37% of Netflix Subscribers Say They Binge-Watch While at Work (netflix.com) 154
On-demand video streaming service Netflix has found that more people than ever are watching video outside their homes. About 67% of people now watch movies and TV shows in public, according to an online survey it commissioned of 37,000 adults around the world. The survey also found that about 37% of Netflix's US subscribers binge-watch shows and movies while at work.
Sounds like... (Score:2)
Sounds like a whole lot of IT departments need to set up some egress filtering...
Re:Sounds like... (Score:5, Insightful)
Sounds like a whole lot of IT departments need to mind their own business. They are not there to police other employees but to ensure service stability.
This is a management issue or employee issue, not an IT issue.
Re: Sounds like... (Score:4, Funny)
Found the guy that watches Netflix at work.
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If you do it and want to evade easy detection, you do it over your phone or table with your own wireless connections....hell, pretty much everyone has limitless plans now, don't they?
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If someone is streaming Netflix or whatever at work, why the fuck would they be stupid and do it ON the work network?
If you do it and want to evade easy detection, you do it over your phone or table with your own wireless connections....hell, pretty much everyone has limitless plans now, don't they?
The mobile data service at my work is very slow and congested because everyone is connected to one repeater pointed at the carrier's tower.
Netflix's offline mode would work.
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should of had a tester login! (Score:2)
should of had a tester login!
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Re:Sounds like... (Score:5, Interesting)
Sounds like a whole lot of IT departments need to mind their own business. They are not there to police other employees but to ensure service stability.
This is a management issue or employee issue, not an IT issue.
When the IT department is tasked with such responsibilities, as it's recognized that only the IT department has the technical capability to do the job properly, it can take two approaches. One approach is to filter, the other approach is to log and report. Given that companies are increasingly turning to fully centralized systems that allow one to drill-down from the Internet connection and DNS to the records of the user logged-in to a computer and the process they're running that has initiated that Internet connection. The company can set internal policies as to what behavior is and isn't acceptable, and then can enforce against employees that violate those policies. A defense by an employee claiming that they weren't stopped from said behavior would probably ring-hollow, if the employee acknowledged that the rules say they're not to use the Internet connection for such purposes then they effectively have no defense to being fired for it.
So which looks better, a simple egress filter that blocks access to something that the employee shouldn't do while at work, or logging and then punishing for violating the rules?
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The same is true of (legal) software download sites. My company's web filter blocks them all and that might be a good thing for 95% of employees. However, as an IT professional, I might need something from one of those sites. Then I find that it's blocked and take 10 times as long finding a workaround (non-blocked equivalent software or a way around the block) than I would have taken if I just downloaded the software and fixed the issue.
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So which looks better, a simple egress filter that blocks access to something that the employee shouldn't do while at work, or logging and then punishing for violating the rules?
Depends on the work environment. In my line of work, there's a lot of hurry up and wait. I'm expected to be in the office, even during the wait. I'm expected to do the hurry up, even when at night or on a weekend. In this environment if the employee is watching Netflix, and he's getting his job done, it's his bosses call. Punish
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The problem is that you can only block so much stuff. People who want to find a way to slack off will find a way. Whether it's Netflix, video games, or social networking. It's best just to have a whitelist of sites that people can visit. There's not really that many sites that most employees need to have access to. Most employees, even if they are on a computer all day need almost zero web access. Just have a few computers in the break room where they can slack off at lunch or at break. Once people get
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Whitelisting would almost certainly not be good for my division of the company. There's too many things we might have to look at. It might work for others.
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Yes, Work should be like prison. Its a good thing they let us into the yard at night.
--
"No woman no cry" - Bob Marley
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Sounds like a whole lot of IT departments need to mind their own business. They are not there to police other employees but to ensure service stability.
This is a management issue or employee issue, not an IT issue.
If management wants it tracked and reported, it becomes an IT issue.
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"Your assuming that watching or listening to Netflix in the background is a problem in the first place."
