No more BMWST During the day

[Ken H.]

So the new owners of the company I work for announced a freshly reinforced, "Internet access for verified business purposes only" policy today. Violators subject up to termination. They're putting up a "white-list" proxy server. Which basically is; all of the Internet is blocked except requested and approved sites.

 

Which everyone here who is in IT knows is a maintenance/support nightmare. Our head PC support guy (who was totally blindsided by this) is fit to be tied. He'll need a another whole person just to keep up with all the page/URL requests.

 

Of course it's their company, their computers, their network and bandwidth, (of course we're an ISP with three OC12's (roughly 600Mbps each) to the Internet, so it's not like we're exactly bandwidth constrained or anything!) and their time of mine/employees, so strictly speaking no one (including myself of course) has any grounds to complain/protest, but what a morale buster and just big bite in general. To say nothing of getting in the way of valid research in a major way.

 

When will management ever learn? "Beatings will continue until morale improves."

 

Oh well, what's 'just another brick in the wall' to do?

 

[/rant]

 

"Seeing" less of all of you...

 

Cheers!

[StuGotz]

"what... we got here..... is failure to communicate"...

 

Get used to it, this is the new approach.

 

Someone's idea of increasing productivity.

 

Exercise your right as a free American. Quit.

 

MB>

[tonyla]

I don't get this. I never have and I never will. Does management think you spend the whole day surfing? Do they monitor the Happy Birthday phone calls to family members during the day. How about the birthday cupcake where everyone in the work area gathers around.

 

Obviously the internet creates a new set of potential workplace problems. We all understand this and realize what we view could

place the employer in legal troubles.

 

So flag the sites viewed by individuals and deal with each case.

 

I personally do not give out my work email for fear my knucklehead friends won't respect it. Having said that I also follow the Yankees (I know not so good with out the roids) during a day game by refreshing the scoreboard from time to time. No different then a radio playing in my opinion.

 

The bottom line is does taking the access make you unhappy? Simple answer would have to be no, but it does make you feel like

just another brick in the wall and why would any employer want that.

 

I would bet a dollar that any Salary employee gives much more then a 40 hour week. Most of us don't like to calculate hours spend working in relation to pay because why make yourself feel like your being taken advantage of. My wife is a teacher and the contract states "end of work day is 2:55pm" A couple teachers complained and wanted to file a formal complaint because a bus was routinely 10 minutes late. They even asked for a union meeting and the Majority of teachers told them no "when my kid gets sick, or I have to a short appointment the administrators never say a word" Would you believe the few teachers still filled a complaint, so now whats the administration to do?

 

sorry for the long post but this is a very important topic.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[eddd]

Bummer!

 

Working for a school district we have some pretty strong filtering, which is essential. It is irritating when they jump back and forth on some access, like non-school e-mail. Blocked for a long time, re-opened, then blocked again.

 

I bring the parents to my computer lab once week to teach basic computer usage and skills. I had gotten everyone excited about using e-mail. We opened Yahoo e-mail accounts for all the mothers, only to find e-mails blocked a few weeks later.

 

To their credit, I was able to word a request in such a way that the powers that be allowed selected IP addresses to be unblocked.

 

Problems still continue, with things like google images blocked at times.

 

There needs to be some common ground. I do believe lunch time and before and after working hours is your time.

[Matts_12GS]

make friends with your network team and find yourself an unmonitored IP address. You know that they will no where they are. And know also that if you do that, you'll deserve to get fired when they find out.

 

Or, bring a laptop/wireless pda and get out of the office and find a hotspot if it's that important to you.

 

Or, quit and start your own company so that you have some skin in the game.

[Peter W]

This is classic "we will enforce what you do" instead of "I hired you to do a job, and if you do it well I will reward you". I always see this as managers who don't manage. If they can't just the performance (ie. output) of their employees, then the managers should be replaced.

 

My $0.02

[smiller]

Sorry to hear that Ken and it sounds like a really, really stupid policy. Problem cases need to be dealt with but a total block will probably lose more productivity due to pissed-off employees than it will ever gain back. And it would almost certainly take less time on the employer's part to deal with the odd and occasional abuse case then to have to deal with everyone's whitelist requests. You have some real forward-thinking new managers there.

