Ontario bans Facebook
p2pnet.net news:- What do Facebook, online poker and hardcore sex sites have in common, in Canada at least? They’re all on the Ontario provincial government’s ‘block’ list.
Canada now has two million Facebook.com subscribers and it’s one of the fastest growing markets, an advertising conference in Toronto heard this week, says the Toronto Star.
And, “within Toronto, the number is 500,000 and growing at the rate of 5 per cent a week, vice-president of media sales, Mike Murphy told the gathering of ad executives.”
In fact, they’re spending an average of 29.6 minutes a day on the site.
Now, “The Ontario government is the latest to question employees’ need to log into Facebook at work, putting the site behind a firewall that denies them access,” says the story, going on:
“While the government’s motives for doing so are unclear, it appears one of the issues is ensuring people aren’t wasting time at work. ‘Facebook is predominately a social network, we understand that; it has its value’,” Ontario premier Dalton McGuinty (right) told the Toronto Star.
“I just don’t really see how it adds value to the work you do in the workplace.”
Canada’s Toronto-Dominion Bank agrees.
Its Net policy also bans Facebook and the story has spokesperson Simon Townsend saying, “While we certainly think that occasional personal use of the Internet or email is appropriate, the use of these resources shouldn’t affect an individual’s performance or the security of the bank’s information systems.”
But, “Not all employers take a dim view of Facebook, says the story, adding:
For Youthography, a Toronto-based advertising, marketing and communications agency whose clients are mainly companies trying to reach ‘tweens, teens and young adults, sites like Facebook are critical to its understanding of emerging media.
“We use Facebook for business purposes to network, recruit and organize events,” said Rick Tremblay, managing partner of Youthography. “It’s critically important for our staff to understand the impact and how the sites work as well.”
But when it comes to civil servants, Tremblay says he could understand why the government might be concerned.
“I can see where safeguarding the taxpayers’ dollars might be a concern in terms of how they’re spending their time at work,” he said.
Launched in February, 2004, Facebook now has more than 21 million active users across over 47,000 regional, work-related, collegiate and high school networks, it says, stating, “According to comScore, Facebook is the sixth-most trafficked site in the United States and the number one photo-sharing site.”
Also See:
Toronto Star – Worries follow rise of Facebook, May 4, 2007
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Tired of being treated like a criminal? They depend on you, not the other way around. Don’t buy their ‘product’. Do bug your local politicians. Use emails, snail-mail, phone calls, faxes, IM, stop them in the street, blog. And if you’re into organizing, organize petitions, organize demonstrations and then turn up on your local political rep’s doorstep, making sure you’ve contacted your local tv/radio station/newspaper in advance. Don’t just complain. Do something!
May 4th, 2007 at 10:34 am
May 4th, 2007 at 10:48 am
It doesn’t show your post when you make it and it cut this one to shreds when I made it.
This post should state:
Can anyone say, “The Great Wall of China”?…
We need to do all we can to dynamite this this thing before it’s too late!!!
May 4th, 2007 at 4:01 pm
“We need to do all we can to dynamite this this thing before it’s too late!!!”
Oh, come on! Its not like the Government of Ontario will ban facebook altogether! All they are doing is limiting government employee’s from wasting time (like many – if not all – medium to large corporations). Now, the last time I checked, reductions in wasted resources yields increase in efficiency. Increases in efficiency yield lower cost which might just make your taxes lower since we are talking about a government agency. So, you will not have to bitch and scream as much next year when the new tax brackets come out.
Oh, but hell with this and all common sense and lets dynamite us a 10% increase in taxes for next year. GREAT THINKING!
(And you owe me a new sarcasm detector because my just exploded)
May 8th, 2007 at 2:51 pm
I read this with the hopes that Ontario banned employers from looking up Facebook profiles of employees without permission in the hopes of “digging up dirt.” It seems that I was wrong. What a shame.