Nazareth Blogger Bernie O'Hare, who is a reader and contributor to this site, has been banned by Northampton County according to articles in both the Express-Times (read the article here) and Morning Call (read the article here).
The County states that his site was not singled out, but instead was "caught" in an update of software used to block improper material from employees computers. The software is not installed on all machines and therefore some continued to have access while others were told the sight may contain objectionable and x rated material.
If you've visited Bernie's site, Lehigh Valley Ramblings (included in the sidebar on NOC), you know his site has a broader focus than this one, but is primarily focused on Northampton County Politics. You'd also know that his style and approach is markedly different than my own, but the only objection the county could have to his site is the fact that he doesn't agree with them 100% (okay even 50%).
I'm sure Bernie's site has received increased traffic as a result and good for him, but the County ought to simply exempt the site as it is not x-rated in any conventional sense of the term.
What do you think? Should public entities (government, schools, etc) supported by tax dollars allow staff to visit sites that are not work related? How would work related be defined? If so, how can the county ensure that sites are "appropriate" for staff to view? Should political party sites be viewable? This would seem to be a bigger concern as employees are not to do political work on county time than a news site would be (as I'd consider Bernie's blog).
3 comments:
Very cute that Bernie's blog was "accidently" blocked. I think the only "accident" is that they were caught doing it.
I think if he was 100% behind them and never questioned a thing they did, then this would have never become an issue.
As to public employees visiting sites like these during the work day, I don't see a problem there. My company explicitly calls out in the employee manual that it is okay as long as it does not keep me from doing my job.
If we block public employees from going to news and/or blog sites during work hours, what is next? Not allowing them to talk about non-work related things in the halls? Having any type of non-work related conversation during the work day?
The bright side of this is that now that Bernie's site is (at least in part) being blocked by the county, maybe some of those inside that are unhappy may start feeding him some good tidbits.
NOC, I must apologize. I look at your site every day and just didn't see this article. Maybe it was banned. If I had seen it I would have thanked you for shedding public light on this problem.
Well, county exec Stoffa has ordered the block lifted, and for good reason. They have no internet use policy in place for employees. Their employees should not nbe treated like little kids. And I believe there is a big difference betyween a private and public employer in terms of what they can block.
I've always viewed the internet as best being unregulated. As a wide open anything goes environment there is good and there is lots of bad, but the small guy has the same opportunities as the big guy and innovation is unimpeded. The internet has come along way, but it remains by far the most open environment we have.
There are undeniably stories of individuals who go to work and abuse their ability to go online. But when you consider how many people go online each day from work - the percentage has got to be minuscule.
I understand companies have policies and utilize technology to avoid abuse, particularly in very large corporations with far flung workers.
For the most part (and there are some big exceptions) the issue is not so much where employees are visiting online, but how often and for how long (this cuts into corporate time). There is a balance between having the happy/satisfied employee who will give you the extra to get each project/task complete and the one barely doing enough to get by without being reprimanded.
Specifically banning an individual site that in a sense compiles public comment is ridiculous and petty.
In the end, there is a difference between public and private corporations, but not much. People find out, and when they do the ones banning sites are no different than those banning books - they bring bad attention to themselves and lots of attention to what they didn't want known.
Congrats on being banned Bernie;-)
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