 

BTW... an unlimited-usage cellular data plan is about $40 per month and would be plenty fast enough for BMWST. Just connect your PC to your phone via USB or Bluetooth, enter a manual route in your PC for the board's IP address, and it will all be automatic from there... ;-)

 

[leikam]

My work put in filters in the last 6 months but also made a point of saying that the filters should not interfere with getting work done. Well, for me that's a very broad scope, so after the first dozen requests, the IT guys added me to a group that has access to wider range of sites including most discussion boards. Perhaps your IT policy will also adopt tiered access. Most online video along with porn and gambling sites are still sadly blocked for me, but I'm working on the business justification for those as well. I'd be happy to share it once complete; send me a PM if you're interested.

[Jake]

I work for a big firm, and their internet policies have become increasingly restrictive - but it's largely driven by bandwidth issues. The #1 site used by US employees was ESPN by a longshot. Streaming video during March Madness just about ground productivity and useability to a halt!

 

 

[DavidEBSmith]

Time to get a web-enabled phone with an unlimited data plan.

 

[Bob Palin]

I work for a big firm, and their internet policies have become increasingly restrictive - but it's largely driven by bandwidth issues. The #1 site used by US employees was ESPN by a longshot. Streaming video during March Madness just about ground productivity and useability to a halt!

 

I remember reading about a company that was just about to spend a considerable amount of money to expand their network bandwidth but decided to take a look at the usage first, 85% of the traffic was with Facebook!

[ShovelStrokeEd]

I work for a smaller company (about 60 employees) and we haven't gotten that bad, yet. A few guys were streaming music and video and it killed our bandwidth. IT department is one guy. He redid the hard wiring around the place and somehow, I don't know the details, wound up with only certain groups being able to access the internet at all. Mine is one.

 

I don't use my company computer for internet access anyway. I have a cellular modem on my personal laptop and, when I feel the need, just use that. Sure comes in handy once in awhile. Not all airports offer free WiFi, nor do most rest stops along the road.

[Francois_Dumas]

This recalls 'fond' memories of 'work'.... (I used to be IT Director for teams in 40-something countries).... at one point someone 'up there' had a similar bright idea.

 

Needless to say it didn't work, but caused a LOT more wasted time on ALL involved.

 

One thing that DID work (but only in our Danish offices) was a check on porn sites with some software that would then generate a list of users with the most visited sites.

These people were quietly talked to behind closed doors and the 'problem' went away.

 

Trying to block all 'bad' stuff will make it your 'core business' and forget about time to do anything else.

 

But you're right, non-IT management still doesn't seem 'to get it' , after all these decennia !

 

 

The solution: get self-employed !!!

[eddd]

Sorry to hear that Ken and it sounds like a really, really stupid policy. Problem cases need to be dealt with but a total block will probably lose more productivity due to pissed-off employees than it will ever gain back. And it would almost certainly take less time on the employer's part to deal with the odd and occasional abuse case then to have to deal with everyone's whitelist requests. You have some real forward-thinking new managers there.

 

BTW... an unlimited-usage cellular data plan is about $40 per month and would be plenty fast enough for BMWST. Just connect your PC to your phone via USB or Bluetooth, enter a manual route in your PC for the board's IP address, and it will all be automatic from there... ;-)

 

The unlimited usage program from Verizon is my only personal access. It is a simple USB modem that works great for anything short of streaming video. As mentioned, it is about $40.00 per month.

 

I seldom do, but I can bring my modem to work and have access w/o any restrictions. When the network at work is experiencing problems, I often have the only access on campus.

[Marek]

 

The unlimited usage program from Verizon is my only personal access. It is a simple USB modem that works great for anything short of streaming video. As mentioned, it is about $40.00 per month.

 

 

I've added Data Service to my VERIZON Blackberry and unlimited data is only $15/month. - all you have to do is plug in your blackberry to USB port and you are good to go.

