AT&T decides some employees shouldn't see the future, changes mind
Remember, carriers: you can't stop leaks, nor can you hope to contain them, and therefore any effort you put into dealing with them should be used to spin 'em to your advantage. That's a simple reality that sites like the very one you're presently reading have proven time and time again over the years. Alas, AT&T suddenly (and briefly) decided that most -- but not all -- of its employees shouldn't be clued into what's coming down the pike, blocking Boy Genius Report from its intranet for all but senior-level folks who presumably want to see what sort of scoops du jour have made their way into the public domain. That's really awesome, guys; good plan, because your sales force obviously has no other way to reach the internet, Boy Genius Report's scoops are never reposted elsewhere on unblocked sites, and clearly, it's in the best interest of the company for them to be as uninformed about your roadmap (and those of your competitors) as possible. Fortunately, it seems the decision was reversed almost as quickly as it was made to start with, so no harm, no foul. We guess.













Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
john.eakin @ Aug 14th 2008 5:08PM
Well thank goodness AT&T thought this through before blocking these sites.
Jeff @ Aug 14th 2008 5:31PM
It is probably also not just for the possibility of leaks, as you described, since I think AT&T is well aware that their employees do have other ways of accessing the internet, but it is probably more so for the fact that they can't have their employees wasting time visiting blogs all day. They need to help the customers at some point.
Side Note: Nice new comment form, but the add comment area is too wide. Goes right under the links on the right and then I can't see what I'm typing. Thought you might want to know.
:)
Jeff @ Aug 14th 2008 5:42PM
BTW - I thought it was fixed, but then as I started to tell you it was... I clicked in the comment box, and :::Poof:::: It stretched to the right again, under the links, under the ads, under the banners... can't see when I'm typing.
:(
elgee02 @ Aug 14th 2008 5:49PM
Boy Genius Report has been blocked for VZW employees for as long as I can remember.
Dustin Leiblein @ Aug 14th 2008 6:02PM
Actualy, AT&T has gone all firewall happy today. I can't get to any tech site but Engadget (thank god).
I was using Google Translate as a proxy to get to the sites, but after 10 minutes of browsing Digg, they blocked it. ThenI went to storm2k.org (weather forum) and browsed for about 5 minutes only to have it blocked too. I think they are targeting me specifically.
MRCUR @ Aug 14th 2008 6:39PM
Actually, it could be that whatever filtering device AT&T is using learns what you're browsing. At my school we use a system that allows us to block certain types of sites. As students browse to sites that we don't allow, but have yet to be blocked, the system scans the code of the site. If it finds something relating to a blocked rule, then the site gets blocked.
I love to see the faces of kids when a site just suddenly gets blocked that was open previously. It's even more entertaining to see them all point and blame me for doing so, when really, it's all them. Hahaha, the wonders of being a student IT guy.
Michael S @ Aug 14th 2008 6:37PM
What....people surfing the web at work. We've got to put a stop to that.
Charizo @ Aug 14th 2008 8:10PM
Endgadget and Gizmodo were blocked this morning until BoyGenius came to the rescue.
Now, back to your regular scheduled programming...
kachra @ Aug 14th 2008 8:11PM
Have you heard of tethering? lolz
R @ Aug 14th 2008 8:13PM
HA ha haha This company makes me laugh. Having worked for them in the past, I have to say they do want their employees in the dark. I had never seen anything like it. I am so glad I do not have to work anymore!
mingkee @ Aug 14th 2008 10:34PM
does ATT employee have BJII, iPhone 3G, Tilt, Q9H, and Bold?
they can browse the site with these phones, no need working computers
except "our employee can't use phone at work at all"
ATT Business Sales Guy @ Aug 15th 2008 12:47AM
Actually, we can read this site on our work laptops as long as we aren't VPN'd in. No big deal. Keep up the good work! :D
dan @ Aug 15th 2008 1:53PM
How Kafka-esque we could not read tech and specifically mobility news for 3 days with the new filtration, a.k.a . our business , while not blocking access to all sorts of unsavory material in Google Groups..
Tethering when at work, requiring all sorts of intranet data access is cumbersome. back and forth, network to network , all to get the job done.. at least this one small particular has been remedied, though I am sure that the preferred method for getting work related news is from some internal predigested website run by sum techsan LOL