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Does your company montitor Internet Usage?
4

Does your company montitor Internet Usage?

Does your company montitor Internet Usage?

(OP)

Ok, I'll admit it.  I use the internet at work for personal reasons.  I can't help it.  It's just so easy to do and when I'm stuck on a boring project, it's really tempting to surf for a bit.  I'm pretty sure that my company has a way to monitor our internet usage here at work but I don't have any solid proof to back it up.  I'd never ask my manager if they are watching.  I might as well just tell him that I spend time on the internet when I should be working.

So how about you managers from other companies?  Do any of you care to share the secrets of your own companies internet monitoring?  I'm dying to know what other places do.

I've never once been warned for using the internet.  So that either tells me that (a) my manager knows and doesn't think that I surf enough for it to be a problem, (b) my manager has no idea what I'm doing on the internet (c) my manager knows, it bothers him, but he just doesn't feel like bringing it up for some reason.  It makes it much easier to do when you're never yelled at for doing it.  I remember when I first started here, I was terrified to even touch the internet explorer button because I was afraid I'd get fired for messing around.  But just as us humans do, we test the waters and the boundaries slowly until someone in charge says "that's too far".  Well, no ones said anything yet, so are they even watching?  Or am I unknowingly racking up points against me everytime I surf?

Any thoughts or advice?

RE: Does your company montitor Internet Usage?

Both companies I've worked for monitor the usage.  The last one simply logged URLs in a history file.  The file sizes were limited so after a set size old URLs would be deleted.

My current company does something similar.  As far as I know these logs are only used if the employee's use triggers a flag (unauthorized web sites like gambling or pornography) or if there is an issue with the employee not doing his/her work.

I have yet to be sanctioned for coming here, looking at various news sites, or my university's site.

The internet can be very useful and it can be the mother of all distractions.

RE: Does your company montitor Internet Usage?

2
It’s not an issue for me since I have a one man company. I can do anything I like because at the end of the day I am only responsible to myself.

My next door neighbor is the IT manager for an insurance company. They have some restrictive policies set on their connection, no pictures all porno sites blocked many non work sites blocked (Caribbean travel, etc). They started doing this when they had a dial up connection and restricted bandwidth.

Now the policy is that any site that they come across with a long list of key words is automatically blocked and they will unblock any specific site upon request from any supervisor. This is so that if say someone wanted to do some work related research on breast cancer the site would not be blocked due to the word breast.

So far no supervisor has ever requested a site be unblocked and the policy has been in place 10 years since the net started to become popular and useful for the average person.

He also resisted having any reporting and tracking software installed. He claims that if a supervisor does not know what an employee is doing then it is a managerial and supervision problem and not a technology problem. They could just as easily be reading a novel as a work related document and no technology will ever catch the employee.

When I had a staff working for me I always allowed a little leeway for personal time and trusted in my people to give a full days work for a day’s pay. My trust in them was never violated. They always came through for me, just sometimes needed a little break to recharge their concentration which I looked upon much like stepping out for a smoke or a cup of coffee.

Rick Kitson MBA P.Eng

Construction Project Management
From conception to completion
www.kitsonengineering.com

RE: Does your company montitor Internet Usage?

We just switched technology providers (actually outsourced our IT). Now they are monitoring... We all got an email last week from the dir of eng. stating that we should not fool around on the internet... and should under no circumstances use im... now some of us use im to communicate internally... but who knows what is happening now... my supervisor reitterated it.... but another supervisor said that "they could fire him". So I'm a little confused... especially since I'm a contractor... Well, I figure that as long as I am productive beyond their expectations then I'm OK... if it actually came between getting work done... well, i'd probablly be let go for that on it's own merits...

just remember... "Bob,... Bob... In any given week, I probablly do about 15 minutes of real work."

Wes C.
------------------------------
When they broke open molecules, they found they were only stuffed with atoms. But when they broke open atoms, they found them stuffed with explosions...

RE: Does your company montitor Internet Usage?

