To: Global Investment Banking, Global Markets Group, Registered Global Commercial Banking & Global Product Solutions Associates, and Registered Technology & Operations Support PartnersFrom: GCIB Compliance & Operational Risk Management and GCIB Legal
Subject: Compliance Advisory - Block of Social Networking Sites, Wikis and Blogs
Date: January 30, 2009Jurisdiction: United States
BLOCKING OF SOCIAL NETWORKING SITES
Effective February 1, 2009, proxy servers will block social networking sites (e.g., MySpace.com, Facebook.com, Linkedin.com, and Twitter.com among others), wikis and blogs.
Please note that associates will continue to be able to access Wikipedia.
If you have questions please contact your line of business Compliance Officer or refer to your Bank of America policy regarding electronic communications and the BAS Compliance Manual Section 6.10 Communications with the Public.
Do not respond to this email, as this mailbox is not monitored.
Posted by guest , Jan 30, 2009 4:08PM
Oh $hit.
Posted by guest , Jan 30, 2009 4:09PM
I blame "Private". Way to go douche.
Posted by guest , Jan 30, 2009 4:14PM
"PS: Book Burning begins in the Coutyard at 5:30."
Posted by guest , Jan 30, 2009 4:17PM
Vicrula bites hard.
Posted by guest , Jan 30, 2009 4:18PM
And nobody will ever say anything nasty about BofA ever again.
And we will all live happily ever after.
Posted by guest , Jan 30, 2009 4:19PM
Any sites that end in .com will be disallowed.
Posted by guest , Jan 30, 2009 4:20PM
"Pay no attention to that man behind the Curtain!"
-OZ/BoA
Posted by guest , Jan 30, 2009 4:20PM
next on the list - Dealbreaker
Posted by guest , Jan 30, 2009 4:21PM
next on the list - Dealbreaker
Posted by guest , Jan 30, 2009 4:21PM
next on the list - Dealbreaker
Posted by guest , Jan 30, 2009 4:21PM
"I will BREAK you".
-- Drago to Rocky/BoA to critics
Posted by guest , Jan 30, 2009 4:22PM
@8 - would definitely presume that "blogs" includes Dealbreaker, given the recent flurry of anti-BofA news and vitriol.
Posted by guest , Jan 30, 2009 4:25PM
this sucks
Posted by guest , Jan 30, 2009 4:25PM
@12- yes, as though there would be no anti-BofA news and vitriol without dealbreaker.
Posted by guest , Jan 30, 2009 4:25PM
THIS SUCKS
Posted by guest , Jan 30, 2009 4:25PM
Our social network lives are under attack! Aren't our civil rights being violated here?
Leaving Wikipedia as the only diversion....thanks Big Brother, and now go kill yourself. Cellphone & Blackberry jamming will probably be effective by Feb 15 and a memo is forthcoming. Time to get friendly with the Librarians who will probably have a backdoor.
Posted by guest , Jan 30, 2009 4:26PM
No big deal, it will only impact the 5 people that still work there.
Posted by american bandersnatch , Jan 30, 2009 4:26PM
Never liked the guys from GCIB C&ORM - their business cards were way too big.
Posted by guest , Jan 30, 2009 4:27PM
"So Mrs. Lincoln, besides that, how was the play?"
Posted by Anal_yst , Jan 30, 2009 4:27PM
nothing a mirror can't fix
Posted by guest , Jan 30, 2009 4:29PM
Good thing my phone doesn't go through their proxy server...
Posted by guest , Jan 30, 2009 4:32PM
ron paul '12
Posted by guest , Jan 30, 2009 4:32PM
@21. exactly.
Posted by guest , Jan 30, 2009 4:32PM
"I don't think the heavy stuff is going to come down for quite a while."
- Carl Spackler/BoA
Posted by guest , Jan 30, 2009 4:35PM
Fortunately I was able to get them to pony up for a laptop and a Verizon Aircard a while back.... it's supposed to be for use while I am clients, but keeping track of Dealbreaker while in the office has been its best use......
Posted by guest , Jan 30, 2009 4:36PM
$5 says people just start using the Wikipedia page on BofA to post whatever they want to say. This could be hilarious.
Posted by Clown Capital , Jan 30, 2009 4:40PM
Dear Ken Lewis,
Perhaps if you didn't buy Merrill for more money than it was worth, then perhaps your job and Bank of America's future wouldn't both be in jeopardy. Just to reiterate, we're not the problem, you are.
Sincerely,
Facebook, Myspace, YouPorn.
Posted by guest , Jan 30, 2009 4:41PM
Most other banks are already doing this - not big news. That's what personal blackberries are for - the two holster look is very chic.
