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Premier says no to ban on using Facebook at work

Premier Wu Den-yih (吳敦義) said yesterday that the central government would not impose a ban to stop civil servants from playing Happy Farm on Facebook while at work, but added that he hoped they would focus more on serving the public.

“Sometimes public servants play the game during their leisure time at work. We cannot prevent this by imposing a ban, but I’ve always hoped that our colleagues would put more effort into carrying out their official duties. They should also take care of their physical and psychological health and not waste time and energy on the Internet,” Wu told reporters.

Facebook is gaining popularity in Taiwan, with about 3.5 million members in the country.

Happy Farm is a game in which players have to “raise crops and livestock and can take part in cattle rustling and garden raids.”

The game’s popularity has prompted some companies to block access to the Web site to prevent employees from playing during work hours.

The Central Personnel Administration warned that public servants who play the game at work might be in violation of the Civil Servants Work Act (公務人員服務法) and Civil Servants Evaluation Act (公務人員考績法), which state that civil employees shall not engage in activities unrelated to their job while at work.

Some local governments have already banned playing the game, with Kaohsiung County officials saying the game had been blocked by their firewall.

Taipei Mayor Hau Lung-bin (郝龍斌) said yesterday that the Taipei City Government had also prohibited civil servants from using Facebook at work and temporarily blocked the Web site.

Hau said the city government respected civil servants’ rights to use the Web site after work, but it did not want the Web site, or other online games and social networking sites, to affect their performance.

In related news, a Facebook user, accompanied by Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Taipei City councilors, yesterday accused the Web site and Gamania, a major Taiwanese online game company, of cheating users into purchasing additional services and called on the government to help deal with similar consumer disputes.

The user, surnamed Hsu, said he spent NT$2,000 in seven days to purchase a stored value card from Gamania to feed four virtual dogs he rented to protect his farm.

The virtual food he purchased with the card, however, failed to feed the dogs, leaving his farm wide open for other players to steal his vegetables.

“My crops were stolen even though I purchased a card to feed the dogs. This is a scheme to make users invest a lot of money in the game,” he told a press conference at Taipei City Council.

Hsu said he would contact other users to file an international lawsuit against the Web site for cheating users with poorly designed games.

DPP Taipei City Councilor Chien Yu-yen (簡余晏) and Independent Taipei City Councilor Chen Chien-ming (陳建銘) said the city government and the central government should pay more attention to similar trade disputes and help users handle the issue with Facebook.

Taipei City’s consumer ombudsman, Chong Ruei-hsian (鍾瑞祥), said the city would look into the case and provide legal assistance if consumers decided to file a lawsuit against the company.

ADDITIONAL REPORTING BY CNA
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