These days, almost all, if not all companies need internet connection to function properly and conveniently. On a more personal level, this likewise applies as most of our activities are now built upon the internet – e-mail, banking, online shopping, school registrations, buying tickets for movies. As such, both on a professional and personal level, people would need internet connection in their computers so they can perform their tasks well. This, however, has its downsides. A lot of studies, if not a quick scan across the floor, will show that internet activities outside those required for work is rampant anywhere. This is believed to be one of the leading causes of productivity loss during these times. And as it has been established that companies can no longer function without internet, cutting off access for employees is definitely out of the question. One way or another, companies will just have to devise ways to monitor internet usage of their employees. This applies for home internet connection as well so that people would not end up with too much time wasting around the net.

That said, there are a lot of advantages in tracking your internet usage. Monitoring internet usage can show how much time is actually done for work, and how much time is allotted for more trivial things like personal, probably even gossip emails, browsing through social networks, posting pictures in flickr, and watching the latest movie trailers in youtube. At home, tracking internet usage can also mean preventing children from accessing adult websites. At work, it can help in data security as data transfers can easily be done with unsecured internet connections. Another advantage of tracking internet usage is the identification of unit sources with the highest bandwidth usage that contribute the most to network congestion. In addition, up to a certain degree, just the idea that internet usage is being monitored would sometimes enough for some to limit their unauthorized internet activities to a minimum.