About a week ago I was interviewed by Donna Fenn, a very nice and knowledgeable reporter for bnet.com, about filtering for businesses. BNet.com describes itself as the “go to place for management” and it’s commendable that they are providing managers and IT admins actionable advice for dealing with the scourge of porn in the workplace.

Here’s the entire the article about filtering for businesses. And here’s one IT manager’s comments:

Speaking from the IT department [Internet filtering is] an absolutely an invaluable productivity and safety tool. The risks of employees hitting these virus and bot laden sites is huge and can bring the IT department’s productivity to a screeching halt during cleanup.

I personally hate monitoring usage since it shouldn’t be necessary among professional adults, but as it’s my responsibility to protect the network it’s necessary.

I do know that letting people know they are being monitored and having a very clear policy (signed by employees and filed with HR) is more than half the battle. Those few that aren’t deterred by the possibility of being called into a meeting to discuss inappropriate surfing are best ferreted out and dealt with.

Filed under: Internet Safety News