Companies can use several tactics to stem the flow of unwanted media files on their networks, including blocking access or simply telling employees there's a ban. But determined workers and developers, it seems, are finding ways around such obstacles. For example, some file-swapping technology can trick a network into allowing it in by disguising itself as a mundane piece of software. And as Napster and its underground offshoots have shown, people will find ways to collect movies and music. An employee of Entertainment Weekly who asked not to be identified said he regularly obtains music from file-swapping sites, despite a ban on the practice by his employer, AOL Time Warner. The media giant owns one of the major record labels that's successfully cracked down on such sites. Although the company doesn't have an internal network and prohibits use of major file-swapping sites, the employee said AOL Time Warner has yet to block some smaller, more obscure sites where he can find music. "If I like a song and I want to hear it, I don't want to wait for the next hour or more to hear it on the radio," the employee said, adding that he doesn't fear he'll be punished for securing tunes, as long as he gets his work done. "I get the impression they just turn the other way," said the employee, who estimated that he buys about three CDs a month in addition to obtaining music via the Web. Others haven't been so lucky. Carla Tomino, a secretary at Northwestern University, said she was fired last summer for violating a policy prohibiting personal use of company equipment by storing 2,000 MP3 files on her computer. Although firing may be an extreme case, Tomino is not alone in being punished. According to Websense, about 35 out of 250 companies surveyed in a recent poll had disciplined or reprimanded employees for downloading songs. But technological tricks or stringent corporate policies aren't likely to stop the practice. As the Entertainment Weekly employee said, "If you want it bad enough, you can find it." Just live with it
IT workers say the same thing -- that the songs are already out of the proverbial jewel box. Like universities, companies may have to learn to live with a certain amount of media on their networks. Frank Gillman, director of technology for the law firm Allen Matkins Leck Gamble & Mallory, said streaming media and MP3s are only the latest ways for employees to waste time and corporate resources. "Every month brings something new that people will do," he said. "Today's MP3 is just yesterday's Internet surfing, which was yesterday's sending email to relatives, which was yesterday's putting the book under the table and reading." Gillman said his company tries to block media files with Websense, but he knows some of them still get through. Gillman said one of the most effective deterrents is educating people and making it personal -- telling employees, for example, that even something as seemingly benign as downloading a movie can cause major network problems for their buddy or work group in the next cubicle. "What you really want to do is protect people from themselves," he said.
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