Tighter Town Cell Phone Rules Adopted

The Board of Selectmen last week endorsed stricter standards for Hingham employees' cell phone use, a policy decision prompted by the increased amount of information stored in smartphones and similar devices.

The new rules require, for example, passwords and automatic locking for town cell phones, immediate reporting of lost or stolen devices and a system for remotely wiping data from lost or stolen phones.

Selectmen voted 3-0 to approve the policy, according to a video of the Nov. 21 meeting posted by HCAM-TV.

"They carry with them quite a bit of data," Alexiades said. "Essentially through the phones and through the email network you can access part of our computer network, and we want to ensure the integrity of the network."

The IT department is also working on updates to the town's email servers and content filtering equipment. 

"This is part of their attempt to give us better controls on our data network," Alexiades said.