 

Mark

[Quinn]

We're back to my philosophy of "the expected level of cheating." Please grant that your work computer should only be used for work. It's their machine, you're there to work, etc. That being said, I'm sure that they expect some cheating--getting dumb e-mails, checking on your security cameras at home, putting personal appointments on your calander, maybe checking the game scores,...whatever. The problem arises when some employees exceed the accepted level. They probably still think that they are playing in bounds and are suprised to be called on it or even fired. They may see others making free copies or sending personal faxes and start doing their church bulletins on the office machine. To them, it's just the expected level of cheating; i.e. "everyone does it." If they see others checking out Fark during breaks, they may open a window on BMWST and leave it up all day. Others are taking pens home with them, so it must be okay to borrow a stapler and forget to return it.

 

At least now you have a good idea of the boundries and what the "expected level of cheating" is. Better than being blindsided later when they fire you.

 

 

 

[Woodie]

...internet policies have become increasingly restrictive - but it's largely driven by bandwidth issues. The #1 site used by US employees was ESPN by a longshot. Streaming video during March Madness just about ground productivity and useability to a halt!

 

Same here. I'm one of the guys that enforces the bans! That said...I've implemented web filtering at home as well. (12-year old seems to run a lot of google image searches)

 

We purchased a web filtering software service from one of the biggies, as a whitelist option would be completely unmanageable. The automatic categorization of sites allows us to just pick categories to block, and not deal with individual websites. Mostly.

 

Just So You Know: Webfiltering/blocking is not just about productivity, there are substantial security risks associated with surfing, which is why we consider it a security control as well as an HR control.

 

Risks:

Malware sites: Sites that load keyloggers, bot, viruses and trojans to your machine without user intervention. Can lead to compromise of passwords and financial information, as well as use of a company asset to attack other machines. Significant risk of data loss, and potentially high bandwidth usage.

Spyware sites: Similar to above. Can lead to high bandwidth utilization, and lesser risk of data loss.

Email sites: The number one way to transmit malware is now email. Allowing employees to access personal email systems could expose them to viruses, trojans and other email-borne malware without the protections we have installed (at great expense) to protect the corporate (email) environment.

Inappropriate sites: HR protects the company from "hostile workplace" behavior, by blocking pornography and lingerie sites.

 

[bakerzdosen]

Well, I'm kinda lucky in that although we don't have a proxy (it wouldn't work as I'm expected to use the internet regularly for my job - and not just web browsing), I'm one of the ones that taught our IT folks how to get around their own restrictions (just to youtube, facebook, myspace, etc).

 

We have exactly 4 customers (out of 200+) that have such asinine restrictions, and we all hate going to one of those locales because of it. It's just more trouble than it's worth, but when the powers that be get an idea in their head...

 

And yes, it's a pain, but it's typically possible to get around proxies if they allow https sites to be accessed... I just wouldn't recommend it as it's also a pain, and it's grounds for dismissal.

[notacop]

Geee, what ever happened to an honest days wage for an honest days work? Work means no internet on the clock. What do you think your employer is paying you for?

Would you hire a house keeper to come sit and watch telly and drink latte while you pay?

Pardon me for quoting Trump the jerk...Your fired!

[smiller]

Geee, what ever happened to an honest days wage for an honest days work?

An honest day's work includes breaks, at least in this century.

[randy]

I have an excellent house cleaning lady. I work from home when she cleans. She takes breaks, she usually cleans the upstairs, then comes down and sits at the table and drinks some water. If my internet was open (it is not) I would have no problem if she checked e-mail or other items during that 10 minute break. Same for my work. I have no problem with smokers who go out three times a day. Or the excise group that goes to the gym at lunch, or the walking group that walks stairs three times a day, or the XXX group or the yyyy group. As noted above, it generally revolves around managers who do not want to manage, and really cannot manage thier workforce.

 

If I have just spent 4 hours disecting a problem, and the usere is happy, and I take a 10 minute break, it does not matter what I do on that 10 minutes. I could go to the break room and get a candy bar. I could go to the water cooler and fill my water bottle, I could log onto BMWST for 6 minutes and check classified ads. It is still 10 minutes of non working, if I combine enough of those 10 minute breaks, i.e. I only work 1 hour and take a 10 minute breaks then probably I would not get enough work done and my manager would deal with that.

