Web Nazis

The web masters at my work bock employee access to websites, such as MySpace, that are obvious time wasters. This I can understand. They don't want their employees pissing away their time on such things while on the clock. But the web gurus have gone beyond blocking time wasting sites like Myspace and Friendster, and have started blocking sites based on content. Sure, they need to block porn. This makes sense. But 3 months ago they blocked my email server, Runbox. I still can't figure out why they blocked it, but it was a huge inconvenience. I don't use my work email address because I cannot send or store the files I create through that email. The files are too big. I partially found a way around this problem by using the mail2web service that lets me at least access my inbox, but it's still a pain.

The most recent web access infraction that the gurus have imposed came this week. I can no longer view one of the two web comics I read, Questionable Content. (The other is Dilbert. I’m engineer after all.) Despite the name, the content really isn't that questionable. It's about a bunch of mid-20s indie rock kids who work at a coffee shop, play in a band, and have a quazi-menacing anthro pc. The content is no more “questionable” than that on the TV sitcom Friends. Still, when I typed it into my browser today, I saw this:

Your request was denied because of its content categorization: “Adult/Mature Content”

I work with doctors who deal with life and death issues, blood, and gore on a daily basis, yet the content of an innocent web comic about kids working at a place called “Coffee of Doom” is too mature for viewing. That’s twisted. Well, so much for the 45 seconds of entertainment I garnered from that comic during my lunch break. I’m sure I’ll be more productive without it.