Internet porn: Guilty till proven innocent
Published: 01 Sep 2004 11:00 BST
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Blackburn was sacked for falsifying a signature on a reference, with another charge of downloading a pornographic film withdrawn due to a lack of evidence.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.
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