In theory, my employer monitors.  I know people who have been called on the carpet for non-work-related internet use.  I've always thought it stupid that I can use the phone to call the movie theatre to find out tonight's time or to arrange a dinner date, but I can't look up the movie times online or drop someone an email.  But basically it comes down to the phone conversation not leaving a record that can be dug up via the Freedom of Information Act.  Not that all state agencies have this policy, but mine does.

I don't think they monitor as much as they used to--right before I got here, people were being called on to justify their internet usage left and right, and a number of engineers just found it easier to give up their web privileges rather than keep having to justify what they did.  They still get on people about personal emails, but I think most of those these days are reported by other users rather than caught by some kind of monitoring.

I've never run into trouble, even when I was on the IT people's merde list, but I also never visit sites that couldn't have some kind of work justification.  (I stay out of the Pub during work hours.)

Hg

Eng-Tips policies:  FAQ731-376

RE: Does your company montitor Internet Usage?


Wes616

Ever think that the only reason the outsourced IT guys are monitoring your usage is to justify their own existence?

If you are not working at work than that is a management issue not a technology issue. A supervisor should know what his people are doing and what they have to do to finish the task that they are working on as well as how long it will take them to complete it. The supervisor should also have additional work lined up to keep his people productive but not overwhelmed.

Lazy managers monitor the internet. Good managers monitor their people’s productivity and morale.

Rick Kitson MBA P.Eng

Construction Project Management
From conception to completion
www.kitsonengineering.com

RE: Does your company montitor Internet Usage?

I have two stories from  previous employers that happened:

One previous employer monitored and filtered everything through filters that would also automatically block sites based on key words and automatically send emails to your supervisor that you were improperly using the Internet.

I was working diligently late at night on a behind-schedule project and found several modules would not mount properly into my chassis. I realized I needed different hardware planned and began to visit the various custom hardware sites.

Suddenly I was hit with a flurry of network messages that I was improperly using my computer, my Internet access was going to be suspended, and that I was going to be reported to my manager and HR! Apparently the automatic filters thought "Accurate Screw Machine Company" was a porn site. I had to wait until the next day to source the swage spacer I had been looking for, and it ultimately delayed a $50K shipment an extra day!

At another previous employer the restricted internet access. The management consisted of a group of lords-on-high who looked down at the “peons”. One of this “group” was the IT manager who was charged with monitoring all internet usage. Needless to say, the work environment was bad and I soon left (to the company mentioned at the top of this post). A few months after I left the FBI raided the company – it turned out the IT manager was big-time trafficking in kiddy porn using the company server. This begs the question – who checks the checker?

RE: Does your company montitor Internet Usage?

In my previous company, IT department manager will monitor all the web sites and phone call for every employee, of course, except the big boss and CFO, CEO. One story is that one guy visit monster and hotjobs so often during the office hours. The manager reported to his boss and the guy was questioned why he want to leave. Of course, the guy said nothing, but the next day, he was fired first.

Another story is that one engineering guy use MSN or ICQ to send out all the drawings and some confidential informations to his personal computer. Of course, he is caught, and it is found that he accepted the offer from our competitor.

RE: Does your company montitor Internet Usage?

2
RDK Said:

"Lazy managers monitor the internet. Good managers monitor their people’s productivity and morale"

I agree, I can tell what my people are doing because I am involved with what they are doing. I walk around a lot.

Charlie
www.facsco.com

RE: Does your company montitor Internet Usage?

Management by wandering around.

That’s my style. On a construction site I’ll make a point to walk through as much of the site as often as I can, back to the office trailer push some paper, make a couple of calls and then walk around some more.

Generally I know to the board where the carpenters are, when they will be finished and if they will be out of the way when the electricians want in to the area.

Mostly I wander around until someone wants me to do something. Often it’s simply to ask them what they want to do and then smile and nod my head and then wander off. Sometimes it’s simply to get out of the way and sometimes they actually want me to make a decision.

The trade guys know who I am and that they can approach me with an issue. Once I am comfortable with the contractor and the site supervision I’ll give them the answer on small issues and then find the super and tell him, before that I will find the super first and tell him. Big issues I’ll always go through the super first.

I make a point of having coffee with the super at least twice a day and we talk about what has happened and what will happen next and what has to be done to get ready for that to happen.

