One problem is that a) corporate IT usually has no idea what their web filter software is blocking, and b) pointy hair bosses are paranoid that their employees might be browsing “bad” sites where their corporate IP address might get associated with content that reflects badly upon the company.
Our new web filtering firewall blocked even some of our own web sites. I finally disabled all but the porn filter – the porn filter being required because otherwise we risk sexual harassment lawsuits. It’s not perfect but it’ll keep us from getting sued, because now we show that we have at least tried to create a good working environment for our female workers. My guess is that Microsoft’s web filtering firewalls were recently upgraded, and upgrades typically have all the filters turned on right out of the box. Unless you’re a bank, that’s likely not the settings you want for your firewall. But it takes time to recognize that the firewall is blocking things it shouldn’t be blocking, find the settings, and disable the idiotic categories that are being blocked…
