The one drawback of my new job is the draconian lock they have on our Internet usage. Five minutes after I sat down at my desk, I tried to hit web-goddess to show it to my office mate. Instead I got a big “Warning! You’re trying to access a non-work site! We’re watching you!” message. I was like, “Huh? You mean I’ve got to go eight hours without checking my e-mail or reading the news?” As Snookums put it later that night, “A whole day of just work? I’d go mad.” What’s worse is that for my job, I need to research quite a random group of sites. For instance, today I needed some pictures of boats for a project. An hour later, my boss came by to ask why I’d been surfing the Navy’s website. That’s how closely they’re watching us. It’s spooky. So no workday surfing or posting for me, sadly. 🙁
Kristen
December 18, 2002 — 11:29 pm
oh, miserable. i can cope with no posting, but no peeking at email? ouch! any chance things’ll ease up once you settle in?
brigita
December 19, 2002 — 12:11 am
the horror! seriously, i feel for ya, kris.
you should have responded to your boss’ question that you were still toying with the idea of enlisting… 😉 but seriously—how much work does he have to do if he can monitor your internet usage?
Jeremy
December 19, 2002 — 1:28 am
Well at the place I work we have a firewall, which is neccessary, but it makes listening to streaming audio and watching streaming video a bit difficult and often impossible. As to the IT department monitoring an individual’s web usage down to actual sites visited – well, that seems a bit excessive.
Jann
December 19, 2002 — 4:01 am
If I had broadband at home and a job like that?
No contest. Government artist wins hands down. It’s not so much the policy (don’t get me started). It’s more the fact that you have a desk. With a computer. With a connection. With a moat of flaming oil round it.
It’d be like having a steering wheel in your pants (drive me nuts).
I’ll get my coat…
Jann
December 19, 2002 — 4:02 am
…and that would be MY pants…hmmm
Moire
December 19, 2002 — 6:53 am
Ugh. I don’t know what I’d do with myself if I wasn’t allowed to access android slash and prOn during office hours. I’d go insane.
😉
Kris
December 19, 2002 — 7:04 am
Thanks for the commiseration, guys. As I understand it, it’s not that they have a guy that sits there watching it. But I think this “Web Marshal” program that blocks bad sites sends somebody an e-mail every time one of us tries to be naughty. The Snook says he could help me “tunnel out” and bounce stuff off our server at home, but I don’t want to take the risk. I’ll just see how long I can survive, I guess.
I’m willing to cut them some slack because they’re not an I.T. company. Plus the board and “big bosses” are all Japanese, so they have a different sensibility than we do.
martin
December 19, 2002 — 9:52 am
Um sounds mite bit on the fascist side to me. Ah well if you want to go waste time you could always take up smoking! 🙂
I actually asked about internet access at my new place before I accepted. Though I forgot to ask what email client they used. I’ve heard bad things about Lotus…
Nora
December 20, 2002 — 12:51 pm
Ugh. I think I’d lose my mind!