RE: Restricting private "webmail" access from government employer network?

["Bernd Lippert (Infrastructure Support)" <bernd.lippert () gijima com>]

I have no idea how government user behaviour differs from our country to any other. Saying that and also bearing in 
mind we are a development country I found giving access to the non-work based webmail is actually beneficial. First and 
foremost our most of our ministries make use of a common service strucutre which is outdated and poorly supported. 
Without non-work webmail there would be no way for the some of the government workers to have proper access to this 
vital communication tool. The government webmail is virtually non excisting and many government workers use their non 
work related webmail (mostly Gmail from what I can gather) as a primary e-mail address.
This obviously is not a permanent solution but usually allows for temporary solution until a more sustainable and 
scaleble solution is put in place. 
In our case (sad but true) I can immediately state that non-work related webmail is more secure than the government 
messaging system. 
I think it all depends on what type of govermental institute it is, compliances need to be followed and how serious and 
skilled the ICT team is.
-B

-----Original Message-----
From: Charles Hardin <fonestorm () gmail com>
Sent: Thursday, July 31, 2008 8:53 PM
To: evb <swiver () cox net>
Cc: <security-basics () securityfocus com> <security-basics () securityfocus com>
Subject: Re: Restricting private "webmail" access from government employer network?

I would say it falls under trying to keep people happy and productive.  
Many people rely on email these days and are happier having access to  
it. I have a side buisness and could not work for a company that  
blocked my webmail.

Sent from my iPhone

On Jul 30, 2008, at 16:03, "evb" <swiver () cox net> wrote:

> It seems some employers decide to block access to personal email/ 
> webmail
> from employer networks, but then later change their mind, in favor of
> allowing private (non-work related) webmail access.
>
> Having researched the issue a bit, supposedly there are very few valid
> reasons to allow private email/webmail access from a corporate  
> network, and
> many reasons in favor of restriction/banning.
>
> If this is true, why do employers nonetheless change their mind mind  
> in
> favor of allowing webmail access?  What is/are the deciding factors?
>
> Thx,
>
> Eric