Content blocking in the workplace.
I'm sure 99.9% of the computer professionals out there are guilty of this, as well as me: surfing the internet while at work.
Where I work (underneath Gov. Arnold “Terminator” Schwarzenegger), they have a strict “only for work purposes” attitude for internet usage. They have a firewall setup that only allows outbound traffic to ports 80 and 443 (HTTP and HTTPS). Additionally, they run usage reports that periodically track where users are going. Periodically, they add sites onto the list of blocked content, blocking traffic there and notifying the network admins whenever sometimes tries to access it.
This policy seems a little strict... I am not working 100% of the time. I often eat lunch at my desk and like to roam a message board or check my personal email during my lunch break. And if I'm roaming the internet at other times, its because I have no work! I can see the point of the policy, but what is wrong with trusting your employees and only stressing things that would fall under the NDA? The problem... or hypocracy... I see with this policy is that managers push on it, yet all my managers don't practice it themselves. There have been countless occassions when I've walked into my boss's office to find him on Yahoo Games (at which time, he quickly closes it). If they are so afraid of employees wasting time while on the job, then there are much more serious things than internet usage. One of my coworkers is on the phone probably 7 of the 8 hours she is here. And it is not work related (I overhear it all). Another reads the newspaper front to back every day. Additionally, he goes on 30 minute walks twice daily (he goes with his manager too!). State employees are so lazy! And it is all politics... they have to put on this tough face when they really slack off themselves.
My annoyance with their policies has peaked lately because they've blocked a couple of sites that I frequent when I have a few spare moments at work. First, LiveJournal.com. I'm a long time user and occassionally like to catch up on what's going on with the people I've met through it. After 3 years of working here, its been blocked. It is probably from another employee over using it, since I know there are other LJ users here. Second, HardOCP. I used to frequent their forums for computer stuff... mostly to kill time when I was really bored. The third one, and the one that really irks me, they've blocked the ASP.NET Forums. This I actually used for work purposes. What is the point of blocking it? It isn't really general discussion... its on the topic of technology. I do web development, is it a horrible sin to go to a web development forum? If they block Ebay, then I am gone. I'd lose my santiy without Ebay.
Is private industry as serious about this sort of business as the government? Things like this make me seriously re-think whether or not I want to work for the state when I graduate. I'm jealous of my friends and roommates who can get on IM at work, or roam without a content firewall. What to do...