Internet monitoring at work: look at this bullshit

[iconoclastNYC]

A friend of mine sent me this. He works in a small office of professionals. This was sent out from thier IT guy:

"As a reward for those that have actually taken the time to read this, a final warning, gee, what a reward, I have cranked up a network monitor that will log all network based activity, internet, email, and in-office activity between stations. Periodically, I'm thinking weekly, the top 10 users in quantity or inappropriate content, for internet access, email etc. will be reviewed with *name deleted* to determine if their activities are related to work, conceivably accidental, or attributable to something less than useful in a work environment, again, nicely printed out to easily be added to the personnel folders."

Isn't this ridiculous? Why are they treating thier employees like children? All this is going to do is push people into wasting time on the phone, which is disruptive to those around you.

If someone has a problem with surfing at work, shoudln't it be obvious to that persons' supervisor?

This IT guy sounds like a little Hilter, and very unprofessional.

What would you do if you worked at this office? The people who work in this office are professionals and if i worked there i'd be very mad that the IT geek is playing babysitter.

[LiberallyInclined]

1. I doubt that the IT guy is the one behind it.

they usually are acting on orders from above.

[flvegan]

6. But then wouldn't the message gone out to the employees from

a supervisor, manager or team lead? Coming straight from "the IT guy" sounds a little hokey. Power trip. I'll bet dollars to donuts he's a major snoop.

Someone should run his access numbers and see what HE'S looking at.

[LiberallyInclined]

12. not at all-

they have the IT guy explaine the rules...i have several friends who are IT guys, and they all have to do this kind of stuff. believe me- they aren't the ones calling the shots. do you think a boss is going to let an IT guy usurp any authority?

[flvegan]

25. It seemed to me to be an authoritative flexing of muscle by the e-mail

that's why it seemed odd. I expect that type of "I'm watching you and reporting you" to come from management.

[LiberallyInclined]

29. and how many higher-ups would condone someone without authority

trying to use it?

unless the IT guy is also the head of the company, this didn't start with him.

[flvegan]

31. I'm agreeing with you. My point is in

the actual sending of the e-mail. I liken it to my manager telling me to do something as part of my job, that regulates others, then me telling them I'm doing it. Where I work, my manager would do that.

[LiberallyInclined]

32. but as many others have pointed out-

many companies have the IT department send out any and all memos regarding tech usage.

that's just how it's done.

[Melynn]

63. I bet the Network Admin is the worst violator

Where I work it has been the PC/Lan people who violate the rules with impunity because no one is watching them.

[CornField]

28. Exactly. Mr CornField is network admin at his company

One of the items tied to a bonus last year was upgrading the company's electronic monitoring. Whenever notes need to go out to staff in relation to anything electronic (phone system, computer network, etc.), he's the one who sends them (after they've been pre-approved by the CEO and board).

And, when push comes to shove: the company pays an employee for a service -- the company purchased the computer -- the company pays for the connectivity. In short, the company should be able to present employees with a list of accepted guidelines for internet use.

[sui generis]

2. storm the bastille

Get a dozen coworkers to go with you, corner him in his cubicle and tell him his email was condescending and unprofessional and you are going to print something out to that effect and put it in his employee file.

[meegbear]

3. That's bullshit!

I'm the unofficial IT here and if I was asked to monitor people, I would give "nice" results.

That is ridiculous and I think shows a lot about how the company views it's employees.

And the 'wit' of the IT guy makes me wanna sash his head against the wall.

[DS1]

22. Sash his head against the wall? Would that make him "Art"?

:D

[meegbear]

49. I'll sash you!

grrrrrr

[nini]

4. Sounds like there are a bunch of people not doing what they're PAID for

Yep, it's lame the way it was worded, BUT these people are at work and shouldn't be screwing around in the first place.

My workplace tolerates a bit of internet fun but if we abuse it and don't get our jobs done we get in trouble for it. It's a fair policy.

To not do the work you're getting paid for is stealing in my mind.


Those employees just need to do their work and they'll have nothing to worry about.

[Phentex]

13. i suspect you are right....

if not for the misuse and abuse, it probably wouldn't matter to the higher-ups.

[chicagojoe]

5. Is it possible that

the IT geek was told to do this by management? The memo sounds like it's full of sarcasm.

[Debi]

7. flame away...but

what's wrong with NOT doing personal internet surfing and gettng personal emails at work? The law office I worked at fought against personal calls at work as well. Just seems work is work. Why not?

[iconoclastNYC]

18. I just think that you have to treat your employees like adults

And deal with the abusers one on one. Sending out an email like this just lowers morale.

If someone isn't getting his work done b/c he's surfing the internet too much i can see investigating to see what that ONE user is doing but this idea of a top ten lists and personel files just sounds like something you'd do with junior high kids, not a office of professionals.