You're supposed to be working, period. If you're WATCHING something other than your job and you are not on your legally-required break periods, you aren't doing your fucking job.
"You have a very limited view of what IT does, I hope you don't work in it."
Meanwhile, you aren't competent enough to work IT period with your current mindset.
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"Your assuming that watching or listening to Netflix in the background is a problem in the first place."
You're supposed to be working, period. If you're WATCHING something other than your job and you are not on your legally-required break periods, you aren't doing your fucking job.
"You have a very limited view of what IT does, I hope you don't work in it."
Meanwhile, you aren't competent enough to work IT period with your current mindset.
Um, no... Some people have a job which requires doing very little a lot of the time with periods of activity. For example, Fire Fighters aren't actively working 100% of the time that they are on the job.
Yes, I'm sure that a percentage of the binge watchers are simply slacking but you can't paint them all with the same brush unless you know what the actual job is.
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" For example, Fire Fighters aren't actively working 100% of the time that they are on the job."
Bad example. Hi, former volunteer Memphis Firefighter. When they're not on-call, they're washing the trucks, performing maintenance and clean-up, public service, and MAYBE sleeping or watching TV if they're stationed in-house and there's nothing else to be done (rare.)
Nice job being clueless, though.
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Try being a firefighter on a military installation. Still using 24hr shifts
- During the day definitely doing the tasks you mentioned
--Training
--Vehicle prep
-- Equipment maintenance
-- Public Service
After 1800, if night training isn't scheduled lots of downtime
-- Exercising in a in-station gym (I us the term gym loosely)
-- Studying for a degree
-- Watching lots of TV, shooting pool and playing cards
Referen
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"It's physically impossible for a prolonged period of time. Trust me, I've tried it."
I do it mining every time I go out, days on end. Try getting more actual exercise for your entire body instead of just your fingers.
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Watching a GPU spit out useless fake currency isn't "mining", regardless of what the hype people tell you
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And you're a fucking moron if you think that's the kind of mining I do. Get off your dumb ass and pick up a pickaxe.
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Making sure the company bandwidth is not eaten up by streaming *is* insuring service stability.
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Whoops, careful their partner. They said they were watching at work, not that they were using the company network. How about down nothing nepotistic managements, the mommy and daddy demand they be at work and stay out of trouble and watch the nobodies to make sure they are not stealing, not that they do any actual work. Not to forget simple customer analysis. So the customer is a worker and it is working hours and hence they are accessing it at work via mobile services.
No factory workers watching netflix,
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Re:Sounds like... (Score:5, Funny)
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Must be an Alanis Morissette fan.
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And catch up on GoT while they're at it?
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Unlimited cell phone data... problem solved.
Re:Sounds like... (Score:5, Funny)
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Sounds like a whole lot of IT departments need to set up some egress filtering...
It's not a question of egress filtering. I'll bet most of the binge watching is being done on smartphones and tablets using cellular data.
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Yes. People should not be watching Netflix at work when they should be watching pr0n instead.
Re:Sounds like... (Score:5, Insightful)
Nope. I don't care if you're watching Netflix, listening to Pandora, or whatever as long as you aren't annoying the people around you and are getting your work done.
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I'll bet that the business very much cares when their link to the internet gets saturated with streaming media and work can't get done. How do you solve that without filtering or traffic shaping? And who would do such filtering and shaping? IT would.
So, right back to my first statement.
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Sounds like a whole lot of IT departments need to set up some egress filtering...
The amount of time I spent finding ways around (usually successfully) IT firewalls greatly exceeds the amount of time I spend dicking around in more liberated companies. Granted, I'm (as I write this) off task, but less off task.
Still, watching Netflix at work is a bridge too far. Once you open that particular pandora's box, it gets very hard to contain.
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Why would an IT department care what you do with your own connection?
Oh, you interpreted my comment as "IT should be the work police" when it was really meant as "IT will get the blame if all the streamers clog the network to the point that actual services suffer"
Sounds like you forgot that bandwidth isn't infinite, and actually costs money.
