Viewing 40 posts - 1 through 40 (of 44 total)
  • IT guru help/moral dilema, monitoring a possible work porn fiend….
  • monkey_boy
    Free Member

    Won't go into too much detail on here but just don't know what to do and throw this out to the masses…

    Had a new manager start in work 2 weeks ago, noticed over the last few days he has tried to make his side of the office more 'private'.

    this has included…

    Masking off the other window so nobody can see inside from the shopfloor (as apparently the light is reflecting onto his monitor and he can't see the screen properly)

    His monitor is angled towards him in the corner, this has progressed from disconnecting the monitor from the laptop and now just uses the laptop screen.

    His side of the office is always 'too' quiet, no typing or the sound of flicking through documents thats he's suppose to be reading up on.

    Also the old classic when you get up off your chair and move towards his desk down the other end,his silence is broken with frantic clicking.

    Finally the other day he called me in (as i am the IT guy for the company) and said this website keeps popping up in the browser – 'adultfriendfinder.com' and im afraid the wife will see it when i get home thinking I am looking at dodgy stuff. (Looking back I think this was a sad attempt about checking how 'switched on' I am to see if i would question him maybe)

    You all know where this is going…

    I had my suspicions so earlier today I went out onto the shopfloor to his side of the office and sneaked a look at his screen (he had forgotten to tape the window up to the window edge hence leaving a small crack) low and behold he was enjoying a hardcore porn video of 'some kind' and NOT for the first time I think!

    So what to do?

    Tell Mr Porns manager who's higher up the food chain than him

    Install some software on the laptop and get a proper record, ive installed some free apps before but they are crap and you cannot actually print out a report only a crappy screen shot.

    Watch him over the next few days and see if he really is taking the p*ss and on it ALL the time which I think he is! Write it all down and then present it too the higher manager

    By the way the laptop is a work laptop and I am unofficially the company IT guy.

    Our network is a simple BT Business Broadband acocunt via BT router, all PC's have FULL internet access.

    On one hand it is quite embarassing for all concerned as this guy is suppose to have come in and 'sorted' the office out and his CV does look good on paper. Then on the otherhand I think the guy is taking the p*Ss out of me.

    Cheers

    Jamie
    Free Member
    TandemJeremy
    Free Member

    Wooo and indeed hoooo

    He has to be stopped. Get some evidence first if you can and then confront him? Just report him up the food chain?

    Shouldn't you have blocking software anyway?

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    waihiboy
    Free Member

    cheers…

    we are a small firm about 11 office staff (havent got funds for big fancy proxy servers etc). when i started ages ago i said (from past IT job experience) you really shouldnt have open access for the internet.

    we have had problems in the past but nipped them in the bud, it wasnt porn just facebook MSN etc.

    marsdenman
    Free Member

    where I used to worURLur IT team referred to his office movements as 'porn-shui' if he is not doing all porn I'd suggest he is up to no good……. We need links and screenshots to form a valid judgement though 😉

    Hadge
    Free Member

    Most companies have looking at porn as instant dissmissal. If your the IT guy then sort it as it will look bad on your part if you ignore it.

    redthunder
    Free Member

    That vid FAF 🙂

    skidartist
    Free Member

    He's just hurriedly switching to porn when anyone looks so that you don't find out he's spending all day on STW.

    NZCol
    Full Member

    You do need to do something about it.
    The issue you have is if he's enjoying some entertainment and one of your colleagues (male or female) sees it and complains then your company can be had up for sexual harrassment.
    If I was you I would lok at an upstream proxy/filtering service (you pay per seat) and then you can do some filtering.
    Its an HR issue and has to be dealt with properly, generally if you just bowl in and confront them it doesn;t end well. You have proof because his laptop will be riddled with quality stuff but to get it done properly you will have to pay for forensic services.
    Without that its his word against yours and its all to easy to pretend that someone planted it on his laptop. A proper review would prove that impossible. SOme bluff calling may be required.
    Col (ex computer forensic services director 🙂 )

    hels
    Free Member

    Do you have a company policy on acceptable use ?

    Has he signed it, either on paper or with a pop-up ? (sorry)

    No offence mate but this issue sounds well above your pay-grade, tell your manager (in writng) and get them to deal with it. These things can get nasty. You are better off out of it !

    waihiboy
    Free Member

    cheers NZcol.

    we dont have a HR dept.

    If I was you I would lok at an upstream proxy/filtering service (you pay per seat) and then you can do some filtering.

    could you elaborate please, suggest a piece of software?

    timdrayton
    Free Member

    i used to work in a large call centre and my desk and pc area was used by a large sweaty (not that his size or perspiration rate is relevant) guy who came in to do the night shift.

    the IT guy was fiddling about with the browser settings on my pc when he looks at the history……

    suffice it to say that my night shift colleague had an unpleasant fondness for donkeys and other well endowed animals.

    The waste paper basket was also emptied infrequently, and i was all of a sudden unsure that his sinusitis was the cause of all the tissues.

    waihiboy
    Free Member

    Do you have a company policy on acceptable use ?

