Justice Department IT Staff So Incompetent They Block All Webex Conferences

Mike Masnick — Fri, 3 Aug 2012 05:20:17 PDT

We've heard all sorts of random stories about over-aggressive IT staffs or filters that block random websites for no good reason, but sometimes the situations are truly bizarre. For example, a friend sent over an announcement concerning a webinar from the DC District Court about the Electronic Case Filing (ECF) system. Obviously this is a useful thing for lawyers and law enforcement to understand. So it struck us as interesting to see the following tidbit in the emailed announcement:

SPECIAL NOTE TO DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE ATTORNEYS/STAFF:
The WebEx web conferencing website is not accessible to DOJ attorneys/staff due to internet blocks set in place by your IT department, therefore you are unable to register for a webinar training class or participate in the WebEx training room session itself. However, the option to participate in only the teleconference portion of the training class is available and will still prove useful.

Really, now? We've already had reasons to question the technical competence of the DOJ, but to do a complete block of all Webex webinars? Overkill much?

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Propose A Webinar On Building A Business Case For IT Investments

Insight Community — Wed, 27 Jan 2010 17:24:00 PST

Sun and Intel are interested in holding a webinar around the topic of building a business case for IT investments -- specifically for server datacenters. They are looking for experts to be featured in a 1-hour online webinar that will be broadcast live in mid-February (exact time to be determined). A 1-hour practice run will also be required prior to the broadcast date.

We are looking for you to submit proposals that would describe a webinar topic that you would be willing to discuss. If your topic is chosen, then you will then need to be available to participate in the online webinar, hosted by Techdirt's Mike Masnick.

The potential topics that we are interested in are:

An overview of the major factors behind IT investment decisions
Justifications that can turn a "nice to have" project into a "need to have" datacenter project
Success stories about long-term datacenter development strategies
Lessons learned from previous datacenter investment decisions
Mistakes to avoid for major IT investments

Your proposal does not have to deal with all of these topics; these are suggestions meant to serve as a guide.

In your proposal, please include:

The headline of your proposed webinar.
A description for the webinar that you would run.
A description of how a Sun or Intel representative might interact with you during your presentation.

If there are any questions, please do not hesitate to ask.

This is a case from the Insight Community, a powerful new marketplace that connects companies with intelligent communities like Techdirt. Click here to learn more.

Earn up to $500 for Insights on this case.
Insights Due: 3 Feb 2010, 11:59PMPT

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Justice Department IT Staff So Incompetent They Block All Webex Conferences

Propose A Webinar On Building A Business Case For IT Investments