By silicon.com, 3 June 2004 15:10
NEWS The decision by the head of the Bank of Ireland to quit after he was caught using his work PC to surf porn has sparked mixed reaction and angry debate.
Michael Soden's fondness for flesh was uncovered during routine maintenance of his PC by IT staff and he felt it left him no choice but to offer his resign, citing "personal reasons".
However, some readers who have contacted silicon.com believe the bank was foolish to accept the resignation - claiming the punishment far outweighs the 'crime'.
silicon.com reader John Stanhope wrote: "I can't believe he had to resign. I do not know much about the man, but is it really worth losing the head of a bank just because he looked at some porn sites. People should really get over things like this."
Drew Edgar, who was of a similar opinion, called it "a waste of a good man".
And while another reader, Nick Tee, agreed it was a senseless move, he stopped some way short of calling Soden a good man.
"All this shows is that the man was a fool for chucking his career down the drain for fear of a little criticism. I would have thought it far more important that he was an effective manager."
Yet despite his criticism of Soden, he identified a much wider issue. "This is absolutely ridiculous. The world has gone mad with political correctness. If every person that visited a porno site had to resign, there would be a shortage of skilled labour in the market. Who are we kidding to think we are all whiter than white."
Jim Price echoed that last sentiment. "I can't believe some of the vindictive comments on this subject. OK, the guy was breaking the rules and was caught, but can everyone in the IT department honestly say they have never strayed a little. Let he who is without sin cast the first stone."
However, the story has an interesting sub-plot and a twist that was picked up by a number of readers.
Last year Bank of Ireland outsourced a lot of its IT operations to HP - causing anger among techies and possibly a little resentment among staff if readers' conspiracy theories are anything to go by.
One anonymous reader wrote: "Well, there is irony for you, the man who masterminded the outsourcing deal with Bank of Ireland IT staff to HP. As was well documented, in general, staff were not happy about the transition. Looks like the IT department had the last laugh and the icing on the cake would be Mr Soden also instigated the policy re-write regarding internet and email usage which spelt his downfall. Poetic justice? I couldn't possibly comment."
Another anonymous reader added: "The bigger they are the harder they fall. While I agree that viewing pornography is a minor faux pas not a major crime, this was the man who wrote the rule book on internet access. No doubt he wouldn't have thought twice before dismissing any other member of staff for the same offence. In today's corporate climate, viewing pornography in the work place is a high-profile topic, with many companies taking such measures against lesser employees."
"The fact that he was CEO of the company involved only makes matter worse. He is the man who has ultimate responsibility for the company; he should be the epitome of all that the company is about, greater responsibility is part of what comes with the bigger pay packet."
Another reader, Andy Wooles, offered some practical advice on what a company should be doing to ensure it aren't the next firm to have its name dragged through the mud. Andy wrote: "This case further highlights the need to supplement company usage policies with appropriate education and training to ALL staff."
"In order for an enterprise to effectively protect itself from security breaches or possible legal action from inappropriate content, it requires a 'top-down' commitment to security. This means everyone from the CEO downwards understanding and complying with usage policies."
Comments
There are 22 comments. Join the discussion
1. anonymous
I thouught Mr Soden resigned because he had been (caught) violating the bank's policy and not because he was surfing porn.
In my view, both are sufficient reason for resigning and I'm sure he will not starve.
2. Slarty Blartfast
If the guy is stupid enough to do this and get caught he's clearly not sharp enough to be the head of a bank.
3. Mark Lisle
I find it interesting why this company didn't have a filter mechanism against that type of thing . I get a big screen with warning this is not an approved web site. Maybe the IT switched it off so he could hang himself with his own rope .. mmmmm
4. anonymous
I believe he did the right thing in resigning. Pornography is pernicious - companies have clear guidelines on use of PCs in the work place, all employees need to comply with the guidelines to ensure it has standards which give its customers confidence, and its employees confidence. Letting people view porn on work computers would associate the company with exploitation, crime, etc. If left unchecked it is highly likely some employees would migrate to child porn - which sickens most people and especially parents. If the Bank was serious it would leave its employee without pension too.
5. Anthony Hunt
Reading playboy in your lunch hour is your own business. Even a topless calendar is a personal decision. But using a work PC in work time to view porn is and should be a sackable offence.
I wouldn't expect any different if I was caught watching a DVD in work time or playing a PC game in work time.
It's just taking the piss.
6. femi Jaye
This is absolutly Krazy! The head of a bank has to go for looking at naked women.
I am an IT consultant working in the Canary Islands, and I know of at least one major Spanish bank where all the IT staff regulary browse porn sites to keep up to speed with the latest deployment and use of interactive multimedia content (no kidding). With managements blessing.
I think the UK and Ireland should stop being overly hysterical about sex.....