 

I truly believe in the peter principle. In my prior work environments, 80% of the managers I saw/work with were clearly over thier heads.

 

This is the same issue when dealing with a work at home / telecommuting program. As soon as a manger tells me if he cannot see thier employees, they cannot be sure what they are doing, I know I have a bad manager. the employee could be good or bad, but an effective manager does not need to see them to know that.

 

Anyway my company really locked down everything about a year ago, and now they have loosed it. For example, I can get to BMWST, but not to utube.

 

Considering I only look at NBA.com or BWST.com this works for me. I am sure there are others who are more affected by this.

[bakerzdosen]

Well, as foreign as it is to me, it does come down to management... And sometimes different companies are just managed differently. I leave it to others to determine which way is "better."

 

It can also be cultural. The most egregious example was one I saw in Lima, Peru. I was there teaching a class, and it felt really odd that I had to ask for a key to the restroom. I finally asked why they locked bathrooms when they had security at the entrances. They replied without irony "Well, if we didn't people from other departments would steal our toilet paper."

 

(If you haven't been to Lima recently, it's not like this is some small poor city - it's quite large and modern as far as Latin America goes...)

 

I hope things haven't gotten to that point in KC, but you certainly wouldn't run a company in Manhattan, NY as you would in Manhattan, KS.

[Ken H.]

So flag the sites viewed by individuals and deal with each case.

 

That’s part of what makes this so weird and useless. I’m sure that it’s a case of a couple of abusers ruining it for everyone. But what ever happened to some of the basic Management 101 stuff? Like 90/10. Make policies to deal with 90% of the subject at hand and handle the remaining 10% as it comes along. Don’t make policies for the 10% exceptions and destroy the other 90% that is working correctly in the process. No matter what the subject is.

 

I would bet a dollar that any Salary employee gives much more then a 40 hour week. Most of us don't like to calculate hours spend working in relation to pay because why make yourself feel like your being taken advantage of.

 

Of course. If I had a nickel for every research or catch up work, or paper work I did did the evenings and weekends, just because I' swamped and constantly interrupted during the 'regular' 50+ hour work week, I'd have a mountain of nickels!

[Ken H.]

make friends with your network team and find yourself an unmonitored IP address. You know that they will no where they are. And know also that if you do that, you'll deserve to get fired when they find out.

 

Oh there's lots of ways to get around it. Especially when one has access to the edge routers. But my main point is the asinine counter-productivity of the policy.

[Ken H.]

We purchased a web filtering software service from one of the biggies, as a whitelist option would be completely unmanageable. The automatic categorization of sites allows us to just pick categories to block, and not deal with individual websites. Mostly.

 

Just So You Know: Webfiltering/blocking is not just about productivity, there are substantial security risks associated with surfing, which is why we consider it a security control as well as an HR control.

 

Oh I don't question the need to do some blocking. Porn has no place in the work place for example. I was just marveling at the ridiculousnesses of the white list approach. Everything is blocked unless the powers that be specifically allow it. [insert dopeslap here]

[MattS]

Porn has no place in the work place for example.

Unless you're in the porn business, in which case it does have a place.

 

But I digress.

[Ken H.]

Or, bring a laptop/wireless pda and get out of the office and find a hotspot if it's that important to you.

 

Yes so, let's see, which scenario is more productive for my employer?

 

A) What I have been doing for years - At 11:30 heat my "Budget Gourmet" box in the microwave for 2:30, eat it at my desk, done eating by 11:42ish, read BMWST for 15 min. and back at work by noon.

 

B) Eat at 11:30 then leave the building at 11:42, ride to Starbucks (to their WiFi hot spot) log on with my laptop, read BMWST for 15 min, ride back to work, and back at the keyboard at 12:30.

 

 

Or here's another part of my routine -

 

A) Ride to work at 6:10 AM (to beat the rush hour) there by 6:30. Check emails to see what fires have popped up during the night, respond to the hot ones, check my calender for the day, stage my workday for everything else, read BMWST and some other sites, for awhile, start responding to inquiries as people start to trickle in at the 'official' start of the workday at 8:00 AM.

