Should the use of social media be regulated in government offices?

[Jonas]

A Filipino lawmaker called on government offices to impose regulations on the use of their Internet facilities, specifically on accessing Facebook and other social media and social networking sites.

He said the unregulated use of the Internet during office hours adversely affects productivity of government workers and that regulation will also help the government trim down its expenditures on electricity.

What do you think? Is this unfair and uncalled for or does it make sense to regulate the Internet usage of government employees, particularly access to social media and social networking sites. Tell the community your thoughts on this interesting issue.

[49ersPlayoffs2010]

no, government ruins everything

[Glenn]

yes, they are being paid by tax payers money to work and provide service to the Filipino people, they are not there in the office to surf the net and waste precious time.

[Lawn Gnome]

That is a bad idea. Soon as it is enacted, then one will find a loophole or flaw in it. Most every Public school in the US tries to do that and fails, miserably.
A happy worker is a productive worker, that is a proven fact so let them use a certain amount of computer time to access and use such Electronic Social Networking as is in accordance with the by-laws of the constitution.
The computers are going to be on from x-y hour regardless of what sites are accessed or not, so I do not see how the electricity costs is a valid point.
Many private companies do block access to such sites and some have reported a rise in productivity and some have not.
The jury is still out on the benefits and downtime, I could see or go with an allotted time limit on such stuff. They are, after all, Public Owned machines.
Whoever that politician is is just wasting actual Government Time and Productivity with such nonsense. is silly.

[Aref H4]

I am reminded of Anatole France, in one of his satirical quotes, about "the Majestic equality of the Law, that prohibits both the rich and the poor, from sleeping under the bridge."

Now, how ever would the rich prefer sleeping under bridges?

And how is that it is only Congressmen that could reap free use of Internet through Congressional offices? Perhaps, said Congressman was so pissed off when his internet access became slow when his staff somehow learned of his wireless password?

Anyway, this "conservative" line of thinking shall soon be extinct as the dinosaurs. Time comes when everyone simply could not function well, and at his best, without access to a worldwide web of online information, and transact daily over there his normal activities.

Added: Perhaps, I should make an attempt to expound on the analogy. Let us say that "sleeping under bridges" would be those forced to go to internet shops, and pay the toll. While those who can afford to have internet in the luxury of their own offices, are those who didn't have to "sleep under the bridges". And, perhaps, dear ol' Anatole actually said "The law, in its Majestic Equality, punishes both the rich and the poor, for sleeping under bridges".

[chubbychin377]

though the reason on trimming down electricity expenditures is bullshit, government offices should assess if its employees are disciplined enough to restrain themselves from being unproductive whether online or offline. they should learn from the private sector and realize there's always a way around the regulation of Internet usage such as proxy servers and mobile broadband devices.

i pity the lawmaker for not seeing the bigger picture. it's like that stupid number coding scheme in Metro Manila. it doesn't force people to commute or carpool and reduce traffic, it gives people a good reason to buy another car. there's no technical patch for being unproductive. it all boils down to the government employees' attitude in the workplace. unfortunately, Internet usage regulation is one of those things that no amount of lawmaking (especially with the kind of lawmakers we have) can address.

[Miles A]

Yes! Even in private offices.

Government offices I think should observe abusive use of internet specially during office hours. Its like wasting money of taxpayers. We are the one's providing their pay to do their job while just surfing the net.?! I think the administrator should control accessibility in internet. Given a schedule of 12-1pm breaktime might be considered but hell not during working hours. Its like seeing an employee in QC Hall at around 10am and just putting lipstick and press powder on her face instead of attending to the needs and inquiries of their citizens. It's just the same, the only difference is, its more high tech nowadays.

Let me put it this way, you are a store owner and you see your sales personnel surfing a net instead of assisting customers, would that be fair to you? Or, you might just ignore and you attend to your customers instead? Are you paying them for net surfing or for the official work done?

Hope that this answer is fair enough.

[Gentlemenboundary686]

no.. the government ruins everything
trust me

[zeembad]

normally you should, since most of the government employees dont work during office hours, i noticed that they dont do their work, they abuse their position being employed by the government,earning good money while the citizen of the country whose contributing for their salary are badly treated by these employees, most of the time they use internet for their personal use as well as the telephones then they made the locals to pay for their expenses. government employees are not our gods to give honors you are there thanks to us. and you are our employees and we are your bosses, you are a civil servants which mean we are your bosses and we pay you to serve us and not the contrary.
stop imposing and shouting to civilians when they ask you to do some papers, you are there to serve us do your work and serve us.

[nikolay]

savcsdacasvn