Compliance February 8, 2010
SEC Employees under Investigation for Watching Porn
The Washington Times reported that the U.S. Securities and Exchange
Commission (SEC) has launched internal investigations against more than
two dozen employees and contractors for viewing pornography on their
government computers.
Reported by Fred Schneyer
The Times revealed the probe after the release of 150 pages of government records via the Freedom of Information Act. SEC officials said their inspector general’s investigations began as a result of the agency’s “sophisticated surveillance and filtering system” aimed at uncovering abuse of government computer resources.
“Any level of misuse of government resources for inappropriate purposes is a matter of serious concern, which is why the SEC provides regular and comprehensive training on the proper use of the Internet,” SEC spokesman John Nester told The Times.
While the inspector general recommended disciplinary action up to and including dismissal, the news report said records show the SEC ultimately gave the employees a reprimand instead.
The SEC inspector general’s office declined to identify the employees involved, noting such a disclosure of the employees’ names “could conceivably subject them to harassment and annoyance in the conduct of their official duties and private lives.”
The computer of one unnamed SEC worker caught up in the probe, a regional supervisor, showed more than 1,800 attempts to access pornography in a 17-day period. Another employee said the computer system blocked him from visiting some Web sites but that he was able to look up blogs containing pornographic images.
In still another case, investigators found that an SEC headquarters enforcement employee had received 406 access request denials for pornographic sites from February to April last year. He was suspended for three days, records show.
“Any level of misuse of government resources for inappropriate purposes is a matter of serious concern, which is why the SEC provides regular and comprehensive training on the proper use of the Internet,” SEC spokesman John Nester told The Times.
While the inspector general recommended disciplinary action up to and including dismissal, the news report said records show the SEC ultimately gave the employees a reprimand instead.
The SEC inspector general’s office declined to identify the employees involved, noting such a disclosure of the employees’ names “could conceivably subject them to harassment and annoyance in the conduct of their official duties and private lives.”
The computer of one unnamed SEC worker caught up in the probe, a regional supervisor, showed more than 1,800 attempts to access pornography in a 17-day period. Another employee said the computer system blocked him from visiting some Web sites but that he was able to look up blogs containing pornographic images.
In still another case, investigators found that an SEC headquarters enforcement employee had received 406 access request denials for pornographic sites from February to April last year. He was suspended for three days, records show.