Technology

Stop using collaboration tools in shutdown

In case of a government shutdown, federal employees will be barred from entering their workplace, using their smartphones or laptops, and accessing email and co...

Federal News Network Staff

February 28, 2011 8:13 pm

< a min read

In case of a government shutdown, federal employees will be barred from entering their workplace, using their smartphones or laptops, and accessing email and collaboration tools.

“People who work despite what you tell them will be transferring information from their work accounts to their private accounts” or commercial collaboration tools, including Facebook, said Hord Tipton, a veteran chief information officer for the Interior Department who serves as executive director of (ISC)2, an association that certifies cybersecurity specialists, said in an interview with Government Executive.

“It will be very difficult to control information flow,” Tipton said in the article.

The Office of Personnel Management guidance on furloughs says federal employees cannot volunteer to work unpaid during a furlough.

If the previous shutdowns in 1995 and 1996 were any indication, feds will still want to work.

This desire to work “reflects the dedication and commitment to mission and service to the public that’s an aspect of much of our public service then and now,” said Alan Balutis, the senior director for Cisco’s Business Solutions Group, in an interview with Federal News Radio.

Congress has a March 4 deadline to reach a compromise on a spending measure to avert a shutdown.