And it doesn't end there. Most people will be aware of the fracas that took place between several members of train drivers' union ASLEF at a recent barbeque. The fall-out from that incident resulted in the dismissal of general secretary Shaun Brady. Five days later, assistant general secretary Mick Blackburn was sacked for falsifying a signature on a reference, with another charge of downloading a pornographic film withdrawn due to a lack of evidence. What's interesting is that, once again, porn has appeared in a case in which an organisation has rid itself of an individual whose position was already under threat.
The average employee is guilty of a catalogue of minor indiscretions, from slightly overblown expenses claims to stealing the odd bit of stationery for personal use. Not right, but not that bad. However, while trying to nail down whether someone falsified a taxi receipt is pretty tricky, trawling through their Internet history for anything incriminating requires a lot less donkey work.
Porn also has the added benefit of carrying a social stigma that will ensure the accused employee will probably leave without making a fuss. You might be tempted to fight an accusation of an over-enthusiastic expenses claim but only the bravest soul is going to enter into an extended legal tussle over porn.
Internet pornography carries a malignant association and significance all of its own, partly because recent child pornography cases have inextricably linked Internet pornography with child pornography in a lot of people's minds. If Bank of Ireland's Soden had been axed for bringing a copy of Loaded into the office, there would have been an outcry, but the child pornography connotations inherent in any Internet porn case were sufficient to guarantee his speedy exit.
There are plenty of legitimate reasons for sacking employees because of their surfing habits and there are no excuses for viewing illegal material at work. The problem occurs when the cause and effect are reversed; there is a very real danger that Internet pornography is becoming increasingly used as a convenient nail on which to hang a pre-determined dismissal.
The machine on your desk at work may be called a "personal computer" but, as these cases show, thinking of it as anything but your employer's property could be just the excuse they are looking for.
Talkback
Good Article, thanks:
Recently I rebuilt the ancient PC belonging to an elderly lady neighbour. The PC had been running so slowly that it refused to print.
While cleaning out the unnecessary software and files I found many traces of unpleasant pornography left by previous owners of the PC. Several cookies had stored those owners' names and dates of access. Some of the pornographic sites had planted trojans and diallers.
Presumably in today's Britain I should have rung the police and/or the tabloids?
Somehow it seemed far better just to delete the files and then run my best anti-spyware and anti-virus software before returning the cleaned PC with a brief circumspect explanation.
(ps. This cleaned PC now runs and prints.)
When the workers start deleting their history, then they're screwed.
Right on. Companies often generate a spurious excuse to dismiss an employee in order to disguise the real reason and avoid compensation. But look at the wider issue: It costs the police some £2,000 to conduct a forensic investigation of a computer hard drive. With several hundred thousand cases pending, how long will it take before common sense kicks in? At this rate not until police forces blow their entire budget on this fruitless exercise. We are talking of some £500,000,000 whick is coming out of householders' Council tax.
The "Trojan" defence is interesting, but I suspect that as top government officials get drawn in, the investigation will suddenly run out of steam. Still at least that's one thing Blunkett can't be accused of.
While hardly condoning pornography, particularly child pornography, you have to realise it is an adiction, rather than a crime. So therapy is the answer, not incarceration of lawabiding, largely middle-class men. What is the percentage in giving people like accountants and solicitors a criminal record? You render them unemployable, particularly in the UK, so kiss goodbye all that potential tax income Gordon Brown.
Britain's problem is it has never grown out of its Victorian "dirty picture" hangup. Our pornography laws are the strictest in Europe. So instead of authority taking out its frustration on the mug punter, go after those supplying and abusing children to produce pornographic images.
Can't believe it has taken this long for computer manufacturers to supply their machines with software that wipes a user's downloading record. Inexpensive programmes that defeat an expensive police investigation are definately one in the eye for authority.