Porn at work: the heart of the matter

The subject of pornography at work never fails to raise the collective ire.

Yesterday a story about Ford giving its workers two weeks to clean up their PCs - deleting racist and sexist material in addition to purely titillating (or not) content - resulted in several dozen Reader Comments. (And we know more of you were shouting at your screens.)

Many readers applauded Ford. Not only is it cracking down on what many staff consider undesirable material but it is giving a two-week amnesty, just in case there is anything untoward going on.

But even when the reasons for Ford's actions are understood, there are plenty of question marks hanging over its policing.

Who at Ford decides what constitutes pornography? Is the Maxim website included? And is this initiative anti-web - how about a copy of the The Sun? Or a Pirelli calendar on a wall (assuming they still exist) or a jazz mag in a locker?

The argument that everything is objective - espoused by a fair few commentators - doesn't hold much water. Ford, like any other organisation or individual must be brave enough to make decisions, to have views. It's just not easy sometimes, that's all.

Other readers, while anti-porn at work, mentioned how much a culture of forwarding funny or bizarre emails and links is part of office life nowadays.

One spoke of a stint at one of the biggest IT services companies where no external email access was allowed unless there was a rubber-stamped reason. Apparently everyone in that office was "boring, bland and dull - no-one talked or worked well in groups".

And how about encrypted porn that no administrator can get to?

A policy on possessing unsavoury or lewd material is understandable but it shouldn't be 'web-only' and it needs to be workable.

silicon.com has heard several stories of employees spending hours on sites with that giveaway red-and-black screen, with hard drives full of smut. They tend to get caught and fired.

To those who say any amount of pornography is too much, we ask whether they are certain a cached gif or ancient email from somewhere may yet turn up to embarrass them.

See also:
"Two weeks to outlaw porn" - Ford tells staff
http://www.silicon.com/a51802
Dell boy: This time next year we'll all be unemployed
http://www.silicon.com/a45107
Digital Blunders
http://www.silicon.com/digitalblunders