My Employer Says No To Pipesmagazine

[gnatjulio]

We need to march on Washington to stop this discrimination. I know this may seem petty with today's environment and all, but every step was petty up to and beyond now. What is next?
I will be marching under the "Blackblood" banner.

 

[msandoval858]

I'm an IT guy and it is my job to implement and administer these kinds of systems on our company network. I can tell you that there is a posibility that your office policy isn't necessarily targeting tobacco as something workplace inappropriate.
These filter solutions (the ones I have the most exprience with are Sonicwall and Barracuda Networks) come with a wide range of filter controls. By default, pretty much everything is enabled. You have to go into the management interface and selectively remove certain categories that you do not wish to block. There are the obvious types of sites but there are also many more classifications of content that you wouldn't think would get blocked. I routinely have staff come to me with questions on sites they are trying to access that get blocked for misc reasons, most of which are fine and no problem to unblock. My employer is a religious based organization that provides services such as marriage counseling, so some of the resources they use get blocked as the filter mistakes them for being sexual in nature. Just an example.
I would suggest at least bringing it up with IT. Obviously you might not want to make a big fuss about it but if you at least inquire as to why it's blocked and mention you browse during your lunch break, perhaps it will be no big deal. If it is at a policy level with the company, simply drop the issue and move on.

 

[cortezattic]

Will somebody please tell me how I can block all sites dealing in women's shoes? :rofl:

 

[checotah]

I agree with the suggestion of asking about the blocking, if for no other reason than ascertaining it is supposed to be blocked. As already noted, sometimes firewalls come with a lot of somewhat generic site blocking and this might simply be caught up in one of those. Of course, it may turn out that it is intentionally being blocked for some reason, and you will likely have to accept it (assuming you want to stay on the job}. In any case, honest, polite inquiries into such areas should received answers in kind.
If it turns out to be related to the term "tobacco", I wonder if they would block both pro and con sites... including quitting tobacco support...there I go again, chasing that cat around the inside of the bag...

 

[instymp]

Photoman, points you make are very valid. Throw in a virus or two from "OK" websites and it really hurts a small business. Trying to keep everyone on & no layoffs is getting harder & harder for a lot of people. Big shame.

Good ethics Sir!

 

[voorhees]

I work at a small college campus(contractor) and use the campuses internet for all kinds of business related items and yes non-related items like this forum. I don't look at questionable sites, I'm sure they get plenty of that from the students.
Its a perk. I also have my Droid if needed. But I link to the campus cafeteria WiFi!
-Jason

 

[atwageman]

Some companies have filters that block sites that contain forums, irregardless of subject matter.