According to a report by Nielsen, 140 million U.S. internet users spent 53.5 billion minutes on Facebook in May of this year. To put this into perspective, the social networking site accounted for 70% of internet usage in the region for that month alone. While many may not be surprised by these statistics, companies and schools across the country are taking steps to prevent employees and students off Facebook and any other sites that may damage productivity.
In U.S. schools both public and private, administrators utilize two methods to prevent access to unwanted websites: site blocking and selective throttling. While site blocking is self-explanatory, selective throttling slows down connection speeds to certain websites to tire students will 56K-style speeds. The theory is that students will get so frustrated with waiting for pages to reload that they’ll just give up and go back to their school work.
Companies in the U.S. and elsewhere have been using the same tactics for years. They choose to due this because they believe Facebook, other social networks, and entertainment sites such as Hulu damage productivity. Legally, they’re allowed to do this. In short many CEOs and business owners believe that if they allowed their employees to access whatever they wanted on the internet, nobody would get any work done.
However, there are two loophole students and employees utilize to get around site blocks and throttling: proxy servers and mobile devices. Proxy servers allow internet users to bypass these protocols with an encrypted URL. However if an administrator or CEO knows about them, they can block both the websites and proxy servers in one shot.
The only area neither group can have total control over is mobile devices with 3G or 4G data access. Both students and employees carry at least a cellphone with them. Many of them can access some form of social networking, either on an app or through their device’s web browser. There are signal jammers available, but they’re expensive to buy and maintain on a year-round basis.
Regardless, Facebook users will find a way to check on their family and friends when their away from home. If they have to, they’ll wait until their lunch break to do what they want on the internet. The best thing schools and companies can do is physically look over their students’ and employees’ shoulders respectively. Otherwise, this battle will be fought for decades to come.
Alan Bergantzel has been working in the car insurance industry for over 4 years, helping his clients find the most affordable rates and policies in Kingston. One website he recommends his clients in Kingston is Kanetix. Kanetix is an online quote comparison service where you can find the most affordable car insurance rates in just a couple of minutes.
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WYSIWYG! I'm a simple person trying to live the simplest life possible - it seems to be the most difficult thing to achieve! I'm an internet enthusiast and I've been a webmaster since early 2007. I like: blogging, developing sites using open source software, social media, computer games, '80s music, comedy & horror, animals, crunching on M&Ms peanut and Smarties!
