Montenegro Gives Odd Reason For Banning Facebook On Gov't Computers
from the take-down-the-network? dept
Banning Facebook at the office still doesn't make much sense to us, but even if we granted the (incorrect) premise that Facebook should be banned for being non-work related, it's still odd to see the country of Montenegro's reasoning for banning Facebook in all government offices. They're claiming that it's to avoid taking down their own network. Usually, you take down your network from traffic heading in not out. And, it's not like visiting Facebook takes up that much traffic. In the meantime, at least some other governments have realized that Facebook can be a useful way to talk to citizens. Hell, even terrorists now like Facebook. Perhaps governments should think twice about banning it.Thank you for reading this Techdirt post. With so many things competing for everyone’s attention these days, we really appreciate you giving us your time. We work hard every day to put quality content out there for our community.
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Filed Under: bans, montenegro, social networks
Companies: facebook
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in not out
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I do not see why any other goverment would not want to help productivity of there employees.
PS. Intel does not get limitations put on it's work related internet usage.
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It's appalling how many errors there are in one short message, any of which should preclude promotion from the 6th to the 7th grade in any self-respecting school system.
IS's (why the apostrophe?)
Personnell (Personnel)
states (States)
Govies don't work (needs a period here)
do not give them (needs an initial upper case)
on it's work (again, why the apostrophe?)
There's an excellent book out there, perhaps the funniest book ever written about grammar and syntax, called "Eats Shoots and Leaves."
Signed, The Grammar Police
(a subsidiary of The Spanish Inquisition)
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Re:
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Re: Just Joe
I would like to point out two grave errors in your initial comments. Please refer to your opening sentence. You forgot to capitalise the initial word and you have misspelled what seems to indicate the word "don't".
Please turn in your badge and HR will make sure your P45 is in order. I would like to strongly advise you to please re-read Eats, Shoots & Leaves again before seeking employment elsewhere.
Kind Regards,
Prof. Oxford Comma
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Re: Re: Just Joe
Thank you for your kind response. I remain curious as to your nation you claim citizenship towards. You see, here in America, we aren't the ones to 'kindly point out grave errors.' Such issues are usually taken care of the same way forefather patriots. May I suggest you research Samuel Adams effect on the East India Company, and how said patriot is honored virtually every evening at 5:00.
Thank you for your time and may you be prosperous in the new year.
Team America, World Police
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Re: Re: Re: Just Joe
I tip my hat to your wry sense of humour. Touche'!
Please accept my offer of a pint of Mr. Adams' Boston lager instead of The East India's finest, and join you in a hearty round chanting your organisations motto: America! F**K YAH!
Yours Truly,
Prof. Oxford Comma (UK Division)
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Re:
Personnell (Personnel)
It should be "personal".
Govies don't work (needs a period here)
No, there should be a period or semicolon after "Govies don't work as it is".
do not give them (needs an initial upper case)
Not if he had used a semicolon.
on it's work (again, why the apostrophe?)
Because apparently something like 2/3rds of people using the internet don't know what apostrophes are for. Or how to spell "lose".
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goverment -> government
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Even public-paid government employees.
Stupid reasoning for the ban nevertheless.
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sure FB can take down your network, indirectly
http://envirostats.info/2008/12/04/institutional-banning-of-facebook/
unless they were trying to monitor terrorists... in which case, they would be hacking FB to really know what the terrorists might be doing... the ones you should take seriously, at least, cause the ones careless enough to have their stuff public are too stupid to cause a lot of harm.
As for interacting with the public, membership to FB and its walled garden status makes it an elitist tool, meaning gov can't be using it to reach out to "all" citizens.
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Re: sure FB can take down your network, indirectly
Except, of course, that's it's a very useful communications tool, that a gov't can use to good advantage.
Except that.
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All risk; no business purpose
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Re: All risk; no business purpose
my lap top is linux with PGP encryption and you are not permitted my key.
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Re: Re: All risk; no business purpose
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They should just say the real reason....
