Posted on 07/06/2006 by the cynic
Viewed: 345 times
My most recent job has the funniest group of categories, and they seem so arbitrary.
First the obvious: porno, gambling, job search engines, Games, Drug content, Phishing sites, Spyware, Criminal Skills, dating/social, sexual materials, etc.
Then the uber-picky:
Hobbies/recreation
--Alcohol (this comes up even if you search for a company name such as "De Beers" or "Smith & Wine LLC" or something)
--Business (And that is not work-related how??)
--Personal Sites (they block Myspace and Facebook but not blogspot, wordpress, blogger, or almost 90% of so-called "personal sites")
--Profanity (even when there isn't any)
--Gruesome Content
And the outright funny/bizarre:
--Provocative Attire (haha)
--Non-Profit Organizations (that happened to me when I tried to donate after Katrina)
--Religion & Ideology (I guess someone could feel "harrassed" if they see me reading a Catholic blog over my shoulder or something)
--Extreme; Hate Speech (even for benign political websites)
--Politics/Opinion (even though Democratic Underground, Daily Kos, Anncoulter.com, Michellemalkin.com, Republicanparty.com, Democraticparty.com, etc. are all UN-blocked for whatever reason...)
What's also funny about the "obvious" ones like porn is that they block out the wrong sites. My friend had a joke on his otherwise pure site about "procrastination being like masturbation," and his site got blocked as Porn.
Also, certain blogs are outright blocked as Profanity, even though I see no swear words. But this one friend of mine swears like a sailor and drops the F-bomb in every post, and her blog is unblocked.
Finally, typing the word "resume" or "job" into Google yields a "Job Search" block; however, "resumes" and "jobs" or "a job" does not.
Ahh, the intelligence of net nannies! Anyone have any stories of their own?
POST A COMMENTACube2Graphic(07/06/2006)
My company doesn't seem to have any blocking up on internet access (though I typed Raven in google search and got nude pictures of some chick!), but I KNOW our GM has access to and reads ppl's e-mail via Outlook. He knows about stuff that only someone who read the e-mails would know. He'll cover his butt by saying something lame like, "oh we had a server problem and your e-mails were sent to me by mistake". BS!! It's so obvious. We've started going through our personal e-mail rather than outlook for private stuff and emptying those Sent and Deleted folders!
the confessor(07/06/2006)
The problem is that many sites hide their sleaze, like the flap a while ago when schoolkids looking to research the white house instead found themselves at a porn site. Or my friends beautician wife that was surprised by the results of a search for "facial". And a final point to ponder-what if you found that your most productive software engineer frequented porn sites at work. Would a company risk losing them? Isn't it possible this is already going on?
the cynic(07/06/2006)
The most embarrassing one was at my husband's old job. Anytime you tried to access a blocked site such as Hotmail, it sent a query to the IT department, which apparently had little better to do besides call your extension and say, "We know what you just did--don't do it again!" Ack--Big Brother watching, haha!!!
just me(07/06/2006)
Mine blocks babelfish! You know, the translating site? The worst part? We're a global company with offices in like 20 countries.
the cynic(07/06/2006)
Babelfish gives the funniest translations, especially if you translate from English, to another language, then back again!
twiz (07/06/2006)
My company blocks Lottery websites. Funny they must not want us employees to find out we are all millionaires before we put in a full days work...
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