Subscribe by EmailScience agency porn viewer gives best excuse ever
September 30, 2009 by JLister | 0 comments
It’s tough to defend people who visit pornographic websites whilst at work. Regardless of your attitude to pornography in and of itself, it’s clearly not a legitimate use of work facilities, and even masters of time-wasting in dully office jobs would likely consider it a step too far.
But, while you might not approve of his surfing habits, you’ve got to be impressed by an excuse given by a senior executive at the National Science Foundation who was fingered as the biggest offender in a recent crackdown, details of which were obtained exclusively by the Washington Times.
The man – who has since retired – was said to have spent 331 days looking at porn on his work computer. It’s not clear if that means he spent a total time equivalent to 331 work days, or if he “merely” looked at porn at some point during each of 331 different days. Either way, it doesn’t look good, particularly when you learn that this viewing included chatting to ladies in little or no clothing.
However, a memo among the material leaked to the Times noted his stunning attempt at a defense: “He explained that these young women are from poor countries and need to make money to help their parents and this site helps them do that.”
The investigators apparently estimated the cost of his online shenanigans at between $13,800 and $58,000. Those estimates may be high as such figures are often based on the assumption that the worker would otherwise have been engaged in productive activity. That might be a bit of a leap in this case.
On a more serious note, it’s reported that allegations that porn use at the Foundation rose sixfold last year, to the point that investigators were taken away from arguably more important duties such as checking up on complaints of fraudulent grant claims.
As one commenter on the Times article noted, perhaps the most embarrassing aspect of the entire case is that the National Science Foundation can’t figure out how to install some decent porn filters. Or perhaps it’s just that employees there are that much better at figuring out how to get round restrictions.
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