Comments on: Government Must Embrace Social Networking, Not Ban It

By: Scott Jarkoff

Scott Jarkoff — Sun, 22 Mar 2009 14:49:45 +0000

True enough. However, removing said dinosaurs from their positions is nigh impossible. Or, it takes years of waiting for these people to move in to new jobs or retire.

So certainly, within due time things will change. Unfortunately for America, we need dramatic change swiftly, which is just not going to happen.

By: Scott Jarkoff

Scott Jarkoff — Sun, 22 Mar 2009 14:48:09 +0000

Completely agreed about the risk and mitigation of browser based exploits. However, generally speaking, the blocking of Facebook, YouTube and MySpace has nothing to do with security and everything to do with the perceived use of bandwidth or wasting valuable work time.

In my mind, it would be more sensible to have a policy which addresses both bandwidth utilization and wasting valuable work time on social networking sites. But unfortunately, as we both know all too well, the government does not operate that way.

By: Rich Chuckrey

Rich Chuckrey — Sun, 22 Mar 2009 11:42:34 +0000

Taking a purely sanitized approach to security in US government means blocking anything that is perceived as a risk – like Facebook [for example]. FB have already been known to spread exploits through their site. However, is the need to block web access due to browser-based exploits overblown? Surely, its a cat and mouse game with hacker vs. patcher – but 99.999999 of the time a good network security program will mitigate any lame attempt at compromising systems through browser-based exploit. Of course, if your industry calls for it, then that 0.000001% vulnerability becomes an unacceptable risk you simply can't take.

In my industry (the newspaper) blocking FB would be killing a 'source' for at least three of our departments – editorial, marketing and advertising. We just can't block FB. Nor can we block MySpace, nor can we block web-based email. It’s all about balance.

By: MonTemplar

MonTemplar — Sun, 22 Mar 2009 04:58:48 +0000

Sounds to me like one half of the Government and its satellite agencies is trying to drag the other half into the 21st century. Until they are all working together, we'll continue to have face-palm episodes like the ones cited in the article… :)

By: brazenreality

brazenreality — Sat, 21 Mar 2009 19:53:16 +0000

Rome wasn't built in a day. Keep in mind, the majority of people in upper echelon government are still dinosaurs. Give it time and I'm hopeful none will be disappointed.