Policies and Guidelines on the Use and Maintenance of the BIR Internet Facilities

August 7, 1998 REVENUE MEMORANDUM ORDER NO. 81-98 SUBJECT : Policies and Guidelines on the Use and Maintenance of the BIR Internet Facilities TO : All Concerned BIR Officials and Employees I. OBJECTIVE This order prescribes specific policies and guidelines for the Bureau's Internet Facility which includes: LexLib authorized users, user accountabilities, management, administration and maintenance II. DEFINITION OF TERMS A. INTERNET FACILITY refers to the technology that allows users to access other agencies and web sites B. USERS refers to BIR employees who will be allowed to access the Internet C. ACCOUNT refers to the permission given to a user to connect and access the Internet III. POLICIES and GUIDELINES The following policies and guidelines should cover the use and maintenance of the BIR Internet Facilities. 1. GENERAL The BIR Internet Facilities will be available to selected BIR personnel known as users as identified in #2 below. As an interim procedure, the BIR Internet Facility will be made available through a proxy software using a third party Internet Service Provider as proposed in the approved Internet architecture. (Attachment 1: BIR Internet Architecture). Implementation of the long term internet design shall commence upon approval of the BIR technical committee or DCIR-ISG. Any changes necessary to take effect the transition from the interim to long term procedure shall be covered by a separate memorandum. 2. USERS Use and access of Internet Account shall be but not limited to the following users: BIR Management (CIR, DCIRs, ACIRs, RR Directors with network connection, RDC Heads), Inter-agency projects such as Finlink and those approved and identified by the DCIR-ISG, BIR Division Chiefs of offices with required on-line activities with other government agencies such as Statistics and Revenue Accounting; BIR Division Chiefs of offices with constant research activities such as Training Division, Information Planning Policies and Standards (IPPS), Technical Support Division (TSD), Quality Assurance (QA) and Web Team Except for BIR Management who are priority users of the Internet, issuance of internet accounts to other users other than those above shall be allowed only upon written approval granted by the Deputy Commissioner of the Information Systems Group. All approved users will have to fill a "Request for an Access Form" available at the Systems Maintenance Office for proper monitoring and control. 3. INAPPROPRIATE USE OF THE INTERNET Transmission of any material/document/information in violation of any of the existing policies of the Bureau of Internal Revenue, Department of Finance, and the Philippine Government law is prohibited. This includes but is not limited to the following: confidential documents of the Bureau; unofficial Bureau information and/or documents; information that may give negative or destructive image to the Bureau and the Philippines; information which violates or infringes upon the rights of any other person; defamatory, inappropriate, abusive; obscene, profane, sexually oriented, threatening, racially offensive or illegal materials gossips, rumors or anonymous messages 4. USER ACCOUNTABILITY 4.1 The accomplished Access Form shall serve as the official file of the Bureau which in effect will make the requesting personnel accountable to any acts in the use of the Internet Account. Resignation, termination and retirement shall mean automatic revocation of the account. 4.2 Transmission and/or retrieval of any material/document/information in violation of any of the existing policies of the Bureau and the Philippine Government is strictly prohibited. On the other hand, the Bureau cannot monitor or control the retrieval or downloading of information from the Internet. Users must be guided by the set of policies stated herein. 4.3 Automatic revocation of account will be implemented under the following conditions: A. Unauthorized cascading of the proxy server; B. Use of the Internet without proper authority; C. Replication of account; D. Illegal access using an existing account; and E. Opening one's mailbox. F. Use of chat software (i.e.: IRC, ICQ, Yahoo, etc.) 4.4 Inappropriate use of the Internet Facility may result to revocation of issued account plus the appropriate administrative sanction depending on the degree of violation committed. prcd First Offense: Verbal admonition and a written reprimand will be issued and shall form part of his/her 201 files. Second Offense: The Internet account will be suspended until after such time that the violator has been evaluated to be abiding by these policies. Evaluators should include the proxy server systems administrator, the ACIR of the concerned service, a representative from the Office Automation Team and the DCIR- ISG. Third Offense: The Internal Security Office will be notified of the violator's non-compliance to this Order for the necessary administrative sanction in accordance with the Civil Service rules. 5. SECURITY 5.1 The net-proxy server located at the National Office will serve as the central server which will monitor the access of users to the internet. 5.2 The project manager of the Office Automation Project shall maintain a copy of the accomplished Office Automation Access Form in order to determine all authorized users of the Internet. 5.3 Downloading of evaluation software is prohibited unless with proper authorization from the higher Bureau official of the concerned service or group and should be duly noted by the DCIR-ISG. 5.4 Log-in password should be maintained in order to prevent illegal access of other users. 5.5 Adding another proxy server is prohibited unless properly coordinated and approved by the project manager of the Office Automation project. IV. ROLES AND RESPONSIBILITIES 1. DCIR-ISG approval of request letters/users. 2. Office Automation Project Team project management, coordination liaison of needed efforts and training. 3. Access Management Division of Systems Management Office (SMO) issuance of Request for an Access Form, server and systems administration, creation of Internet account, physical security of Internet Facility. 4. Technical Support Division Internet architecture and design, PC reconfiguration and other technical efforts needed to run the Internet facility, physical security of the entire BIR network. V. EFFECTIVITY This Order takes effect immediately. cdll (SGD.) BEETHOVEN L. RUALO Commissioner of Internal Revenue