Posted by guest , Jan 30, 2009 4:43PM
Chinese democracy...
Great, now I won't have anything to do all day...
Posted by guest , Jan 30, 2009 4:44PM
@28
Two holsters make YOU look like a douche. Just sayin.
Posted by guest , Jan 30, 2009 4:45PM
This is all Gasparino's fault. It was all of his "insider" and "voices heard" stories on Daily Beast that put a bee in the bonnet of BoA's Compliance!
Posted by Clown Capital , Jan 30, 2009 4:46PM
Look on the bright side BofA workers; at least you don't live in China...
http://www.thestar.com/News/World/article/569077
Posted by guest , Jan 30, 2009 4:49PM
@28- um, the only bank that's blocked dealbreaker (likely included in the 'no blogs') is morgan stanley, after the HR incident. and what other banks have blocked wikipedia? none. the big deal is that at a time when BAC is firing employees left and right, and the ones who aren't fired are getting shit pay, they're stripping them of EVERYTHING, shitting on already shot morale. also, per their townhall the other day, they're pissed about all the media coverage of them, and this is their sad attempt to stop it. instead of, you know, fixing the piece of shit institution.
Posted by guest , Jan 30, 2009 4:52PM
1. Setup Linux at home
2. Expose SSH port on home router
3. Install squid proxy
4. Install PuTTY on work computer.
5. ssh from Office to Home, forward port 9999 from office computer to home proxy (port 3128)
6. Viola... now you can surf anything you want (including porns) w/o BofA finding out about it. They can't even sniff the traffic to your computer.
$100 says BofA's outsourced I/T staff has no idea how to hunt you down.
Posted by guest , Jan 30, 2009 4:54PM
@25 You do know they can track your usage on a Verizon card? If it is registered to them.
Posted by guest , Jan 30, 2009 4:55PM
I think many companies are going to start blocking those sites and the companies are not going to be worth much.
Most companies probably lose more money from employees wasting time on those sites then they do people missing days of work. There will also probably be liability issues - if someone does something and say something illegal on a site and it damages another person could that person sue the company where the computer was used? Probably not but there will still be lawsuits - it's better for companies to just block all those sites.
Posted by guest , Jan 30, 2009 4:55PM
@34 - woah, man. Take it easy over there.
Posted by guest , Jan 30, 2009 4:58PM
Just get iPhone. Problem solved
Posted by guest , Jan 30, 2009 4:59PM
Hey #34 - a high powered Jammer is all it would take to put brakes on your backdoor plan. Don't put it past BoA, they're probably already in place ready to fire up on a moments notice
Posted by guest , Jan 30, 2009 5:00PM
@36 Yeah... millions of those tort libel cases happen like ALL the time [hardly ever]
Usually companies sue bloggers who are blogging from their own homes on their own time or squat a knock-off of the company's domain.
The only anonymous musing that I've seen make any flap is when Carly Fiorina got her cunt caught in the fan after one of the BOD blabbed about the company. The withhunt in and of itself was a scandal, and it destroyed her CEO career.
How apropos that Fiorina turned into a Bush puppet after she lost her job.
Posted by guest , Jan 30, 2009 5:00PM
JPM = no MySpace/twitter/Facebook; LinkedIn still up as well as DB.
Posted by guest , Jan 30, 2009 5:01PM
No bonus and no blogs makes Jack a very dull boy.
No bonus and no blogs makes Jack a very dull boy.
No bonus and no blogs makes Jack a very dull boy.
No bonus and no blogs makes Jack a very dull boy.
No bonus and no blogs makes Jack a very dull boy.
No bonus and no blogs makes Jack a very dull boy.
No bonus and no blogs makes Jack a very dull boy.
No bonus and no blogs makes Jack a very dull boy.
No bonus and no blogs makes Jack a very dull boy.
No bonus and no blogs makes Jack a very dull boy.
No bonus and no blogs makes Jack a very dull boy.
Posted by guest , Jan 30, 2009 5:02PM
@41 - Linked-in is the e-equivalent of wearing the sandwhichboard "Will Werk For Fud".
HR types and dead-end recruiters love that site.
Posted by guest , Jan 30, 2009 5:04PM
@34 - Don't work at BofA, but tried a similar procedure - Websense still is able to catch it somehow...
Posted by guest , Jan 30, 2009 5:04PM
thanks @34... and let's just say that there are other creative ways to get around the ban from your terminal at work...
Posted by guest , Jan 30, 2009 5:07PM
1) translate.google.com (default translation setting is Spanish -> English, this should work just fine)
2) type in URL of desired blocked website
3) click "Translate"
Posted by guest , Jan 30, 2009 5:24PM
This place has been taken over by a bunch of misognyists.
