Just found out today that I'm the reason work installed Internet Blocking Software!

pj150 said:
Don't bite the hand that feeds you.

Unless you have another job lined up or have enough coin in the bank to sustain a few years. STFU, bend over, grab ankles and smile.

We're all whores to our employers or customers.
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Well said. There are work arounds to everything. The fact of the matter is, is it worth getting caught viewing a website your supervisors know is blocked. IMO I don't think so. Especially today, who wants to risk losing their job over looking at a website and messing around. Right now you would be lucky to find a good job and you would most likely lose the reference.
 
Kalahari said:
Shouldn't be looking at guns/porn/gambling at work anyways...
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Its one thing for your company to have a policy in place that disallows looking at any non-work related website. Its another thing for them to be hand picking and choosing which websites you can look at based on their own personal morals and values they wish to impose on their employees. If they don't fire Bob for looking at porn for 1 hour a day, it isn't acceptable to fire Joe for looking at gun porn for an hour a day also.

Obviously, its not worth losing your job over. It would be better to find a different job, if you can. But I don't see why you can't have a civil discussion about the matter with your management. One way you can solve the problem is to get a Verizon or Sprint cell-phone with internet access and surf the web on the phone or by connecting it to a small laptop. Then you can get around the whole BS "company resources" argument.
 
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please PM me a list of your favorite sites, I'll surf them for you from my office

it's the least I can do in these trying times
 
icyclefar said:
please PM me a list of your favorite sites, I'll surf them for you from my office

it's the least I can do in these trying times
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I can make him a remote desktop account on my office computer so he can connect via the encrypted remote desktop protocol included in Windows Vista and XP and surf any website he wants.
 
maee said:
Then you can get around the whole BS "company resources" argument.
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How is that a "BS argument" exactly?

It's funny that people will let the government trample all over their rights, but they start spouting 1st and 2nd amendment rights where it is simply not applicable at the work-place...

Not saying I would want to work somewhere that went all nazi on the web access - that's a bad way to run a business and kills morale, but the computers and internet connection really do belong to the business and unless you have permission to use them for any given purpose, you have no right to it whatsoever...

It is pretty sad that they were comfortable with porn and gambling given that one or the either is FAR more likely to result in a Federal crime being committed (illegal gambling on US soil, identity theft, child porn, etc...). Gun pages are safer in that regard...
 
maee said:
Its one thing for your company to have a policy in place that disallows looking at any non-work related website. Its another thing for them to be hand picking and choosing which websites you can look at based on their own personal morals and values they wish to impose on their employees. If they don't fire Bob for looking at porn for 1 hour a day, it isn't acceptable to fire Joe for looking at gun porn for an hour a day also.
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Considering that the computer and internet access is being paid for by the company, they can certainly choose who can view what material. If they want to pay employees who watch porn but fire employees who watch gun videos, that is their prerogative. It should be absolutely acceptable for them to fire Joe.
 
1.Walk into some limp-wrister's cubicle when e is surfing some gay porn.

2. Scream Sexual Harassment

3. Walk away richer

4. Buy some new toys.
 
That is seriously messed up. I sometimes wonder if they're tracking my NES viewing, which I only do during breaks/lunch. I can't get to any other gun related sites due to their wonderful censorship software. Its not about use of resources, its about you only viewing what they deem to be "appropriate". I can view news sites all I want, etc. Whats great is when I'm trying to get on industry sites for work and they're somehow labeled as porn. [thinking]
 
Rockrivr1 said:
...
So this morning I was in my CIO's direct reports meeting that happens once every quarter. Towards the end of this morning's meeting he started explaining the results from the 3 months review. According to the results the number one visited site was Gambling. The Senior Managers said "Eh, no big deal. Everyone need to blow off steam sometimes". The number two visited sites were Porn. Once again Senior Managers said "Eh, no big deal. Everyone looks at porn".
...
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I was amused to notice your post was just after 2pm, and your meeting must have been 10ish [laugh]

You gotta do what your employer says unless you have real employment alternatives. Going "around" is a sure fire way to be canned.

Or convert them! I've been trying to get my CEO to attend an Appleseed with me.
 
namedpipes said:
I was amused to notice your post was just after 2pm, and your meeting must have been 10ish [laugh]

You gotta do what your employer says unless you have real employment alternatives. Going "around" is a sure fire way to be canned.

Or convert them! I've been trying to get my CEO to attend an Appleseed with me.
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Yeah, it was funny enough that I had to post it. I figure I give enough of my time at work that if I visit NES a couple of time a day for a few minutes, it's not such a bad thing. I don't take lunch, I don't do the 20 smoke breaks a day that many do and I put in a solid 9-10 hours a day. If I get canned for 15-20 minutes of NES perusing a day, then so be it I guess.
 
So they're scared by the fact that you visit gun sites. They're sufficiently scared that they decide to block all these sites. They're not sufficiently scared to piss you off by doing so. Do they have any sane people working in upper management?

Ken
 
I too have been blocked in this manner at work. My company uses smartfilter to block just about everything, but amazingly it does not block Northeastshooters or Uzi Talk, go figure.

I finally took action when I was trying to look up characteristics on a Mk48 torpedo and it blocked me for merchandising /sex item. Ya it is weird, but I was in the Navy.

A VPN is the way to go as has been mentioned.

