So, within the last day, the place where I work has shut down access to Blogger.com (amongst other sites...). Apparently, it falls under the category "Social Interaction and Networking", or something like that.
Please answer me this question - why is "Social Interaction" a bad thing? Why can't people network? Isn't that how you meet people of similar interests and ideas as yours? Isn't that important to the way we live our lives? Isn't that something that the values of our company should hold near and dear? Or do they want to piss off their workers even more than possible?
This is just ridiculous. In my career at work I have put up with a lot of shit, but their new internet policy is for the birds. For example, fantasy sports got shut down, as it fell under the banned category "Games". Now, games leads one to think along the lines of poker, solitaire etc. Y'know - the stuff where you have to download the game or an .exe file or something like that. A program that you have running all the time on your desktop that you play inbetween calls... Not fantasy sports. What do you do - you set a lineup, check on news and notes, perhaps email your league members here and there... You can do it on your lunch-break, or on your downtime at work. Shit, my boss even thinks that's ridiculous. How many millions of people play fantasy sports? How fucking many? Has it harmed America? Are business hours being lost to "wasted time" on such sites?
With the implementation of the new internet policy... wait a minute. I don't even think it's a new policy. I believe they updated the systems they used to use to monitor what sites are "bad"... If it was a change in policy, you would think they would have to announce it, don't you? So my question leads me to wonder, who makes these categories up? Who decides these things for the employees? Do the employees get a say in things?
The other thing that bugs me, is that when the site is blocked, it has a link to click on to get more information about your company's policy. Do you think that link takes me anywhere? That's right, it does not.
I then wondered, who do I ask about these things? My boss is leery of me doing this. He doesn't want me to get "red-flagged". Fair enough I told him, and thanks for your concern. But, what kind a place do I work for that would put someone on a watch list for asking such questions? What are they, the fuckin' Stasi? Therefore, I am going to contact Human Resources and ask. What have I got to lose? If I get dismissed or some other consequence for asking, then I take that to the Office of the Ombudsperson and state my case... If it goes there, then theere's always the threat of legal action. After all, if a guy can get unemployment benefit after telling his boss to "fuck off", I can ask the question what's behind our internet policy without fear of recrimination... It's pretty simple really... knock out any access to porn you might have. That seems to be the only bad thing we can do at work. Oh, and maybe knock out any access to Al-Jazeera or Hamas or Hezbollah or Arab Islamic radicalism or white supremacism or bomb-making, terrorism, anything like that... Or is that taking it a step too far? Is that considered anti-constitutional in not allowing freedom to express religion? I wouldn't be surprised if it is.
And, by the way, if Al-Jazeera is not blocked, these fuckers will hear about it in no short order.
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At most they'd send you a generic note about how the Internet is a privilege and not a right. I'm just relieved they're spending money on these improvements rather than on, oh.... thing like overtime so my department can actually manage all of our work.
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