Oh Crap Situation 12: Online Distractions
Alright, so I am obviously not using my template… and subtlety is not an option. You are running a business with about 35 employees and all of them have computers with full internet access. You would restrict them from sites if your business didn’t rely on the access of so many sites. It would end up being more work to enable sites that were disabled. Since your employees have full access, they have a tendency to abuse this access - like casually browse news sites, Wikipedia, and other sites. How do you keep people focused?
Personally, I would decrease personal privacy so it is easier to keep track of what everyone is doing. If people feel like they will get caught, they will often avoid doing whatever they had planned on doing.
Tags: Oh Crap Sitaution, Online access, open internet accessRelated Stories
POSTED IN: "Oh Crap" Moments
2 opinions for Oh Crap Situation 12: Online Distractions
Rachel Clarke
Feb 25, 2008 at 2:43 pm
Of course, you would have an access policy that everyone has been taken through with a laid out disciplinary system. You can also set up a filter system that filters out a lot but can be flaky and deny access to stuff that is needed - so you have an agreed way of reviewing access requirements as well. It gets very, very complicated.
Personally, I would not work for a company that blocks all access but happy to have restrictions. The problem with monitoring is making sure you don’t actually capture personal information like passwords and that browsing history is carefully managed and controlled (if they were looking up things to do with an illness).
As an aside, I once had to do research on the softer side of porn, looking at how they manage age restrictions. Explaining that to IT was interesting to get them to take off the filters for me to get information as part of a report for the board.
Jim Gordon
Feb 26, 2008 at 5:45 am
Yeah, there would have to be a way to make sure that the information that is transfered in and out is totally secure (and the employees have to be aware of this, too).
Have an opinion? Leave a comment: