Posted on 10/23/2006 by the cynic
Viewed: 153 times
Not like any of us don't know this, but I found out in a very scary way recently just HOW MUCH I.T. is watching me, on a daily basis. Hence why I don't post here from work anymore about my boss.
I was at work one day, bored senseless as the boss was out of town, so I figured I'd browse the vast wasteland that is "Teh Internets," a rare treat since work picked up when he returned. I visited my friend's blog (our company blocks Blogspot but not Wordpress for some reason), made a few comments about NYC and fashion and women--nothing too graphic or "info leaking". I then went on a Transit website to complain about the subway. Also fairly harmless.
I come into work the next day and attempt to log into the friend's blog. I get the Black Screen of Death: "The page you are attemping to access is blocked by Company X. Reason: Forums & Bulletin Boards" (uhh, since when was a Wordpress journal a bulletin board? They must have been reading my comments). The Transit site is blocked for a similar reason, even though it's not in the bbs layout and is more a site like this--you comment on articles, not board posts.
At that point, I nearly had a heart attack--what had IT read that I'd posted to my friend? Thank God this site wasn't blocked, or I'd know they'd seen me complaining about work on here before!!
I work for a bank though, and they are tremendously paranoid due to Enron about "information leaks." Therefore, they do the best they can to try and cut us off from the outside world. The following sites are all blocked:
Yahoo
Hotmail
Gmail
Any other webmail
Flickr
Photobucket
Kodak galleries
Blogspot
Livejournal
Typepad
Anything resembling a "Personal Page"--geocities, no-ip.com, members.cox.net, angelfire, you name it
My cable bill (blocked as "Computing & Internet--whatever)
Craigslist
Ebay (but not Amazon, go figure)
Basically everything except the news.
Today, if I browse, I use the Google cache to read most sites, or just read the news or poke around on my high-school's website (one of the few that's not blocked). But fortunately, I'm starting to have more to do at work so I don't have time to browse.
Just a heads-up to y'all who might browse at work--I.T. IS watching you VERY closely, esp at a large corporation. Has this ever happened to anyone else (browse one day, blocked the next)?
POST A COMMENTthe cynic(10/24/2006)
Walking--It's a nice idea, but in my case that would probably be all the more obvious since I work in an open floor with no cubes, just rows of computers. The advantage to surfing the 'Net was that I have privacy screens on my comp, so people around me don't see me surfing. They would, however, take note of a book or newspaper. :-( Twiz--I know it's not IT's fault--they're just following orders of course! It's still scary though, and makes me wonder WHO in management is requesting them to be that anal. This company is the most anal I've ever worked for, and I've worked in banks before. They are either super-worried about harrassment cases, or super-worried about another Enron.
Dharmadee(10/24/2006)
I guess I am naive-I just keep hoping that what they will LEARN from a debacle like Enron is how they should be honest, NOT how they can learn to hide stuff better. I guess corporations basically jusy make me sick.
twiz (10/23/2006)
You are correct cynic, someone is most likely watching your internet/e-mail usage at work. But IT is not the problem. They are just doing as they are told. Management is requesting this information. Management is the one that wants to know every detail of what we do online, who we email, what sites we visit, how long we are on them, what times of the day, etc. My company has badges we are suppose to wear at all times. They are the type of badges that have a magnetic bar in them so we can access various sections of the building (mostly required after hours). Well just another tip for folks out there that may not know, this little device (your id) can be used to track your location(s) in the building during the day! I make a point to wear mine into the office. Then I take it off, leave it in my laptop bag, and at the end of the day I put it back on. Looks like I've been at my desk all day! ;-) One more tip... company cellphones. More and more companies are monitoring where their employees are by using GPS in company provided cellphones. If you have a company cellphone, see if you can manually deactivate the GPS. That, or politely give the phone back and just use your own (like I do!). Call me paranoid, but I don't like to be watched that much... ;-)
WalkingInMyOwnShoes (10/24/2006)
It's time again to take a magazine or a paperback to work or listen to music.
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