Most companies these days have considered providing their employees with access to the Internet at the workplace. This is due to that fact that the Internet is a vast source of information that can definitely offer the employees with useful information that they may need. Recent studies indicate a high rate of the Internet's usefulness when it comes to work. Especially in technical jobs in the industry of information technology, the Internet provides a lot of resources to employees. However, despite of the value that the Internet serves in a workplace, there are also issues that degrade the productivity of employees as caused by Internet abuse.

             Internet Abuse at the Workplace.

             The Internet is a source of any kind of information. However, it is not only able to provide useful information for work purpose, but information that is non-work related as well. The Internet can be like a tool of entertainment to users from which whatever a user wants to know, it is most likely that he can find it by browsing different web sites. Thus, when an employee uses the Internet for personal activities, work productivity is consequently reduced.

             According to MacCentral Staff, from their online article about Internet abuse, Internet and E-mail abuse is the top reason why many companies in U.K. implement workplace discipline policies. Such abuse includes surfing the net for personal activities as well as bringing of Internet habits done at home into the workplace (i.e. surfing pornography, use of .

             chat rooms, downloading of files). Websense's study, as indicated by Greenspan (2002), further reveals the following.

             Websense found that 67 percent of workers access news sites for personal reasons, and 37 percent access shopping and auction sites at the office. In addition, 2 percent of employees admit accessing pornography and 2 percent admit gambling online at work.

             Another survey indicates the following.

             ".59% of Internet use at the office was not work related and that employees who traded in stock shares, played online games, shopped, and arranged vacations and travel cost companies the most.