It’s a lot less stressful than sitting in the trailer and waiting for someone to come and tell me something and not knowing if I am getting the straight goods or not.

Point is I know what is happening and when the next thing will happen and I know what the treats are to further productivity. It takes experience to be able to do this and self confidence that you know what to do without any fancy formatted reports that are out of date before they are printed.

Rick Kitson MBA P.Eng

Construction Project Management
From conception to completion
www.kitsonengineering.com

RE: Does your company montitor Internet Usage?

They probably focus more on monitoring your output. They only have time to worry about if you get the job done. If you are worrying about spending too much time on the internet you probably are. So don’t leave it up to them to tell you to stop slacking off decide for yourself if you need to do something.

BTW I have seen people fired when inappropriate content (porn) was found on their computer so never allow that at work.

RE: Does your company montitor Internet Usage?

My company monitors.  

My boss gets a list of every site I visit with the number of hits per site (I get a copy).  I am also the only one in the engineering group with any access at all - due to my support role.  Everyone else must use seperate computers set up just for the internet (conveniently located in front of the manager's office).  We also have Websense to keep us out of sites categorized as travel, personal, entertainment, vehicles, military, etc., etc....  We can call IS to clear a site if they deem it acceptable.  Had to do that for Goodyear belts we use on drives because they were catigorized as "vehicles"

This is the message showing up in the Google ad at the top of this thread right now (note the category!!):  

Quote:


Your organization's Internet use policy restricts access to this web page at this time.
  
Reason:
 The Websense category "Adult Content" is filtered.
 
  
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 
URL:
 http://pagead2.googlesyndication.com/pagead/ads?client=ca-pub-8000425157908189&d t=1141250361123&lmt=1141250361&format=468x60_as&output=html&url=http://www.eng- tips.com/threadminder.cfm?pid=732&page=1&color_bg=ECF8FF&color_text=6F6F6F&colo r_link=0000CC&color_url=008000&color_border=B4D0DC&ref=http://www.eng-tips.com/ viewthread.cfm?qid=148110&page=1&u_h=768&u_w=1024&u_ah=740&u_aw=1024&u_cd=32&u_ tz=-300&u_his=110&u_java=true
 

RE: Does your company montitor Internet Usage?

We were just absorbed by a larger company, and I've been told that they do moniter, but don't yet control where we go.  I'm just waiting to get my hands slapped.

RE: Does your company montitor Internet Usage?

Yes, our company watches what we surf.  And they take notes.

Our manager passes everyone's surfing sites to the whole group so everyone can see what others are surfing.  This is probably the best method to limit peoples surfing even though the company does block the unwanted sites.

I think Eng-Tips shows up on my list right after the Britney Spears fan club site.

______________________________________________________________________________
This is normally the space where people post something insightful.

RE: Does your company montitor Internet Usage?

Mine probably does, I haven't heard of anyone being reprimanded though. I figure as long as I keep to the engineering and education websites during company time and the rest on my lunch hour I'm ok.
Actually alot of the sites I visit on company time, forums, catalogs, university lecture notes, are probably some of the most valuable resources I have. If my work had a program wherein alot of this was blocked I doubt I would be as productive.
Plus my employer gets a double bonus in that when I take a 10 minute brain breaks halfway b/w lunch and home time I usually got onto Eng-tips where I learn how to be a better engineer.......although not always ;)

 

RE: Does your company montitor Internet Usage?

Controlnovice - that is Brilliant!  Don't look at anything you wouldn't want everybody to know you were looking at.  Unless you have severe corporate culture issues then this is a supremely efficient solution.

I think it applies to general life as well - the respect of one's peers will keep ANYbody in-line.  I think the problems can come when the entire peer group is 'compromised' i.e. gangs, militias, mobs etc.

RE: Does your company montitor Internet Usage?

Our company posts lists of those who spend the most time on the net and the most visited websites (separate lists - no correllation). Unfortunately, there is no differentiation between people surfing and people with internet access to client networks who are just doing their day-to-day spreadsheets/documents/drawings over the net so the name-and-shame principle doesn't quite work.

