HONOLULU — Hawaii has started blocking video streaming sites on state computers after discovering that employees spent between 100 and 300 hours watching Netfilx on a recent week.
HONOLULU — Hawaii has started blocking video streaming sites on state computers after discovering that employees spent between 100 and 300 hours watching Netfilx on a recent week.
State employees watched about 274-gigabytes of Netflix programs during the week from July 28 to Aug. 4, according to the Office of Information Management and Technology, reported Hawaii News Now.
That means state workers watched enough Netflix that week to equal anywhere from two to nine full-time employees doing nothing but watching TV all week, depending on video quality.
So the state has cut off employees’ access to Netflix and Hulu on their work computers.
“Now it’s perfectly reasonable that they might use You Tube. The state uploads its own videos to You Tube. Some of these other services, maybe,” said Hawaii Information Serve communications director Ryan Ozama.
“But when you are looking at Netflix, you’re looking at Hulu, these are primarily entertainment services,” he said.
Chief Information Officer Todd Nacapuy announced the change in a memo to state department heads, the governor and legislative leaders.
“In order to preserve sufficient online access for state business, we will be immediately blocking video streaming services,” he wrote.
Officials could use IP address to figure out which people are watching Netflix and at what time, said Burt Lum, a computer technology consultant.
But state officials say there are no plans to discipline workers who watched the shows.
Hawaii will continue to allow employees to access YouTube and other free streaming sites that are used for public relations, training and educational purposes.