More than 70% of British businesses have supposedly restricted or banned Facebook and similar social networks, including Credit Suisse, Dresdner Kleinwort, The Metropolitan Police, British Gas and Lloyds TSB. The Facebook angle is spin to some extent, since the software also blocks MySpace, Bebo and Hotmail. British Facebook users spend an average of 191 minutes a month of the site, says the Telegraph, among its other findings.
Aside from blocking porn and spyware, these bans seem to be the result of businesses failing to recognize that home and work life have begun to merge. Really, people need to be rewarded based on the amount of work they get done, rather than the number of hours they spend chained to a desk. And yes, that means major pay cuts for those pretending to work.