City Workers View Porn at Work

(Portland, Oregon) A city hall snitch leaked information anonymously to a television station.

From KGW.com:

Northwest NewsChannel 8 obtained a copy of computer files from a former technician with the City of Portland. He provided us with the information anonymously. The computer tech is frustrated by the lack of discipline at City Hall for those abusing the Internet.

On the computer disc, we found a half dozen pornographic files and dozens of personal files. It appears the files were created by a manager in Portland's Bureau of Maintenance. The city is now investigating the alleged abuse.

Through a public records request, KGW found that in the past three years, city employees have been disciplined 29 times for Internet abuse. The workers come from various city bureaus including Water, Transportation and Police.

Does this surprise anyone? Not yours truly. And, it doesn't make a difference whether an organization is public or private. Given Internet access, the employees will surf.

According to local Internet expert Tom Gilliham, 20 percent of employees in the workplace regularly surf for porn. Part of the reason could be that a survey found only 59 percent of employers impose actual written policy guidelines for Internet use.

The snitch that started the inquiries expressed frustration at the lack of discipline at City Hall. Evidently, discipline isn't the only problem. The city is apparently hiring people who think it's a good idea to download pornography onto work computers. That's below the "Duh" level of dumb.