AP: Email, Web at Work – Is the Free Lunch Over? [via Slashdot: No More Unrestricted Internet At Work] The biggest developments are around email prevention, experts say. Elaborate content filtering software, which can run upwards of $30,000 to install, can block all but the tamest incoming emails, and most attachments. … Corporations, particularly those that were stung hard by the wave of virus and worm attacks during the past two years, are considering it a top priority.
This is mostly Microsoft’s fault, and the rest of the blame can be placed squarely on stupid users who insist on sending me endless copies of Elf Bowling and sheep.exe.
As for personal web use, this can be solved by installing monitoring software and make the log reports public within the company. A previous employer of mine used WebTrends (but this is not an endorsement); technically the reports were not supposed to be public, but once one person found them (in an unprotected section of the IT department’s intranet), word spread rapidly. Meta-monitoring was quickly implemented, scripts were written, irregularities were discussed over coffee, cigarettes, and lunchtime jogs (depending on who you were). Personal web use quickly fell to acceptable levels, and the ’sinful six’ plummeted off the charts.
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