Social networking is worse than almost everything else

ACCORDING TO FIGURES published by web insecurity firm ScanSafe, more employers block social notworking websites than almost any other type of Internet content.

ScanSafe said the crimes they are a-changing and these days time idled away posting profile snaps and pithy status updates is considered worse than time spent on websites related to banking, sports, shopping and weapons.

"When Web filtering first became an option for companies we generally saw them block access to typical categories such as pornography, illegal activities and hate and discrimination," said Spencer Parker, director of product management at ScanSafe. "In recent months, employers are obviously wising up to the dangers and negative impact on productivity linked to certain sites and more and more of our customers have chosen to block social networking, online banking and Webmail".

ScanSafe said that 76 per cent of firms block social notworking sites, a 20 per cent increase from previous months, 75 per cent block weapons sites, 51 per cent sports, 58 per cent web mail, and 47 per cent online banking - presumably just in case sitting in a cubicle all day doesn't make you feel friendless, worthless and out-of-the-loop enough already.

We assume that pornography is still the most blocked kind of content. ScanSafe didn't provide us with this information, but Parker added, "Given the option, companies are increasingly taking a sterner approach to the sites that their employees are allowed to access. I imagine before long, social networking will be up there with pornography in terms of categories blocked."

In separate but perhaps not entirely unrelated news, remote teleworking is widely expected to soar. µ