Facebook banned by eight out of ten firms with filters

 

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By Barry Collins

Posted on 3 Aug 2007 at 09:59

Eight out of ten companies with web-filtering software have banned Facebook and other social-networking sites, according to web security firm Email Systems.

Facebook has seen a meteoric rise in popularity over the past couple of months, with London now the most popular network on the site.

However, the site's popularity has not escaped the notice of IT managers keeping a careful eye on their bandwidth. Email Systems claims that 47% of its web-filtering software customers have now blocked access to Facebook.com, whilst 83% have blocked access to all social-networking sites.

"Facebook is a growing concern for many of our customers, mainly because the site is so addictive and encourages constant, repeat usage throughout the day," says Neil Hammerton, CEO of Email Systems. "Clearly many businesses have long considered webmail services to be a significant risk in terms of time, productivity and security - but Facebook is the latest incarnation to really get the industry stirred up."

Video sites have also incurred the wrath of IT managers. Just over half of companies specifically block access to YouTube, while 64% prevent staff streaming and downloading video content altogether.

Email Systems claims the rising popularity of Facebook has led to an upsurge in the adoption of web-filtering technology, although 60% of UK companies still place no restrictions on staff internet access.