    Has he signed it, either on paper or with a pop-up ? (sorry)

    our company is small and to be honest most of the mangers in there are fekin idiots and being called mangers is a joke. we do have contracts but im not sure if he has signed one, there is a standard bit in there about internet/email fair usage etc, will have a dig tomorrow.

    timdrayton
    Free Member

    surfcontrol used to do a proxy filtering service?

    Zulu-Eleven
    Free Member

    Has he done anything wrong?

    By that, I mean – have you actually got a company policy regards internet use, which says that its not OK, and indeed, have you got a record that he's read any such policy if there is one…

    ah, pants, you've just commented he has while I was typing…

    waihiboy
    Free Member

    surfcontrol used to do a proxy filtering service?

    they did an i used to use it years ago in my old job, but you need to install it behind the firewall/router, i just havent got the time or resources to set this up.

    im thinking now of telling the guy above him, then when he is down next week set it up so mr porn is in a meeting and install some software locally.

    allthepies
    Free Member

    got a link to the vid ?

    😉

    waihiboy
    Free Member

    sadly not, but it looked well dodgy, it looked like a live feed aswell??!!

    epicyclo
    Full Member

    Remote desktop to his laptop and run it in full view of higher management 🙂

    Junkyard
    Free Member

    when i worked at the Uni in IT we did a search of everyone's bookmarks and got some interesting stuff.
    My boss delegated telling of all the odd ball porn stuff to me. The strangest was a devotee*who was caught red handed and did not have a leg to stand on.

    I had to go and tell him off and explain that it was a sackable offence etc .When I asked my boss why he said he would not be able to do it for laughing.

    * Devotee is a person who enjoys naked pictures of amputees and disabled people …a proper niche I would assume.

    Oh yeah if you like him warn him if not grass

    john_drummer
    Free Member

    1) tell him of your suspicions, in a "quiet word in your ear" kind of way
    2) assuming it's not DVDs that he's watching, in which case I doubt any blocker would stop that, then keep monitoring him. If he persists, "I'm going to have to go official"
    3) Websense or some such blocker at the network firewall
    or
    4) grass him up. He's there to work, not watch porn (or football or anything else that distracts him from his paid employment)

    DaveyBoyWonder
    Free Member

    Business with unrestricted access to the net + 11/10 non-IT savvy people = disaster (virus, porn watching, how to make a bomb website etc). There must be an official IT person or supplier – get them to lock down the machines so users can't use much int control panel etc and then restrict net usage – its not difficult!

    DezB
    Free Member

    I've got some experience of this – my method was to report them for introducing a virus.
    Nobody asked what the virus was, but I would produce a log from our proxy server (or you could use the user's internet cache) saying this was the activity on the infected machine when the virus was picked up.

    Most of the time there wasn't actually a virus but it was a way of reporting these lazy, work-shy perves.

    Funniest one was my boss having to have a word with his boss about visiting escort agency sites. But the Dutch have some very interesting browsing habits during their working hours.

    We now have Surf Control which blocks 99.9% of it.

    NZCol
    Full Member

    Its a dodgy ground really , if you confront him my experience is he will cough or get defensive and say 'prove it'. You can but its hard and messy.
    Without controls on your internet access you will always have problems enforcing any decent AV, Spam and content filtering. When i get a moment i'll have a look for cloud services that you might be able to use. You don;t need a massive expensive or complicated firewall, just something that does basic NAT and blocks inbound stuff you don;t want and whatever outbound you don;t want. But that soubnds like it could be a step too far for your setup. Its the SOHO type business that always worry me most, enough requirement for net access but not enough to have decent controls.
    But it does become an issue if someone sees it and claims sexual harrassment. I could bore you with the rigmarole i had to go through with my staff who did investigtaions. Due to what they looked at they had to be counselled and we had to be super careful about their welfare which was fair enough because some of it would make you chunder.

    waihiboy
    Free Member

    cheers all,
    nzcol..

    could this be a solution?
    WEBSENSE HOSTED

    mogrim
    Full Member

    Is he doing his job well? And if he is, why does it matter?

    higgo
    Free Member

    If you're the 'unofficial' IT guy and there's no policy, what's the problem?

    If he was leafing through a paper copy of Razzle at lunchtime, would it be an issue? (assuming he was on his own and both hands were above the desk)

    You need to start by framing a policy on acceptable use e.g how much private use of the internet and what kind of sites are unacceptable. Then you can go about finding out if he's breaking the policy.

    I have some experience of this from a few years ago (when internet access was being rolled out to all computer users rather than being granted on a business need basis). I ended up having a very funny meeting with HR, union and the works manager to try to pre-define what was/wasn't acceptable.

    DaveyBoyWonder
    Free Member

    Of course sitting reading Razzle would be an issue. Maybe I've lived a sheltered existance by working in places where reading porn mags at your desk would be frowned upon?

    Since you're the unofficial IT guy, you can't really go installing stuff etc. Report him to his boss… if this guy is as stupid as he sounds (making a little **** den at work) then he won't think to delete his cookies and browsing history etc. Or just say you've noticed x watches porn at work. If he gets sacked/bollocked, so be it. If nowt happens, crack open IE and get over to massivetitties.com instead of doing your work.

    br
    Free Member

    Easy way, just lean over tomorrow and say "Mate, don't surf porn at work, alright", then walk away.

