Question about inapproate/illegal material found a on PC.

[djrelic247]

I work for one of the largest financial insurence firms in the country as an IT Specalist.

I really hate it when people get spyware or virus's on there computers because it's them using there work computer for something else besides work. I mean if your going to look at that stuff, do it home on another computer.. not the oneI can track and find out why your computer is crashing. Seriously.

But lately I have had issues with pornography being found on our computers at my job site and obviously that is laced with virus's and all kinds of bad stuff. And I know one day Im going to find that 'illegal' strain of pornography on there and our HR dept isnt going to do the right thing by reporting it to the authorities.

Our company has turned the blind eye to this many of times and it's really pissing me off. Mainly because these guys are the money makers of the firm. I know pornography isnt a criminal charge, but somethings I see on these machines are cutting it kind of close to child pornography and that's some sick stuff.

Would I be listed as an accompliss to this crap if some guy at my work was tried as a full blown pedophile and my company told me to keep my mouth shut cause they would terminate me?

I dont know what to do... give me some advice. I love my company and Im really good at my job. I just hate it when I get handed machines with intentional virus's on it from them looking at material that may or may not be child pornography.

[Legoate]

As an IT specialist for one of the largest "insurence firms in the country" You sure have some atrocious spelling and grammar.

As far as the porn goes: if you are an IT person, your job is to remove, filter and track that crap. Of course, you should know that if you are an IT person.

[djrelic247]

As an IT specialist for one of the largest "insurence firms in the country" You sure have some atrocious spelling and grammar.

As far as the porn goes: if you are an IT person, your job is to remove, filter and track that crap. Of course, you should know that if you are an IT person.

lol. Sorry I didnt bust out the spell & grammer check on my post, like I was writing my networking thesus on this forum. just playing

Anyways back to the issue...
Within our network, everything is blocked to the fullest.

However...
Outside our network (example our mobile users with notebooks)... eh. No control. Sure we have keywords and URLs that are blocked with client side Websense.

So back to my question. Should I or should I not report any type of illegal activity such as child pornography, even if my employer says not to report it?

[Officer20]

Ultimately, this is a decision you need to make yourself. I'm pretty sure that an employer can't legally prohibit you from reporting a crime. However, we all know the difference between how things SHOULD work, and how they DO.

Having said that, my personal opinion is that I wouldn't want to work for a company that harbored pedophiles. I'd call the police.

If, on the other hand, you are just frustrated with finding (legal) pornography, then that would be internal policy violations (maybe), and our advice wouldn't be worth much on that.

Oh, and as far as being an accomplice goes...I can tell you that in Ohio, there is no law against NOT reporting a crime.

[mcsap]

So what is YOUR longevity in IT compared to those who make $$$$$$ for the company ????

[Piggy]

If it's just porn, it's going to be an internal thing (no pun intended).

If it's kiddy porn, do the right thing. If anything else, use this law to fall back on, it's a federal law so it applies in all 50 states:

http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/18...4----000-.html

[Swat1]

This is something I deal with all the time. Unfortunately, too many companies approach the employee about it before going to law enforcement. The company thinks they are doing the right thing, hey they reported it right? But they tipped off the bad guy.

Child Pornography is a serious issue. Those images and videos are child abuse images. They memorialize the worst time in that child's life. Over 20,000 images of child pornography are posted on the Internet each month.

In 40% of my cases I find actual abuse victims. When companies notify employees that they found child pornography they give the employee the opportunity to hide/destroy evidence the company is not aware of (like their home computer), intimidate / coerce an actual victim of abuse, etc.

If companies report to law enforcement, then law enforcement can take a proactive approach to the case, giving us a much better chance of discovering evidence and identifying any victims.

Each state has an Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force (ICAC). Also, you can report the matter via the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children cyber tip line at www.cybertipline.org.

Swat1*