 

Or:

 

B) Ride to work at 7:20 to arrive a couple of minutes before 8:00 AM (takes longer during rush hour) and be ready to start all the work related above at 8:00 AM.

 

Humm...

[Ken H.]

Porn has no place in the work place for example.

Unless you're in the porn business, in which case it does have a place.

 

Well you do have a point (hopefully) there.

[Matts_12GS]

Or, bring a laptop/wireless pda and get out of the office and find a hotspot if it's that important to you.

 

Yes so, let's see, which scenario is more productive for my employer?

 

A) What I have been doing for years - At 11:30 heat my "Budget Gourmet" box in the microwave for 2:30, eat it at my desk, done eating by 11:42ish, read BMWST for 15 min. and back at work by noon.

 

B) Eat at 11:30 then leave the building at 11:42, ride to Starbucks (to their WiFi hot spot) log on with my laptop, read BMWST for 15 min, ride back to work, and back at the keyboard at 12:30.

 

 

Or here's another part of my routine -

 

A) Ride to work at 6:10 AM (to beat the rush hour) there by 6:30. Check emails to see what fires have popped up during the night, respond to the hot ones, check my calender for the day, stage my workday for everything else, read BMWST and some other sites, for awhile, start responding to inquiries as people start to trickle in at the 'official' start of the workday at 8:00 AM.

 

Or:

 

B) Ride to work at 7:20 to arrive a couple of minutes before 8:00 AM (takes longer during rush hour) and be ready to start all the work related above at 8:00 AM.

 

Dude,

make that argument with the hand that feeds you. I can tell you where to find sympathy, offer you empathy, and still tell you that you ought to start your own gig and get away from these hassles if it's really that big an interference for you.

[BruceWA]

Welcome to the world government employees live in, well for the most part. Probably more lost time from this type of "decree" than the actual web use.

[russell_bynum]

Management wants you to work during company hours using company equipment and company bandwidth.

 

Those bastards.

 

 

 

 

You can bitch and moan and rationalize all you want. At the end of the day, they're right and you're wrong. They're not paying you to sit there and surf. Maybe you're the exception who comes in early to surf, eats a quick lunch at your desk then surfs, and then stays late after work to surf, but chances are that's not what the majority is doing. Sure...it would be more "fair" if they punished those who abuse the system, but since there's really very little business need to allow access to bmwst.com, it's easier just to close the door and eliminate the temptation.

 

Now...I don't think that would be my approach. I'd block porn, webmail, myspace, and a few others based on category, but otherwise leave it open. If bandwidth became an issue, it should be fairly easy to figure out the top sites (probably YouTube) and block those. And where worker productivity is an issue, you can deal with that individually. But..even though this wouldn't be my first choice, I do understand the decision and it makes sense.

 

 

 

My advice: Either deal with it (1. if you're that addicted, get an unlimited data plan and tether your phone to your laptop so you can surf during non-work time. Or 2. Do something else with that time.) Or if you really want to fight it, start finding sites that are business related, but on the block list. Drive IT nuts requesting 3 sites a day to be added. Eventually you'll either get bored or they'll get fed up and switch to a more open policy.

[russell_bynum]

Porn has no place in the work place for example.

Unless you're in the porn business, in which case it does have a place.

 

Well you do have a point (hopefully) there.

 

So it's settled. You'll quit your engineer gig and start your own online porn business.

[Francois_Dumas]

Porn has no place in the work place for example.

Unless you're in the porn business, in which case it does have a place.

 

Well you do have a point (hopefully) there.

 

So it's settled. You'll quit your engineer gig and start your own online porn business.

 

Whatever else, it certainly is more LUCRATIVE !

[Matts_12GS]

Porn has no place in the work place for example.

Unless you're in the porn business, in which case it does have a place.

 

Well you do have a point (hopefully) there.

 

So it's settled. You'll quit your engineer gig and start your own online porn business.

 

Whatever else, it certainly is more LUCRATIVE !

