Facebook opens for federal employees again
Employees of the federal government are, in principle, being granted access again to Facebook.
Access was barred two years ago following a survey that found that Facebook was the second most visited website by federal employees.
A spokesman for the Federal Information Technology Office said the final decision to lift the ban was up to each ministry.
He said workers in the departments under Transport, Communications, and Energy Minister Doris Leuthard had already been given access again.
The economics ministry will lift the ban at the end of the month. The foreign ministry was exempt from the original ban.
One reason given for the reversal is the fact that many federal offices use social media sites for communication. Instead of a ban, staff should be informed of both the pros and cons of using sites like Facebook, the authorities said.
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