Businesses Cracking Down On Employees On MySpace

Boston (dbTechno) - According to a new study by Barracuda Networks, a manufacturer of security, software and hardware, stated that more than 50% of all businesses block MySpace and Facebook from their employees for many reasons.

The two highest reason are for security and productivity.

Dean Drako, the president and CEO of Barracuda stated that companies block MySpace, and Facebook 70% of the time due to security concerns. They block them 52% of the time due to producitvity concerns.

Nearly 25% of all companies block MySpace.

The study was done to look at data from more than 2,000 customers of the Barracuda Web Filter program. Barracuda as a company itself blocks both MySpace and Facebook.

Lew Maltby of the National Workrights Institute of Princeton, New Jersey stated “The fact that so many companies are blocking social-networking sites doesn’t particularly bother me. Companies onviously have the right to make sure that their employees are being productive.”

Drako stated “Spyware is a major concern. Although the full implications of spyware are not always understood, many customers worry about spyware effects on productivity and security, and therefore want protection.”

Maltby stated “It’s unrealistic to expect that employees won’t do any personal Web surfing at work.”

It seems that MySpace and other social networking sites such as Facebook are huge time-wasters in the workplace. The key according to Maltby is to allow web surfing, but to restrict certain sites such as these.