 

 

I know some people that know some people that know some other people.

 

I don't necessarily want to own one of those businesses, but being close to the top of that pyramid wouldn't bother me too much. Who's in?

[Bob Palin]

Russell - why block webmail? I don't care whether I can surf during work hours but I really do want to be able to get my email.

[ShovelStrokeEd]

I got around the limited e-mail thing by making my gmail account my primary contact on the road. Set my office computer to forward all my correspondence to the gmail account. That gave me a legitimate business reason for access.

[russell_bynum]

Russell - why block webmail? I don't care whether I can surf during work hours but I really do want to be able to get my email.

 

Email is one of the most common carriers of viruses/malware/trojans. It's also a very easy way for people to transmit confidential/trade secret/etc information out of the company.

 

You block webmail not for productivity reasons, but for security reasons.

[russell_bynum]

I got around the limited e-mail thing by making my gmail account my primary contact on the road. Set my office computer to forward all my correspondence to the gmail account. That gave me a legitimate business reason for access.

 

That wouldn't fly here. If you need remote access to email, you can use Outlook via Citrix, Outlook Web Access, or a Blackberry.

[Woodie]

Set my office computer to forward all my correspondence to the gmail account.

 

OMG!!! Sorry, but you would be severely reprimanded here. If not worse!

 

That's why laptops and blackberrys are deployed.

 

[ShovelStrokeEd]

The powers that be in my company don't allow outside access to our mail server, at least not that I have been able to discover in 10 years with the company. I have no idea why not but, they pay the bills so they get to do what they want.

 

The only way for me, who is sometimes on the road for weeks at a time, to maintain correspondence with my clients, who are most often dealing with technical problems is the way I set it up. Trust me, I would much rather just log onto the server and upload my mail into Outlook on my computer. That way I could keep my private and business life somewhat separated.

 

 

[DiggerJim]

Email is one of the most common carriers of viruses/malware/trojans. It's also a very easy way for people to transmit confidential/trade secret/etc information out of the company.

 

You block webmail not for productivity reasons, but for security reasons.

Because heavens knows you can't email confidential/trade secret/etc information from the company sponsored email right?

 

Our company is disabling USB flash drives & CDRs so people can't save highly confidential info and walk with it...of course, they could always email it but that's not been addressed...nor has how a remote employee is supposed to backup their stuff...or how a sales rep or demo team is supposed to share a PowerPoint with the guy who is hooked up to the projector...but we all sleep better knowing that no one can save things to a flash drive (yeah, right)...

[ian408]

One of the stupidest things we did was ban YM! but allow Skype. There were a number of other things equally as stupid. The bottom line (at least as I see it) is that internet access is a balance between preventing HR issues and having some flexibility for folks.

 

I block sites when and if they become problematic.

 

Oh. And forwarding corporate e-mail to another account? Verboten.

Always.

[russell_bynum]

Email is one of the most common carriers of viruses/malware/trojans. It's also a very easy way for people to transmit confidential/trade secret/etc information out of the company.

 

You block webmail not for productivity reasons, but for security reasons.

Because heavens knows you can't email confidential/trade secret/etc information from the company sponsored email right?

 

Our company is disabling USB flash drives & CDRs so people can't save highly confidential info and walk with it...of course, they could always email it but that's not been addressed...nor has how a remote employee is supposed to backup their stuff...or how a sales rep or demo team is supposed to share a PowerPoint with the guy who is hooked up to the projector...but we all sleep better knowing that no one can save things to a flash drive (yeah, right)...

 

Data leakage is a pretty big deal. Disabling CDR and USB drives is a real pain in the ass for lots of users, but I do understand the logic. As far as email...if you're sending something through my email system, I control the path that message takes when it goes out to the internet...which means I can push everything through filters looking for stuff like account numbers, medical terms, SSN's, etc. I can't prevent all the sensitive info from getting out, but if it's in my system at least I have a shot at getting some of it. And depending on who you are and what your role is, I can have tighter/more relaxed policies. With some users, a copy of everything they send and receive gets copied off onto WORM storage and kept for several years.

 

Webmail pretty much bypasses all of that.