We also block ALL access to a whole list of web sites (subject matter...porn, sports, etc.)external chat, IM and email as it is a threat and another way to waste time.
Its terrible it has come to this but unfortunaltey, the work ethic in this country has gone down the tubes and this type of enforcement is necessary.
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Re: They should just say the real reason....
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Re: Re: They should just say the real reason....
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Re: Re: They should just say the real reason....
you are right .....you are lucky you dont work for me or you would not only be on the unemployment line but probably be eating JAIL food for malicious tampering with the companies network once I trapped and documented your feeble but futile attempts to circumvent network security. (this can and has been successfully prosecuted as a crime.
no one said you weren't entitled to a break or even to stand around and make small talk for a few minutes but wasting HOURS on end talking nonsense with your friends is another story. Your employer is paying you to work and thats what you are expected to do....its the same people, like you, that complain when they're called in a room and told they are being let go or laid off because the company's numbers are down. Where do you think their revenue comes from? YOUR HARD WORK. There is a mindset or mentality that is at a dangerous level in America's workforce of animosity for their employers and sense of entitlement that is at the core of American workforce's problem. And YES, it starts from the top down. Many exec's set the wrong example for their employees...
I could go on for hours about this but I won't...why do you think the japanese auto makers are kicking our butts? why aren't they asking for handouts? its because of their loyality to their company...you can bet they are not sitting around on Facebook all day.
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Re: Re: Re: They should just say the real reason....
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Work Ethic
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Work Time
I work for the Government of Puerto Rico (Gov). In our Constitution we have a section that reads: Assets and funds property of the Commonwealth are to be used for the Commonwealth and not for personal uses. (My translation, since it is in Spanish).
Of course, you can use the argument that Gov can communicate to people using Facebook. That doesn't mean that all employees can use Facebook to message THEIR personal friends. If the Gov want to communicate with employees, they issue MEMOS. Ever heard that word before? Also there are other forms of communications like CIRCULARS. Ever heard of that? I have. They also use Intranet and Internet email.
I work for the Gov as an auditor. When I audit PC's and there have been misuses, I look for porn, politics (political party communications - don't know the correct words) and personal private businesses. If I find that, I just add the personal web surfing to the list to prove they make bad use of work time.
I use Facebook at work to track employees and connect them to other persons. Like "suspect1 did know suspect2" kind of thing. So, for me it is very useful. And yes, I do that on my spare time on my personal PC. Love my work. :)
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Re: Work Time
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The true problem is the autoresponders
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Boo....
poor them...
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Facebook is Crap
And I don't buy the premise that it's all that useful for business. Maybe a salesman or someone that spends time with the public might get some legitimate use from a presence there. But Joe Blow in Accounting has zero reason to be on there during work hours.
Like so much of the over-hyped "Web 2.0", Facebook is disappointingly over-utilized and underwhelming.
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I have a theory
Employees only waste their time on such sites as Facebook when their employers do not keep them sufficiently challenged with productive and meaningful work supervised by managers who are true leaders and who set an example for their underlings.
I suspect the work ethic in that country rivals the diminutive size of the country. You know how the short guy is always trying to pick a fight to "prove" he is "macho?" Perhaps that country's insecure aristocracy is simply trying to prove they are "in charge." It is the "micromanagement" system at work. Look around. I suspect the "Peter Principle" is also in play here.
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So what?
The sooner these stupid ideas fail, the sooner we can move onto building worthwhile applications.
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?Escuchame!
y venga conmigo
Vámonos al viaje para buscar los sonidos mágicos
de Puerto Rico!
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Really TechDirt?
If a government doesn't need Facebook but employees waste their time on it why not block it? In a business sense, it just makes sense.
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But the Friday articles have been lacking in concept for the the last few weeks. They seem to scream "troll this".
But have you seen this?? It needs to go viral.
http://dancejam.com/videos/1054595188-cant-wrap-this
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Makes sense to me.
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Facebook @ Work
If even 1 employee is busy downloading Facebook pics (or worse, uploading them) the "network" could essentially come to a halt.
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Getting work done despite the stupid bans
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