Posted by guest , Jan 30, 2009 5:29PM
those sites have been blocked in houston for ages. riiiiiiiiiiight
Posted by guest , Jan 30, 2009 5:30PM
#46,
Just tried is, didn't work. Sad Face.
Posted by guest , Jan 30, 2009 5:31PM
@40 - Technically, I dont think... that's... possible.
Posted by guest , Jan 30, 2009 5:47PM
39 -- what the hell kind of jammer are you talking about?? 34 wasn't talking wireless communication.
Posted by guest , Jan 30, 2009 5:52PM
@46 - didn't work for me either. Brief feeling of hope squashed...
Posted by guest , Jan 30, 2009 5:55PM
@49
Not sure what to say.
My company uses Sonicwall to block YouTube, Facebook, MySpace and the described method works in bypassing Sonwicwall.
Maybe the interdiction works at a different level
Posted by Investorcluzo , Jan 30, 2009 6:00PM
reading db on the bberry could get tiresome. but seriously, if you work at bofa, what else are going to do to kill the time - wash your new coffee mug?
Posted by guest , Jan 30, 2009 6:09PM
I would love to backdoor a librarian.
Posted by guest , Jan 30, 2009 6:15PM
Heartbeat sensor jammer! With C4!
Posted by guest , Jan 30, 2009 8:23PM
Unless you are someone who is really hoping to lose their job...which at this point most people at Bank of Amerillwideclops are (if you can get the three month package + two weeks for every year) why would you be dumb enough to post something on DB from a work owned computer?? For someone who actually still needs a paycheck....I would recommend you get a smartphone. Honestly, do you think when people are in the bathroom flushing the toilet fifteen times to get "it" all down it's because the fancy shmancy potties don't work? They're blogging on DB!
Posted by guest , Jan 30, 2009 8:51PM
No big deal for us Merrill folks, been blocked for years. Boy, Ken Lewis really didn't know what he was buying into
Posted by guest , Jan 30, 2009 9:24PM
Getting the boot from BofA was the best thing that could've happened to me. Place is a disaster. ML guys think they're swinging d!cks now, but just wait till they get porked in the rear next year. Senior management will remember what they got paid in December and figure that should last a few years. Ha! East sh!t and die.
Posted by guest , Jan 30, 2009 9:25PM
@34
Posted by guest , Jan 30, 2009 9:28PM
LOL
Posted by guest , Jan 30, 2009 9:33PM
so who got the golden toilet?
Posted by guest , Jan 30, 2009 9:33PM
Noticed there was new crap making my machine run real slow today. Now I know why.
Posted by guest , Jan 30, 2009 9:34PM
John Thain for CEO of the year - seriously - who on the street did better for shareholders and employees? he fucking rocks - he deserves a 36k shitter.
Posted by guest , Jan 30, 2009 9:36PM
maybe if your computer was running slow you save the company some money today?
just sayin'
Posted by guest , Jan 30, 2009 9:56PM
at citi-LIC you can go downstairs to the queens public library and search fer jobs on their comp-u-ters. my direct report told me so.
Posted by guest , Jan 30, 2009 10:27PM
i feel all kinds of love in this thread .... talk about synergy.
Posted by guest , Jan 30, 2009 11:39PM
the answer is firekenlewis.com
Posted by guest , Jan 31, 2009 3:16PM
@58 Exactly. We can still access DB, though. Today, at least!
Posted by guest , Feb 01, 2009 12:15AM
@54: Reading DB on a blackberry fucking sucksss. How about a mobile version of the website?
Posted by guest , Feb 01, 2009 2:45PM
@28, 30
Having one cellphone holster looks jackass. Put your phone in you pocket, its not a RP format Calculator, Jesus.
Posted by guest , Feb 01, 2009 5:07PM
Its in full effect now. Dealbreaker.com is not blocked, but sites that might actually have some legit business use are.
I can't tell you how ecstatic I am that they are spending untold dollars to get people who are used to working 80 hours a week (maybe not the last few months), for next to no compensation, with the constant threat of losing their jobs, to not visit websites. While their at it, they should run off any real talent, and replace them with some folks fresh off the boat and see how that works - oh yeah, already been doing that. What a GREAT business model!
One Bank! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wmIObmv2t6M (skip to 42 seconds; I vomit in my mouth a little every time I hear this jackass)
Posted by guest , Feb 01, 2009 10:37PM
what am i gonna do at work now? no really what?
signed,
had nothing to do since august 08
Posted by guest , Feb 02, 2009 5:33AM
isn't this the genius Circuit City strategy? what is it about Confederate Republicans?