Playing by old rules lands Ireland’s ‘indispensable men’ in hot water

WHEN my boss formally announced that the office computer system allowed management to monitor internet use, it focused our minds wonderfully. We realised that what we thought was private was in fact as public as a water-cooler.

None of us had been visiting adult-content sites during work hours. But some of us, post-announcement, stopped using company time to write long e-mails to friends in California and read book reviews on Amazon.com.

It was an electronic stimulus to good behaviour, like those gadgets that can be installed in young drivers' cars allowing them to prove they stay within the speed limit at all times. The lads drive more carefully as a result, we're all safer and they can get a reduced insurance premium. It's a win/win for anybody with judgment.