I use logmein, it is free and it does all the setup for you.



https://secure.logmein.com/home.asp?lang=en

You can check it out for yourself and decide if it will work for you. The only part that is necessary on your part is to have your computer on and accessed to the internet (at home). The program installs on your home computer and is password protected.

When you go to the logmein web page you sign in and the information is encrypted between your desktop at work and your home computer.

Works great from work, I get a great chuckle knowing I have "beat the man".

I don't abuse using the internet at work, but if someone tells me I can't do something, that is begging me to do it just because.
 
I have an idea, why not try actually working while your company is paying your salary? What a novel concept. Did you ever stop to think how much productivity/money is lost by companies whose employees spend much of the day surfing the Internet? Not to mention the risk to the companies electronic assets when you go surfing to a website that's been compromised and end up downloading code that infects the entire network. Save your recreational web surfing for when you get home.

-Cuz.
There, now you've heard from someone on the "other" side.
 
Kalahari said:
Considering that the computer and internet access is being paid for by the company, they can certainly choose who can view what material. If they want to pay employees who watch porn but fire employees who watch gun videos, that is their prerogative. It should be absolutely acceptable for them to fire Joe.
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It shouldn't be acceptable. Treatment of employees in the workplace should be fair and uniform without regard to politics or personal morals. Firing Joe and not Bob is equivalent to firing the guy who looks at gay porn because the company decides thats unacceptable, but not the guy who looks at heterosexual porn. It is no different than firing somebody who posts/reads Republican blogs but not Democratic blogs.

I don't know what kind of environment you people work in, but this sort of discrimination is not permitted or acceptable where I work.
 
It is the company's property, and thus their property rights ought to protect it. How is it any different than me kicking you out of my house for looking at porn on my computer without my permission?
 
NES is one firearms related site that isn't (yet) blocked where I am when I'm not at home. I used to use Google's cached pages as a means to bypass, but they've now blocked that as well. At least Yahoo works, for now...
 
As the CTO of an extremely small company and the previous IT manager of a massive company, my position is that people do need to distract themselves from time to time. I haven't and don't block anything. We do centrally monitor virus detections.

When a person's productivity is called into question by their manager (and your boss does NOT need WebSense to know if you're doing your job) THEN we monitor and review their internet usage with the knowledge of HR.

If your computers are properly protected, the surfing habits of ordinary people are not going to take down your network. The un-ordinary people (porn and gaming addicts)generally stick out like a sore thumb and their manager probably already talked with us.
 
Man am I glad I work with a bunch of shooters. Every guy in IT is a gun owner. I've even sold a shotgun to my manager.[smile]

Photobucket is the sight blocked at work and it annoys me when I come here from work as I can't see any pics. I won't use proxy sites as I need my job. I just wait till I get home to review certain threads.
 
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Devil's Paintbrush said:
I don't abuse using the internet at work, but if someone tells me I can't do something, that is begging me to do it just because.
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I own a business and have great respect for the folks that work in my company. Many employees have told me that we are the most generous and caring company they have worked for. It is like a family, and we take care of one another. Even though we have four offices spread across the US folks give a damn about one another and reach out to help. In many ways it reminds me of the folks on NES, and probably why I have such an affinity for this site.

I don't block internet. I don't care if someone wants to quickly check a stock price or view the current news headlines. It is not a big deal. And everyone knows not to abuse the privilege. It is about respect.

Your comment "but if someone tells me I can't do something, that is begging me to do it just because" displays a level of immaturity and ego that is just wrong. I respect my team, and I get that respect back. Sometimes I'll tell the team that something is off limits. I generally do so because there is a valid business reason. You don't surf porn at work. I don't care if it is gay or straight or lesbian dwarfs... it is not allowed. Never mind the legal liabilities... I just don't want a coworker or client walking by a cubicle and being offended by what they see on a computer screen. End of discussion.

I know the people in my office know how to use logmein and proxy sites and vpn... that is what we do for a living. But the minute a jerkoff like you tries to show us how smart he is or how easily he can get around our rules, he or she is gone... done... out the door... don't let it hit you in the ass on the way out. We don't need you. We don't want you. Your attitude sucks. We either have mutual respect, or hit the highway.

I suspect you are a young fella. Learn a lesson here... grow the hell up. FYI you are not as smart as you think.

Rich
 
It is all about choice. All entities make choices, and all of us make our choices. Technology is both a good thing and a bad thing - depends on which end of the stick you are at any given moment.

Personally when I become unhappy with where I work, I have 2 choces. Either continue to focus on what makes me unhappy and eventually I will leave, and the ending is not so fine - or find something else to focus on in the context of that job that makes me happy and stay longer. I never figure it is a life sentence no matter what direction I focus. Of course, you will eventually leave...but you can pick that time that is best for you.

If surfing wherever you want is important - then get a job where you are self-employed, or one that allows you to work from home, so you can use the work pc for work, and your home pc to surf. Be creative!!

Why fight some company - do you think they care how sick you make yourself over it?
 
Random recollection:

I had a help desk tech that started disappearing for large chunks of the day. We eventually found out he was using a lab downstairs to find dirty pictures on a site called the hun. This was becoming intrusive so we redirected his dns for that site to an HR page that 'claimed' his activity had been logged and sent to HR. (It hadn't been - we were trying to give him a gentle slap).

He was extremely productive for a few days but descended again and ultimately did not make it. But we tried.
 

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