RE: Does your company montitor Internet Usage?

(OP)

So, my company answered my question for me earlier this week.  Everyone in the company got an e-mail announcing that internet access will be taken away from all employees.  They mentioned that less than 10% of all internet activity in the company was work related.  So obviously they keep track of this sort of stuff.  Also, I'm obviously not the only employee who does some non-work related surfing during work hours.  Anyone who needs internet access for their job duties is supposed to fill out a request for permanent internet access.  I wasn't going to fill one out.  The internet is more of a distraction than a help to me.  I think I'd just be better off without it.  My boss sent me an e-mail asking me to fill out an application for internet access though because he thinks it's needed to do my job.  So it looks like I will still be able to go online.  Actually, it sounds like everyone is filling out the request for internet access so it will interesting to see what the IT department decides to do.  Are they going to just let everyone who fills out a form to have internet access?  If so, then this is nothing more than an annoyance and an empty threat.  If they are going to reject people, how are they going to determine who is allowed to be online and who isn't?  I'll tell you what.  Office politics can be annoying, but sometimes it's quite humorous if you think about it.

RE: Does your company montitor Internet Usage?

speaking of filters getting confused - I can't get to the F.A.G. bearing website.

=====================================
Eng-tips forums: The best place on the web for engineering discussions.

RE: Does your company montitor Internet Usage?

Even if less than 10% of internet activity is work-related, how can anyone claim that that 10% can easily be done without?
IMHO anybody with a job that involves regular contacts outside the company (like mine) couldn't do their work properly without the internet. How on earth are you going to get e.g. vendor information without internet access? Imagine yourself running down the corridors looking for the Yellow Pages...

RE: Does your company montitor Internet Usage?

Quote:

So, my company answered my question for me earlier this week.
They're probably just trying to make a point.
Evereyone does it and they can't fire everyone.
Now everyone has the message, innappropriate internet use will probably be significantly reduced for a while and in that time persistent offenders will stick out like a sore thumb; someone will elect themselves scapegoat and periodic purges will keep everyone "honest".
Maybe.

JMW
www.ViscoAnalyser.com

RE: Does your company montitor Internet Usage?

Quote (epoisses):

IMHO anybody with a job that involves regular contacts outside the company (like mine) couldn't do their work properly without the internet. How on earth are you going to get e.g. vendor information without internet access? Imagine yourself running down the corridors looking for the Yellow Pages...

Really?  Know what we had to do just 15 years ago? ponder It wasn't that long ago! smile And we still got things done....

______________________________________________________________________________
This is normally the space where people post something insightful.

RE: Does your company montitor Internet Usage?

But 15 years ago, suppliers would have brochures and they'd give you hard copies of data sheets instead of giving you their website address and making things available for download...

RE: Does your company montitor Internet Usage?

Times have changed since 1991.  To remain competitive today, you have to move faster.

RE: Does your company montitor Internet Usage?

My first few weeks here (while they processed my internet access request, which involved a couple of forms and a whole lot of signatures) I had to do exactly that--do everything by phone.  It wasted a LOT of time, not to mention long-distance phone charges.

Ridiculous.  ('Course, I said so, and IT hated me for the next two years.)

Hg

Eng-Tips policies:  FAQ731-376

RE: Does your company montitor Internet Usage?

Techs are lazy. So long as you aren't leeching all day you won't even show up on their alarms.

RE: Does your company montitor Internet Usage?

If IT have the time and resources to worry about who is browsing where, they aren't being kept busy enough.
In my experience, if ever my PC crashed, I needed to get on the list of user for some particular netwrok program, or basically anything at all, there would be a prolonged period of frustration and inactivity while they claimed they were working on "more important things".


JMW
www.ViscoAnalyser.com

RE: Does your company montitor Internet Usage?

My experience with IT is that they're those nerds who got picked on in school. They feel inferior and thus they make you wait to feel powerful, which would explain the BS that HgTX had to go through after he complained....or they could just be surfing porn, that's the ONLY valid important issue.

RE: Does your company montitor Internet Usage?