I dont know but you but I dont react well to threats, certainly doesn't inspire loyalty.

This is why if i was in charge i'd treat my employees like adults not like children.

[Debi]

34. What kind of adults surf the internet and read/send personal emails

when thery are supposed to be working? How about the employees taking on personal responsibility, knowing the rules and adhearing to them so that management doesn't have to crack down?

So, the IT guy is supposed to search everyone's computer and only pick on the worst offenders? Isn't that what the memo said he'd be doing?

[iconoclastNYC]

23. Difference tho.

Is that personal calls disrupt eveyone who can hear your calls. Internet surfing is silent for the most part, right?

[Debi]

33. and just as unproductive as personal telephone calls.

don't see the difference for the company paying the salaries.

[Left Is Write]

39. Regardless of one's opinion on surfing at work, that email

sent out by the IT guy is highly unprofessional. The condescending language and sarcasm have no place in a professional work environment.

[Debi]

42. On that we agree n/t

[TrogL]

8. I'm on his side

Bandwidth is expensive. So is hard drive space and processor for an email system to process joke-of-the-day emails and a separate server to deal with all the viruses.

If people would simply work instead of screwing around on the internet (yes, I'm totally aware of the hypocrisy of posting on here during working hours) we've probably need about half the network gear we've got.

I suspect this memo is the last in a series of nicely worded reminders to go easy on the bandwith and have pity on the mail server.

[iconoclastNYC]

19. Bandwith is not expensive.

I pay the IT bills where i work and I can tell you that a T-1 line is about $800 a month and thats enough bandwith for a huge office with tons of people.

[Debi]

36. pens & pencils don't cost much either

but when employees steal them from work that can add up. It's not the employees computer or internet access (or their time since they're being paid to be at work working) so why steal?

[iconoclastNYC]

40. Difference

You steal a pencil and that pencil has to be replaced. Which means there is a cost there.

99/100 orgs will never max out thier 2.5MBPS T-1 lines. To call it stealing to use bandwith for personal reasons is very disengenous. Most of the time the bandwith goes to waste.

No company I know pays for bandwith on a per gig price.

It just really gets my goat that employeers and corporations can ask/compel/force you to work weekends, nights, 50 hours a week, most of the time without add'tl compenstation...but then turn around and start crying and whining if you use your computer to book some tickets on Expedia.

Then they start a witchunt with top-ten lists and condecending emails, we can disagree but i dont think that is the way to build good will with the employees.

And I'd never work for an employer that takes the attitude that i'm thier property from 9-5am. A business is nothing without it's employees and I expected to be treated with human dignity, and not treated like a child.

[Debi]

44. I wonder

If the staff weren't booking flights on Expedia and reading personal emails from 9-5 would they have to work nights and weekends?

We're just going to have to disagree. I don't think it's right to use company computers to do personal business or for personal pleasure. I don't think the company is here at the pleasure of the employee. We don't see eye to eye.

[Name removed]

45. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Debi]

46. Now that's just silly

What I don't understand is the entitlement attitude that goes along with getting a job? When did employers have the responsibility to make work a place of play for employees? There are abusers on both sides of the fence.

There are companies that have sufficient break-times, lunch-times and added perks for their employees. There are also draconian companies that don't allow employees to speak to each other as they pass in the hall and time bathroom breaks.

I'm sorry you think that I'm posting on a progressive board with my corporate values (I'll have to tell hubby that - with his six years in the U.S. Congress as a Democrat he'll wonder why he ever married me).

Then again, he may remember a certain campaign staff member that spent his time surfing porn sites on our campaign computers, calling his girl-friend long distance on our dime and sleeping in the office when he was getting paid to work. But, being a human values person, he won't mind $$ going out the window. The boy had a job and we had a responsibility to let him keep it, no matter his work ethic. Who cares whether or not hubby got re-elected, that wasn't the staff member's responsibility.

[iconoclastNYC]

47. Because you are painting with huge brush strokes

I'm sure you guys dealt with the porn-surfer. And that's what they should do at this company I dealt with. They made a mistake to send out an email that makes it seem as if everyone in the office has a huge problem with the internet.

People say all sorts of incorrect things to defend a really boneheaded move from this company and i'm just correcting them. Like the idea that bandwith is expensive, and stealing bandwith is expensive.

Listen, if you have an employee who is breaking the rules so much that it interfeers with his job responsibilities it should be obvious. You deal with that person, and make an example of him if need be, but you don't send out an arrogant and threatening email to everyone. That's cutting off your nose to spite your face.

Congrats to your husband for winning elected office but i'm not sure that makes your POV any more valid then mine.

[Debi]

48. Actually he lost

And the employee retained his job throughout the campaign and got a letter of recommendation because we realized that people make mistakes and need to be reminded of their responsibilities. He has performed admirably for the state party and other candidates since that time.

