Well, we installed a new firewall to facilitate linking in two foreign offices remotely. Party line is to protect the IT resources from live/streaming video (bandwidth-consuming youtube) and prevent machine downtime from unauthorized and inappropriate downloads (happens infrequently and to the same pool of repeat offenders in our small company).
I should mention here that the senior management has many times emphasized to its employees how well we come together as a team, how we get the job done, and not least of all
how hard we work.
As of 5:15 PM, a "new service level" was announced that "may affect such tools as" Not Work Safe web surfing, which turns out to be formally defined as anything deemed "not work related". Literally, you call up a website that the firewall says you can't have, you get a screen that tells you "This website has been blocked. It is not related to work."
I won't bore you with more rant, and I will say that I fully agree with pouncing on offenders. However, I will remark that it directly impacts my ability to perform my job, which routinely has me web-searching for products of customers, competitors, and so on, very frequently on shopping sites. Shopping sites are banned. It also banninated two work-related discussion boards, my participation on which has benefited the company countless times. IT dude was showing it off to me and pointed out the banned category "Intimate Apparel and Lingerie". I mentioned that our own Apparel Business Unit was PRIMARILY focused on intimate apparel and lingerie; might want to re-think that check-box.
FGI, Golfhos and Golfdope were banned from my work right out of the gate, and they ain't coming back this time. The amount of time I have access to a personal computer is very, very limited -- I'm at work a LOT. So now you know why you won't see me here much.
In other news,
www.myemail.com also has been blacklisted, so I can't check my personal email remotely. Don't try to contact me via that channel or PMs if you need a timely reply.
Peace out.
PS -- For the company suggestion box, I need help. Suppose an employee is talking about his kid's soccer game to a coworker. When the klaxon sounds and the intercom blares "Personal conversation detected, Detention Area E5! Personal conversation detected, Detention Area E5!", what countermeasures would be effective? I'm thinking an animatronic CEO might enter the hallway and slowly walk toward the offender. Maybe speakers installed behind panels in the hallway could broadcast the Vice-President's voice with volume rising to simulate his imminent emergence from his office. Perhaps the server could access Microsoft Project, select an undertaking for which the employee is responsible and which has some dust on it, then spawn an email or phone call to pull him back to work. What uniform would you suggest for the guards who respond if those prove unsuccessful?