I think (with my cynics hat on) that companies really worry over the two biggest uses of the internet in company time:
Pornograghy - you're doing something you enjoy
Job searches - an implicit comment that you don't enjoy working for them and you might find out the grass really is greener somewhere else...
I doubt they worry about the amount of time not working for them because, let's face it, you don't cost them that much (the reason you might be doing job searches).

JMW
www.ViscoAnalyser.com

RE: Does your company montitor Internet Usage?

We're not allowed to so much as read CNN during our lunch hour.  Forget porn, job searches, and waste of company time.

Hg

Eng-Tips policies:  FAQ731-376

RE: Does your company montitor Internet Usage?

"We're not allowed to so much as read CNN during our lunch hour."

Gee that's rough. That would be more than enough for me to quit a job.

RE: Does your company montitor Internet Usage?

Quote:

Do not muzzle an ox when it is treading [grain].
I thought this straightforward enough but there are other interpretations:
http://mywebpages.comcast.net/jovial/learn/mc/muzzleox.htm
and I like the Rash explanation here even better.

It doesn't take a genius to realise that many company policies are ill considered and often counte-productive, but that's life.

JMW
www.ViscoAnalyser.com

RE: Does your company montitor Internet Usage?

We get a "403 Forbidden" splash page with our company logo, with a blurb at the bottom stating that if the page should not be blocked, send IT an email with justification.  Took alot to get my Google search results for "sex bolt" unblocked.

They check our usage here, but it is not IT, but rather HR that does the checking.  They are fairly easy though, 2 verbal warnings, then a written.  After the 3rd strike they can terminate.  I've only known of 2 people terminated, but they deserved it (porn-related).

"Art without engineering is dreaming; Engineering without art is calculating."
Steven K. Roberts, Technomad
Have you read FAQ731-376 to make the best use of Eng-Tips Forums?

RE: Does your company montitor Internet Usage?

My company monitors and blocks sites. We get a bit of leeway on personal usage, with shopping sites being unblocked at lunchtime. I've never been questioned on internet usage, and I use online manuals and technical data a fair bit. If there is any problem at all it is the amount of stuff I store for future reference on the server. My disk quota has been increased a couple of times.

A product which helped us solve a major - i.e. business threatening - control problem a few years ago was listed as 'banned' by the automatic screening software when it was introduced. IT said that I could ask to unblock the site, but the real problem would be that I wouldn't have known what I wasn't seeing, and would probably never have asked. I don't know whether we would have solved the problem as quickly or as well, or at all, if we hadn't chanced upon the site in question, and the nanny software would have prevented that.

I personally think it is a bad policy to block sites for reasons illustrated by the example above. Log internet usage by all means, and if someone is foolish enough to misuse the privilege by looking at inappropriate sites then they should be disciplined. All the employees are responsible adults - they shouldn't need some nanny software to keep out of places they shouldn't be.

----------------------------------
  I don't suffer from insanity. I enjoy it...

RE: Does your company montitor Internet Usage?

Don't know about my current employer, although I heard one guy saying they had to turn off an ex-receptionist's access because she was on it too much.

At a larder company where I used to work (and it was turnover-ridden, even in the IT department), one of the IT guys actually showed me the software they had for monitoring internet useage.

Each user had an IP address. NExt to the address was a multi-colored bar whose length I believe corresponded to relative internet login time. Each color was assigned to various site types. Gree, for instance, indicated sports-related sites. If one was on sports sites a lot, there would be a large section of green on his/her bar.

My understanding was that they would, every once in a while, visually scan the bars. If there was an inordinate amount of a restricted color showing up (red for porno for instance), the IT person could then talk to the manager of that person or, depending on the relationship, talk to that person him/herself.

Ed

RE: Does your company montitor Internet Usage?

they use Surfcontrol here.  i cant even check my hotmail anymore.  and sometimes i go to my bookmarked forums and they get whacked out one at a time.  ive been deleting bookmarks since i started because i get the 'white screen of death'

RE: Does your company montitor Internet Usage?

Oops, do you all think the company would able to find out if we are playing Solitaire/Minesweeper?

RE: Does your company montitor Internet Usage?

