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1.  

   No Subject Given

   

   Chris, Aug 8th, 2003 @ 5:37am

   
   

   Qwest tried this when I was with them 2 years ago. it took us about 10 minutes to figure out that they couldn't block pop3 email if you routed through SSL.
   Maybe Merryl has a better system, but I bet your right and some renegade IT admin will have it beat before the end of the first day.

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2.  

   We've been doing this forever

   

   Any Financial Services Institution, Aug 8th, 2003 @ 6:23am

   
   

   As a Financial Services company, the SEC requires one to monitor ALL communications (e-mail, IM, etc.) with customers, and it is specifically against our AUP to try to circumvent this. It's not like it's fun blocking e-mail sites as they pop up, but they save us from getting sued because they claim that their broker sent them an e-mail about a hot stock tip from their broker's personal e-mail account. See Frank Gruttadarria's case for what happens when you don't monitor/block your employees' external e-mail/Internet access at work.

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3.  

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   Anonymous Coward, Aug 8th, 2003 @ 6:43am

   
   

   You're missing the point on this one Mike. They are required to monitor (or make the very best damn attempt they can) all traffic. By creating this policy they are saving themselves several potential legal problems. Yes, there are always ways to circumvent these kind of things however, with this policy in place, they may terminate the employee on the spot without to much fear of a wrongful termination suit.

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4.  

   Re: No Subject Given

   

   Mike, Aug 8th, 2003 @ 9:14am

   
   

   But they already had this in place for their brokers, which is who it should matter for. Now, they're doing it for everyone else as well, which doesn't make sense.
   
   Besides, I do mention the legal aspect, I just don't think it makes any sense.

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5.  

   My site does the same thing.

   

   Milnesy, Aug 8th, 2003 @ 10:35am

   
   

   We lock down any of the outside email (Yahoo, hotmail) and kill any pop3 email (since we use Lotus Notes, I know ... feel sorry) and run scans to see if we are using any of those apps. Add on top of that, we just were told that we have to scour the users desks, lock em down, and remove any instant msg programs... and block those ports.
   
   I can see where they are coming from (Merrill) but in the end it makes the empolyees less productive. A break every now and then is good for the employee.

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6.  

   Re: My site does the same thing.

   

   Peteo, Aug 8th, 2003 @ 2:08pm

   
   

   I wonder how you track down people with Hip Tops or PDA's with celluar access. There is no way to stop people from checking their email or voice mail.
   
   

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7.  

   Re: My site does the same thing.

   

   Anonymous Coward, Aug 10th, 2003 @ 3:04pm

   
   

   There is also another consideration to look into, virus propigation in the workplace. My company uses antivirus products at three different points in the network. one of which it the users desktop. By allowing employees access to their net based email accounts two out of three layers of protection are side-stepped. During the last 2 years three major virus infections have been traced back to hotmail type accounts.

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