In close proxy- mity

“Most of us work long hours in a day in offices like these where we have to either constantly keep coding or working on software testing. Now the work is not monotonous but then doing it on a constant basis without having a escape of any sorts from the routine can make it extremely cumbersome. As a result we need to destress by chatting up,and catching on,with friends in the outside world,” says Phadke snugly.

Those involved in the debate might have a variety of reasons to put forth. Those against the social networking sites,and chat messengers being blocked would argue saying that it gives them an option to run away from their dreary routines,while those in favour of the sites being blocked would state that it helps save on a lot of time which employees otherwise end up wasting in ways that are non-productive for the organisation.

“The entire concept of blocking certain sites and allowing access to others generally is a good option as it does help to reduce wastage of time,” states,Viraj Singh,a software engineer who works on developing firewalls for IT firms. “Proxy websites allows a user to bypass the current ISP’s of the company and connect to the targeted website with a different IP; thus hiding the actual origin site from being detected,” he adds.

Most companies make use of firewalls that are tailor made for the LINUX and Windows operating systems,and use proxy servers to detect and filter out content that is unproductive for the organisation. Nikunj Tamboli,a software developer says,“Think of people like us as policemen who are trying to catch those guys who are trying to go around the office security systems. The Internet,however,as a medium of information is so vast that one cannot keep tabs on everything. Those who are determined to go around the systems do end up finding ways and means to do the same.”

The decision to block sites like these however does open up a debate that leaves many questions unanswered,as ethical hacker Ankit Fadia,points out,“One really needs to look at both sides of the issue before coming to a conclusion. For employees it does offer a way to destress themselves and connect with their friends,but on the other hand social networking sites do bring in the danger of unwanted cookies,pop-ups,and potential cyber security threats,which obviously cannot be compromised on,either.”

And while the quandary does unite office employees in their stance to find a vent to their stressful lives the solutions as Fadia points out are simple in nature too,“Offices can have a couple of kiosks within their premises that allow the employees to chat,download music,or surf social networking sites,so that both sides remain satisfied. A simpler solution,is to carry one’s own laptop along with a net connection so that one can use their own net connection to surf the sites they want,provided its accepted by the organisations they work in.”

Prominent proxy sites:
Facebookproxy.co.uk
Proxytoorkut.com
Surfasyouwish.com
Icanaccess.com