    Hard way, go legal – but beware 'cos you probably haven't a policy against it – nor the processes to deal with it – and you may find that your MD etc doesn't see it as a problem…

    I've sacked/processed people for this is the past, and warned others – always depends on the company. You also have to be careful with disciplinary, if others within the company also 'abuse', or maybe the company itself is not too hot on software compliance.

    Initially I'd go with my first option, especially as a coleague, rather than manager/director.

    Singlespeedpunk
    Free Member

    I have had this with a member of staff and despite putting on tracking software and other staff catching him at it (always on my day off) the MD did nothing.

    Even though I pointed out his hardware and broadband was being used for accessing illegal images (not BBFC 18 by any streach!) and that the guy had been warned verbally, twice and in writing once by me he did jack-sh!t. Having to look at "shemale" related images at 9am on a Wednesday was not something I enjoyed!

    I left and still plan to take my revenge for the work-shy pervert.

    So, I would collect the evidence (you can get online trackers, I'll see if I can dig out the one I used) and get other staff in on it. At the end of the day if the management don't want to do anything (or are afraid of staff sueing / kicking up a fuss) there is not a lot you can do.

    SSP

    sc-xc
    Full Member

    a devotee*who was caught red handed and did not have a leg to stand on.

    Devotee is a person who enjoys naked pictures of amputees

    no legged man w@nking over no legged women? sounds fair enough to me 😆

    project
    Free Member

    So somebody employed him as a manager, and thats what he is there for, to manage the staff, its not your job to manage him,or his internet hobbies.

    As with most porn watching and reading it is best done in private,as is masturbation,and an office is not the place or the time.

    Have a quiet word,and possibly be ignored or disciplined for a made up offence,or pass it on to higher management, who may well ignore the fact,or just leave it alone and let someone else fire and take the bullet.

    NZCol
    Full Member

    While you may not have an acceptable use policy they do have a right as an employer to limit or manage potential secual harassment issues.
    Thats what the problem is. Him watching some animal getting up the dunger is not in itself an employement issue if you have not set the boundaries. Maureen the secretary may however faint and then complain if she happens to come across it as it were. At that point the employer has failed in their obligations and are in the Sh!t. Thats just from my experience.
    Hard to suggest what to do if your management don't care. I would however make it formal that you reported it so you have discharged your respnsibilities to management. Thats unless the bloke wants to w@nk all over you or something, thats a different case altogether 😉
    Haven;t had a chnace to look at that link but any upstream proxy service with a configurable policy will help alongside an acceptable use policy. Amazes me people don't do this as standard.

    NZCol
    Full Member

    as an aside just had one where the mail guy decided to watch a nice vid off his USB key and have a quick shuffle before work. Unbeknownst to him his machine was connected to a mirrored display showing the browser in the foyer, you know, the big F off plasma. At 9am… 😀

    kimbers
    Full Member

    when hes out stick a post it on his lap top screen saying

    we are aware you are looking at porn on this machine
    keep looking if you like ……..or keep your job

    i reckon hell see the light

    scaredypants
    Full Member

    LOL @ nzcol !

    I reckon you should talk to your manager (in terms of being the unofficial it bod) about an increase in inappropriate use and what would they like to do about it. Suppose you could mention that MrPorn's laptop seems to have picked up some sort of popup nastiness, if you want to implicate him that is. If Mrporn is your manager then tell him that you're going to have to formalise this to protect everyone from virus/trojan/whatever causes popups and then do so by talking to the next row up

    Guess you need to have a couple of options to offer – like these proxy doodahs, or monitoring software – or maybe just a generalised warning to all staff

    Maybe "someone" should produce a pron policy & get everyone to read/sign whatever

    grahamt1980
    Full Member

    as an aside just had one where the mail guy decided to watch a nice vid off his USB key and have a quick shuffle before work. Unbeknownst to him his machine was connected to a mirrored display showing the browser in the foyer, you know, the big F off plasma. At 9am…

    Thats quality.
    We had someone removed from site for having porn in his desk, got to say if I saw someone watching porn in the office I would report the bastards, its uncalled for at work, at the very least put it onto your mobile and go to the crapper

    DezB
    Free Member

    There's some right weirdos round here isn't there? That think it's ok for people to browse porn at work… that's it's nobody else's business. FFS.

    clubber
    Free Member

    I guess my approach would be to tell the guy that you know what he's up to and tell him to stop or you'll report it. And insist on removing his attempts to hide his screen from other people.

    Then as the 'unofficial IT' guy, tell the relevant person that a) you need an official policy (I'd be happy to email you ours if you need it since I wrote most of it) and b) you have an issue with viruses/spyware being introduced because of unrestricted access and that you have to do something about it.

    Or you could just be a git and report the guy right away. Personally I prefer the softer approach as it tends to actually work IME.

    BigJohn
    Full Member

    A casual "Are you aware that the server keeps a log of all websites visited?" might have an effect.

Viewing 40 posts - 1 through 40 (of 44 total)

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