So what's the story here? Everyone knows that social networks are a waste of intelligence and a huge contributor to negative climate change, why is it news that they are security loopholes for companies?

Anyone caught using a social network at work will be executed. Just kidding, but we do block them all at work and hold raises for people who use the sites.

It's interesting to see that there has been some maturity in web usage during worktime. Although I personally can't be bothered with all this facebook/myspace/bebo nonsense, if it allows others to have a bit of a brain break every so often then companies would be better served allowing access during recognised rest times. We've all seen the dreamed up stats about money lost due to web surfing, but no-one ever looks at the impact of draconian policies and their negative efffects on staff - meaning lower work quality and slower performance.

Not if your content filter is actively blocking proxy sites such as that......

That'll teach the cheeky buggers. Plus we also then know who has been actively trying to bypass company security. At one point, no-one was doing any work and was logged into Facebook.

I think that there's a very simple reason why adult sites are not particularly popular destinations for people surfing at work. And that's that most consider access to such sites to be gross misconduct and fire people accordingly....

This tends to focus the mind somewhat.....

Social Networking sites arent considered to be offensive and attitudes to them are accordingly different.

Whether people should be allowed to access Social Networking sites is another matter. There's a perfectly legitimate argument that states that individuals have no right to use company equipment for personal use and any company consistently applying a policy based on that argument is perfectly entitled to do so.

My personal opinion is that denial of access to sites that may be considered offensive should be rigourously enforced but that access to anything else should be down to the discretion of management. When it comes down to it, they're the ones who should know if someone's productive or not....

I think that people should be allowed to access such sites, but if they fall behind on their work its taken away.

Also blocking proxy servers isnt always best, especially in my work as I need to check websites from remote locations to see if DNS and what not has propagated correctly, so blocking proxies means I cant do this.

The only reason why there's fewer left-handed browsing (thank you BOfH for the term!) in companies' filters mainly has to do with privacy. Imagine getting off when your co-workers are nearby (and quite possibly *watching*?!?!)

That's why home computers exist.

A dozen or so entries in the proxy will block off the more popular webmail and social networking sites, while trying to get the same level of coverage on gambling and porn will take hundreds of entries.

I never really understood the concept some people have, such as you and your bosses, that staff are mere fodder for the machine. I'll explain why:

Firstly, it's your staff that enabled your company to exist and prosper in the first place, so this thing about desktops etc being the propert of the company is rather disingenuous.

Secondly, blanket blocking policies only demonstrates a draconian and rather myopic view of user policies. They also don't work when appplied to topics such as IM.

Third, any company that treats staff with such disdain can expect low staff loyalty and/or motivation. Cut your people some slack and you may be surprised at what you get back in terms of positive employment relations and productivity.

Overall though I feel rather sorry for you. Must be a wonderful atmospehere in your office. Not.