I did, however, have a meeting with the entire staff about their responsibilities to the campaign and didn't single anyone out as to not embarrass them. Everyone was told what was expected of them.

The email was poorly written, but I agree with the intent of the writer.

[MADem]

9. If you have a single line phone on your desk

Fuck 'em. Plug in your lap top and go on line via a dialup connection. Go around the system entirely!!! Bastards!

[iconoclastNYC]

21. I told my friend

to use gotomypc to get a desktop view on his home machine and surf from there. all the packets will be to gotomypc.com and they'll be encrypted...the IT gestapo will only know that he's using gotomypc and nothing more.

[Haole316]

58. we block gotomypc.....

it's a backdoor around all of the border security devices.

[Haole316]

59. another backdoor to the network.....

probably not the best way to gain friends among the IT security staff.

[MADem]

62. I'm not suggesting that you link to the work network

I'm suggesting that the person dial into their own private ISP, on their own laptop, using a local number, of course, if they have a compatible phone on their desk. The IT types would have nothing to do with it--it wouldn't be associated with their network at all, it would be the equivalent (in terms of work no-nos) of making a personal phone call.

[Haole316]

64. at least 99% of everyone...

wouldn't be smart enough to disconnect from the internal network.....

[ET Awful]

10. Well, as an IT guy, I can tell you that it is not the IT guy who makes

those decisions. It is the HR department and management.

I have to generate reports like that every couple of months for a few random dates since the last report. The reason? Women walked into the office of one employee while he was browsing porn and reported it to HR, and a few other such instances.

The company does it to protect their own ass more than anything else.

Whether it's "obvious to that persons' supervisor" is irrelevant, if you are going to discipline an employee for inappropriate internet usage, etc., you must have documentation, not just "obvious to that persons' supervisor."

The IT guy isn't playing babysitter, he's doing what he's been told to do by management, and trust me, it's a pain in the ass having to get all that information together.

[iconoclastNYC]

24. But seriously you do top ten lists?

Its like they are hunting for a problem.

If there is a complaint against someone, by all means, you monitor them, confront them, and tell that if they go to these sites again they will be shown the door.

But don't insinuate to everyone who reads this that they are doing something wrong. I mean saying there is going to be a top ten list means there is always going to be 10 offenders with shit put in thier file right?

And this email should have come from someone with real authority, right?

[ET Awful]

26. Well, in our case, the top 5 (if not top 10) had approximately 20 times

the internet traffic as those below them.

By that I mean that certain individuals had thousands of hits a day on particular websites, while the average user has 50 or 60 on a single site (a hit includes downloading of images from the site, etc., so a single loading of a site could count as 10 or 20 hits). This was indicative of . . . say posting on DU all day long and constantly refreshing threads, if DU had sex threads and porno pictures.

[lpbk2713]

11. Some of these propeller heads get a little obsessed with their power.

You could always take a low-tech approach. Slash his fuggin tires.

[crispini]

14. The tone of the email is very unprofessional.

Honestly, if I worked there I'd be looking for another job. Too much nannystate....

[NoPasaran]

15. Ninety percent of all the work done is America is total bullshit

The more time people waste on the web, the slower our civilization declines.

[Debi]

35. Are you posting from work?

:P

[NoPasaran]

41. You bet I am!

:hi:

[Debi]

43. *giggle*

:applause:

[Deja Q]

16. Some employers track EVERYTHING accessed. Sites, e-mails, everything.

It's the way of the world as we make it.

Well, we meaning those who are in power. We're no democracy or even a republic. Maybe a plutocracy... or oligarchic plutocracy.

[Marnieworld]

17. As an IT "guy"

with breasts and a uterus of course, I can tell you that this is fairly typical. First, he/she is just doing their job which is to use technology, and the business owner's investment in such, to the best of its ability in order to promote the interests of said business owner.

As someone else pointed out, non-work related computer activities impact, not just stealing "time" as an HR person would say, but company bandwidth, hard drive space and processing ability. It also opens up security threats to the network, inviting spyware, DOS attacks, and viruses. As an administrator all of these problems make my job harder and seriously decrease the productivity of everyone. A business owner has the means and the right to protect themselves from the legalities of a hostile work environment.

Work at work and if you don't it is at your peril. All of the technology is paid for by someone else for their benefit not yours. If you play by the rules then it wouldn't matter.

[iconoclastNYC]

27. As an IT guy, woudln't his time be better spent.....

Keeping the firewall up to date? Keeping the anti-virus software up to date? Installing anti-spyware software on the client machines?

Training users how to avoid downloading malicious software?

This office uses IE over Firefox even tho Firefox is more secure.

I see your point, and i see there point, i know the goal here, but i just think that in this case he's just pissing off the users (whom he needs to keep on his side so they come to hiim with problems that could open up security vulnerabilities), and creating an unneccesary hostility between the users and the IT department.

