an e-mail not reaching its Commissioner Gord Lalonde assured destination are one or two in council that the policies are in step with 50,000 each month -- a varithose advised by the federal govern- able that is quite negligible. ment's Treasury Board, and used by The acting commissioner many large corporations and academic also noted that out of the two institutions including Yale University. million e-mails the Town "This is in keeping with most other receives annually about one policies used in North America, probably million are SPAM e-mails. the world," said Lalonde. That amount is too much to The collection of policies provide for monitor and would involve sporadic audits of the information sys- significant staff time costs tem to ensure its effective functioning. should staff members use Investigations that may lead to the their time to read and delete reading of content could arise should them. there be a Freedom of Information Ward 3 Councillor Chris request, if it's ordered by a court order, if Stoate said that anyone in there exist reasonable grounds for suspi- business would send another e-mail and automatically CORRECTION NOTICE assume their first got caught unintentionally in a SPAM filTo our valued customers: We apologize for any inconvenience ter if they didn't receive a caused by an error in our flyer dated: May19-May26. timely response. Product: Pioneer 200-Watt Car Deck. On pg. 3 of our May 19 insert, we state that this product is Ward 5 Councillor Jeff DVD compatible. In fact, it is not. SKU: 10071355 Knoll noted that e-mails can go astray if systems crash or if addresses are incorrect. The mayor suggested the Town post on its Web site that anyone, who may not receive a timely response to an email should try again or pick up a telephone to follow up. Lalonde said it would be "very unusual" that a SPAM filter would block a message that should get through. If Town staff are notified of such an occurrence happening, the address can be "white listed" to ensure it won't happen again, said Lalonde. Mulvale asked council to look at the flip side of the coin, what would happen if the filters and blocked sites weren't used -- the waste of money in lost staff productivity would be enormous. The mayor also noted that she personally is offended by the content of e-mails she receives -- "I have been a widow for 11 years and I have no interest in elongating any man's physiology" -- and that the Town is obligated to protect its staff from undesired contact from hate or porn sites. "Nobody is monitoring two million message a year, we just don't have the manpower to do that function," said Lalonde. "We would be extremely reluctant to look at any content," said Lalonde. New Town CAO Ray Green said that there's no doubt that from time to time an email will go astray -- the same as a letter, a fax or a voice mail. "It will happen," said Green, noting however Town staff can further clarify examples of what's being done so people can understand what's not being done. "We can clarify what we're doing so there's a comfort level for all that we are open for business," said Green. The item will return to committee with such clarification and then return to council for approval. Meanwhile, Burton's blog noted yesterday, "I accept without reservation Mrs. Mulvale's explanation that she did not intend to acquire spying and censoring powers." Look Inside! Your Water Gardening Experts, just around the corner! See flyer inside for our Water Gardening feature. 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