Probably not, I used to work with a person who got away with playing Doom on their PC at work, along with some other classics like Civilisation, Frogger etc. The company was also one of the largest corporations in Canada.

RE: Does your company montitor Internet Usage?

I find that if I type real small the company doesn't notice that I am posting to eng-tips.

RE: Does your company montitor Internet Usage?

I type everything in small fonts, size 3.5 or so, it saves me a lot of space on the hard drive.

RE: Does your company montitor Internet Usage?

I'd answer this post, but I think they're watching me right now. Gotta go........

RE: Does your company montitor Internet Usage?

TheTick, the fonts do no matter. The problem is that maybe I am your boss and am in Eng-tips as well and am looking at your posts.

RE: Does your company montitor Internet Usage?

most "large" (>1000 employees) do attempt to log websites visited by employees and can search for keywords in emails.

There are ways to make the logging harder---for example if you can "turn off the "automatically detect proxy settings" tab in in you tools internet options, Lan setting tab in IE the ability to block the content goes away--not sure about the logging or email monitoring though.

use common sense--an occasional visit to CNN.com or whatever won't be noticed unless you are doing stuff like that for hours a day.  Also do not look for Porn at work.  stay away from keywords in your email like: "resume" gun" "drugs" "layoff" derogatory terms for co-workers or classes of them like females or racial groups and you should be safe.  IF you email a ton a stuff to a personal email address just mention that it allows you to work outside of normal business hours and be more productivee.  one dumb friend sending you a porn website if you click amd then notice the mistake and are off in a minute won't raise any red flags either.  Patterns of misconduct is how then nail employees and they go after trouble empolyees first--so stay valuable you your company/division and you run a very low risk of being canned for internet usage if you are reasonable.

JW

RE: Does your company montitor Internet Usage?

I check my yahoo e-mail all the time. Do you think they can read my e-mail by software?

RE: Does your company montitor Internet Usage?

(OP)

I'm pretty sure that they only keep track of bytes downloaded here.  If I have a slow day and do a lot of surfin' I sometimes get an e-mail the next day saying that I was in the top 10 for total bytes downloaded, then it lists all the sites I've been to that day, lists how many bytes for each website, and then tells me to make sure that I am using the company's internet privledges wisely.  It's an automated e-mail.  I just hope that it doesn't get sent to my boss!!!

But anyways, I just find it funny because if you're careful and stay away from sites with lots of pictures and videos (i.e. lots of bytes), you can pretty much surf all day and not get that warning e-mail.  So it seem like they are focusing on the wrong thing.  I once downloaded a program I needed for my job and that was ALL I did with the internet that day and I got the warning e-mail.  So I basically spent 0 time on the internet but raised some red flags because it was a lot of bytes.

At least that's my assumption of how it works based on the warning e-mail.

RE: Does your company montitor Internet Usage?

I would be top of our company's data download league for this year, and possibly forever more. The entire Solaris 10 installation for i586 processors is staggeringly large - five CD's gets the basic package. There were a lot of puzzled people remarking on how slow the 'net was on the day I downloaded that lot, and how long file transfers between sites seemed to be taking.

I hope my IT Dept aren't reading this!

----------------------------------
  Sometimes I only open my mouth to swap feet...

RE: Does your company montitor Internet Usage?




Scott, congratulation! for being the years' top data download league award.. hahaha smile


I'm pretty sure, IT's were under your feet. Maybe, perhaps you're top ranking office holder in your company..



RE: Does your company montitor Internet Usage?

I wanted to go to www.craigslist.org and mistakenly put com instead.  I think .com is a porn site.  White window warning popped up.  Scared the crap out of me.  But i dont work for a big corporation anymore.  Now I can do whatever i want :).  As long as I have good amount of hrs to bill, they are happy.

RE: Does your company montitor Internet Usage?

I've misspelled dictionary.com and wound up on a porn site.  No one said anything.  But I suppose "dictionaryl.com" (or whatever it was) doesn't trigger any alarms in my employer's monitoring system, plus I got out of there in a BIG hurry!

Hg

Eng-Tips policies:  FAQ731-376

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