Thats why this email should have come from someone from HR or upper management. Bad cop/good cop.

[Marnieworld]

30. It's all related

I'm sure all of that is up to date but you never can be too careful. Often there is a lag time for the virus companies to respond to a threat and send out updates. Spyware too. Nothing is perfect. An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure blah blah. Perhaps the IT person was the sender of the info because he understood it best and could explain it best if anyone had any questions. It's understood (well ususally) that the IT person is just doing their job and I've never experienced any resentment from any user that I know of. I personally think it's actually more professional to let everyone know exactly what is being monitored. To keep it a secret is malicious because you are setting up people to be caught doing what they otherwise would not be doing if they knew they were being monitored. We're just gonna have to disagree on this one.

[Haole316]

60. firefox may be more secure than ie....

but not by much at all.

[DS1]

20. After dealing with the kind of CRAP idiots behind keyboards can

download and infect my network with, I can empathize with the IT guy.

[Mutley]

37. when i worked at Toys R Us

they just blocked every site on the net except the ones that pertained to Toys R Us. For example, we could visit the Little Tikes web site, but not Democratic Underground.

[Jokerman]

38. If you don't own the PC or pay for the Internet connection...

Then NOTHING you do on that PC is private. The people paying the bills have every right to monitor and limit your activity on their systems.

This guy does sound like a jerk and he may need (as many IT people do) a lesson in human relations but I doubt that this policy originated with him.

[patcox2]

50. We seem to be confusing the playground of college with a "JOB"

When you have a JOB, they give you money to do work for them. You do work, they write check. You take check without doing work, you stealing. This childish whining about "treat me like an adult, you have no right to watch me to make sure I am not goofing off, I have rights" is just so self-centered, so retarded, as to be beyond belief.

What a culture of whiners. wahhh, my boss is mean, wahhh, my job stinks. Too bad, babies, do something about it, its much more productive than wallowing in whiny self-pity and ridiculous feelings of victimhood.

[patcox2]

51. IT people tend to have no social skills.

Nothing more vicious in the world than a self-absorbed borderline aspergers geek with a little power; except one with a lot of power, like Bill Gates.

Remember those great skits on Saturday Night Live in which Fallon played the IT guy? "Move!"

[Left Is Write]

52. I loved Jimmy Fallon as the IT guy.

SNL was still funny then...

[patcox2]

55. Man is it at rock bottom now. Lorne has no talent.

Look at the history of the show, wings wildly up and down, proves its not Michaels, its the actors, sometimes he lucks out, sometimes he doesn't, only thing he's good at is taking all the credit.

They should turn it all over to Jon Stewart, his shows day in and day out just destroy SNL.

[Left Is Write]

56. I actually watched for a while last Saturday night.

I think I watched three skits - I didn't even crack a smile. Nothing.

There was absolutely nothing even approaching funny AT ALL.

[ComerPerro]

53. Well, two things

It is their connection you are using, and you are being paid to do work for them.

It shouldn't really be suprising that they don't want you surfing the net while you should be working.


(note that I am posting from work).

[Book Lover]

54. I recommend

requesting clearly delineated explanations of inappropriate and how long is too much. And this "periodic" thing needs to be clarified, too. This email was vague and unprofessionally worded.

[TreasonousBastard]

57. The key words are "final warning"...

and rather than jump into whining mode about this big, bad, IT guy, some questions should be asked first.

It does appear that there has been SOME problem going on for a while, and any talk about the "free" bandwidth or server disk space, IT Gestapo, etc. is bullshit unless those questions are asked and asnwered. Every company has an ongoing battle with wasting time and bandwidth online, and the assorted virii, worms, and personal problems that infect the network. People there do, ummm... have a job to do.

It is a "small office of professionals" so presumably everyone knows everyone else and things are a little looser than at General Megacorp. That, and the apparent frustration with an ongoing problem, would explain the tone of the message.

Professional "whats" would be my first question if I cared enough to enquire further and join the holy crusade for their online freedom.

[Haole316]

61. this is more than likey....

about porn more than anything else. I've acted as the "porn police" for a number of clients. You would not believe how addicted some people are to internet porn.

[HEyHEY]

65. Hey, get to work

I post from work. But if my boss ever told me not to I wouldn't blame him. I just manage to get my work done too.

[tjwmason]

66. Same here

Due to lax management and oversight, I have enough work to fill only a portion of my working time; they have given me a computer with a damn speedy internet connexion. Sure I'll surf the internet, post to D.U., read the N.Y.T. on-line, buy stuff from Amazon &c. - but work is done on time as the first priority.

I wonder what people would think about people getting out a book, putting their feet on the desk, and reading whilst at work. It strikes me that we have an unofficial set of permitted activities and non-permitted activities on which we may waste our employers' time and money.