Discussion on:

Dumb@$$ staff and MySpace

I have had enough! I have a collegue who is intentionally provoking me to squash the internet usage within my office by openly posting ways around my (weak) web filter on MySpace. I think I will install a program that gives an allotted amount of internet time per day and then waves bye-bye as it shuts it off until the next day. On second thought, I think I will unistall her IE7 and take away the admin rights to reinstall it. Maybe I will only giver her access to three sites: Techrepublic (which is WAY over her head), ESPN (Which is WAY over her head), or the opening page of Disney. What do you think? Anyone else being taunted?

why not just block it in the registry on his system, he will never know the difference I am sure.

We had a little bit of fun with the myspace junkies in the office. We set up an internal DNS zone for myspace.com and had it redirect to a website with an angry-looking picture of our CEO with the caption "Myspace? Get back to YOUR space slacker!" Before redirecting them to our company website.

That was until upper management found out.........

They were browsing on myspace...

You know it!

At a previous employer we used to redirect to a warning page: The page you are trying to access violates our corporate policies, you are being monitored.

Then below that a statement of policies. They had to hit an acknowledgement button before they can navigate away.

James

Yeah our days of being able to have that kind of fun are coming to an end. We just purchased a Barracuda Web filter appliance that so far has really impressed me. It makes it very easy for us to monitor and filter web traffic.

Our company is pretty small, but growing and it's pretty interesting being involved in creating a more formal and controlled network. Needless to say it doesn't always make the users happy, but it's nice not to have to deal with the undocumented mess we had when my coworker and I took it over a little over a year ago.

They can't claim they don't know the policy if we re-direct them to the policy every time they stray. We did by the way get everyone to read and sign a paper copy as well.

James

What ever you do, don't make it overt. If the user is smart enough to figure a way past the filter you set up, do it so they won't suspect you're behind it. It's more fun that way and you'll get to see them squirm. Time limits are too easy to work around. They sound like a fool, and fools can be so ingenious.

Once you have made the reg tweak that W2K suggested, print out the acceptable use policy and pin it to his chair. If this continues, begin the escalation process.

Good luck!

a quick entry that tells the system that myspace is 127.0.0.1 and all is well in the world.

let them explain how the "internet is broken" when it is only that site.