We're Comuting/Travelling ? (Score:2)
We're most likely to consume electronic media (though in my case, more frequently e-books than netflix) while in the train on our way to some work-related conference / meeting / etc. (which still somewhat counts as "work"), than when at home with direct access to significant other (leading to much more interesting real-life home activities than consuming some media on some screen).
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Dammit Klaus
Re:They must have boring jobs (Score:5, Funny)
Re:They must have boring jobs (Score:5, Funny)
The easiest job in the world:
Donald Trump's Fact Checker.
At work or while working? (Score:5, Informative)
Re:At work or while working? (Score:5, Informative)
When I first read the headline, I was thinking that these people should probably be fired, but you've raised a good point. At the place where I used to work, my supervisor would quite routinely watch Netflix during his lunch break, while eating at his desk, and there was nothing wrong with it.
The office floor plan there was open, so it's not like he was in a private place where nobody could see what he was doing either.
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Do you mean Fuller House? That could be why they watch Full House as well, or they're old enough to have been kids when it was on the first time.
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Worst troll ever. You should be ashamed.
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Television at work (Score:5, Interesting)
>37% of Netflix's US subscribers binge-watch shows and movies while at work.
Yep. It happens here all the time - we have a big pipe, and it's paid for even if we max it out. There are people who watch on breaks, on lunch, or if they're in a position that requires them to be physically present waiting for an issue to occur but doesn't offer much opportunity to do other work while waiting (we only have a couple of those positions, so far as I'm aware).
The company only cares if it affects business so if business apps are affected, IT throttles or blocks as necessary. If users are watching videos when they're supposed to be working, eventually there's a complaint and it's handled by HR (hasn't happened yet, to the best of my knowledge).
Ugh, the prose is torture (Score:2)
Also, only Netflix would be this concerned with people getting spoiled watching over the shoulders of others.
In other news (Score:5, Interesting)
37% of Netflix subscribers abruptly cancelled their accounts citing sudden lack of employment.
I can't watch stuff and do real work, but some years ago I had a crappy job that required no brain power, and I binged (using a USB drive and portable VLC) all sorts of shows and movies. I was a top performer consistently in my department and basically had to spend a lot of time NOT working to keep them from upping the workload on everyone else, who somehow couldn't keep up with their heads down all day.
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37% of Netflix subscribers abruptly cancelled their accounts citing sudden lack of employment.
Having been acquainted with my share of people that fit this model, they're not exactly known for making good decisions, so no, they probably wouldn't cancel their netflix subscriptions if they were rendered unemployed.
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More free time. Better add Hulu too!
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I can't watch stuff and do real work
Even you seasoned hard overworking American doesn't do "real work" 100% of the time while they are "at work". Despite your few employee benefits you generally do still get lunch breaks.
Lots of compiling... (Score:2)
Well, that is my story and I am sticking to it. https://xkcd.com/303/ [xkcd.com]
Of course! (Score:2)
Imagine how much more successful people (Score:2)
could be if they did their jobs instead of fucking off. Nope instead they choose to watch Netflix and dick around and then complain when they get passed by for promotions and raises.
Be sure not to miss (Score:2)
Most of you have it all wrong (Score:2)
Now, first off, I wonder who these folks are, because most of my friends and acquaintances can't do that. Now binge watching Netflix on their hour+ commute to work...sure.
But everyone talking about infrastructure, is probably missing the fact that most of these folks are probably watching on their own phones. NOT on their work machines.
Video at work (Score:2)
I hope IT managers and other people in management positions allow this, and not clamp down on videoing while working. I personally love doing this, I mostly pick stuff that I can just listen to and occasionally glance at the video if it calls my attention. It's a great way to make the day go faster, much like listening to music or the radio, which gets a bit old after a while. It's nice to have a larger selection of 'background noise.' that Netflix, Hulu, YouTube, Amazon, and all other dole out.
For my li