The best of 'Reader comments': Dell boy gets everyone emailing

The past seven days have seen outspoken reactions to a number of stories but this week we will concentrate on one subject - the story of the Dell employee in France sacked for accidentally sending pornographic material to a boss in the US in an email (http://www.silicon.com/a45044 and http://www.silicon.com/a45107 )...

Grow up
From: Jonathan Booty

He ought to accept that he was in the wrong and get on with his life. He doesn't have a leg to stand on.

Sackable offence. But harassment?
From: Ian Searle

He should fight the harassment charge, Dell should have a clear policy on pornography and the use of company resources for this sort of email, and that should be enough to get rid of him.

Chill out!
From: Mark Walters

I do not doubt he was in the wrong for sending pornographic pictures over internal email, but losing your job over a couple of nuddy pics is a bit harsh.

For one, I doubt it would have come to this if he had sent it to a non-senior member of staff. Secondly, being charged with sexual harassment - give me a break!

Anyway, what choice does he have? Far better that he fights to clear his name now than have this record hanging over his head for the rest of his career.

Playing with fire
From: Paul Jacques

He must have known the rules, so he wasn't P45'd for sending the porn to the wrong person, but for breaking the rules. And if the rules say sending porn is a P45 offence, then that is that.

Why grow up?
From: Anon.

The guy made a mistake. I think sexual harassment is a bit strong. Sending emails of that nature goes on all the time, especially in big companies. It is human nature. Disciplinary action maybe, typing lessons definitely, the sack- no way!

Vigilance the order of the day
From: Robin J. Allison

I agree with the action of the said company. We live in a fast moving world with immediate communications open to abuse at all times. We need to be extra vigilant and very careful how we use the technology. It is all too easy to say 'Sorry'. What about the affect on other people?

We are under constant pressure today from those people who are set to destroy rather than build. We are at greater danger from today's Luddite's than our counterparts were in the 19th century.

Embrace today's technology rather than abuse.

Being stupid, getting fired
From: Paul Hopwood

The individual concerned might benefit from some 'counselling' on the appropriate use of email (and maybe some email training!) and a formal slap on the wrists - but sacking and accusations of sexual harassment? Get real!

If anyone needs sacking it's the executive. Anyone with such little grasp on reality, poor sense of perspective and nothing better to concern themselves with really shouldn't be empowered to make decisions.

It's tough...
From: Steve Pirrie

Dell are allowed to make the rules. It's their network.

My partner has been subjected to abuse in similar circumstances so I can't say that Dell have over-reacted. It's actually quite refreshing to see this standpoint being taken.

Let's get this right. The guy wasn`t sacked for sending a harmless mail, he was sacked because of its content. If he miss-sent a message with text along the lines of 'How was your weekend?' the very worst that would have happened is that he might have got frowned at.

United they should stand
From: Anon.

Every employee should refuse to read or send any email or fax until he is reinstated. The post bill alone might make the bosses reconsider. The person who over-reacted should be the one to go if anybody at all needs to be sacked over it. It is not the 1900s for God's sake.

Saddos and sickos
From: Victoria Kingham

What's funny about material which reduces the act of sexual congress to a set of biological photo-diagrams? It's bad enough having to look at it blazoned all over the shelves of your local newsagents or disguised as 'love interest' on Channel 5 - the last thing you want is to open it in an unsolicited email. Unsolicited pornography ('adult' literature!) sent by surface mail is a prosecutable offence and I don`t see why this chap should be treated leniently just because it was an electronic accident.

Calm down...
From: John Hoskison

Surely we are getting back to the 'nanny state' here. I strongly agree porn over email is wrong, however if I were to get an email from an unknown source with an attachment I would have the choice to open it or not. What if it were a virus? I would be exposing my company to a great and unacceptable risk. To say the recipient was shocked is totally unfair. He/she had as much control over receiving the misdirected email as the sender had in sending it. Both ends made a mistake here, and that's the real term 'mistake' - a mistake in forwarding it, a mistake in addressing it and a mistake in opening it. Both ends should have been chastised for gross stupidity, and in reality if it had been a virus, the recipient's crime would have been worse than the sender's. In this case Dell went too far, but let it act as a lesson to all users: you should be careful what you send and open.