Its been going on for a few million years:-)
7. anonymous
I think most comments I have seen are missing the point. It is not that he was looking at a porn site that is a scandal. It is doing it on company time and with company equipment. If he wants to look at porn sites do it at home. It sends out all the wrong signals to co-workers at the bank.
8. anonymous
You have to ask yourself if this wasn't perhaps the public *excuse* for forcing a resingation when perhaps there were more 'secret' hidden reasons lurking? And also, maybe 'surfing for porn' is a generic term being applied to alternative legal, but linked activities (allegedly), for which a resignation is perhaps more appropriate? Or perhaps we're just seeing someone with high moral standards who made a mistake? I'm just saying that we can't sit in judgement without *all* the facts...
9. Howard Knopler
Ok so the man viewed porn and got caught but to what extent are we talking! As a Computer Auditor I have seen cases of 'accidental' browsing of the flesh right up to somebody spending all afternoon, EVERY afternoon looking up "snowballing" pages! I learnt a new phrase when viewing the logs!! Let the punishment fit the crime!
10. Karl Buckland
Personal opinions about porn aside, he was caught violating their policy.
At lower levels within many companies this will get you instant dismissal.
No comfy resignation to explain away, you'd have to tell future possible employers that you were fired and why.
If you can fire the office junior on the spot for this violation then why should the top dog who knows the rules (and should be enforcing them not breaking them) get let off?
I admit it's a bit rough losing your job over mistake like this but if this is how they treat all their staff they shouldn't make exceptions.
11. Geoff Maxwell
I feel I must add my comment to this.... Thing I don't understand about people who visit these sites is why they are stupid enough to do it on their work PC's? Surely the judgement of a person must be called into question when they do this?
12. anonymous
What a dumbass - someone of that rank and above all cashflow must surely have
a) known he'd get shot down by his own rules
b) enough cash to buy a machine to surf grot at home.
Idiot.
13. PJ
As porn surfing is usually a dismissible offence, he risked much by going against the Company’s policy. It seems to me that he made a huge error in judgement for some cheap thrills, and that the Bank is better off without someone who cannot adhere to the rules that he no doubt authorised in the first place.
Once you start down the path of what’s acceptable porn and what isn’t, your anti porn surfing policy is just waste paper. You allow people to surf porn or you don’t, it’s as simple as that.
14. Frank
Dont view porn at work!!
Simple, buy a pC and use it at home.
It can be an embarrassment for IT staff.
Also learn how to remove content!
15. anonymous
This is really very simple in my view. If the Bank had a policy regarding acceptable surfing, which of course they had hadn't they???? Then that would dictate the action -- providing they had one -- which of course a major would have --- would'nt they?
Miss Whiplash of Slough
16. anonymous
SO,
Is there a job Going spare...
If so, can I have it??
He can have my job and I will have his.
We are allowed to do surf porn here. So, if we swap, He can browse it all day and I can get to work. I never look at it, so it makes sense to swap.
17. David J Walker
Reminds me of the time the Chief Constable of Somewhere-or-Other got nicked by the kerb-crawling clamp-down he himself had personally initiated.
Have these people got some sort of death wish, and how on Earth do they end up in these positions, for which they are clearly temperamentally unsuited, in the first place?
18. shanem01@o2.co.uk
People seem to be saying that it's not the fact that it's porn but that it was non work related content viewed in work time. I would get ticked off for sending/checking personal email or viewing travel sites during working time. If it was porn I would be sacked immediately. This is undoubtedly a moral issue not simply a time wasting issue. You are supposed to rest every hour or so when utilising any sort of VDU anyway to prevent RSI etc. I can view many types of websites whilst I am still actively working with certain tasks I perform. If you're writing a report you can't surf as well. If I'm waiting for data to transfer or somesuch I am at a loose end and is not detrimental to the company.
Maybe the general feeling is that less time is spent reading the news or getting your bank statement than viewing porn. I think this is a difficult issue, but you have to ask "do the actual customers really care." Quite honestly I don't care if the branch manager of my LLoyds TSB branch views porn as long as he and his staff offer me good financial services!!!!
Lets face it Ann Summers is now a big chain on every high street. In scandinavia it's no big deal at all. There not even the slightest bit discrete about it.
People who are offended by porn are clearly are living in a bubble where they are not affected by third world debt - suffering, war crimes, global warming, female circumcission, child and animal cruelty and a thousand other issues which are truly offensive towards the human race as a whole.
WHEN IN ROME DO AS THE ROMANS DO... and they certainly did !!!
19. anonymous
The principle is there was a policy, and in his position he shouldn't be so stupid and he can hardly expect this to be ignored or excused.
As to how PC can you get - Profits and Commerce - It could be costly for a bank where a good name means a lot, what about attitudes at work - towards staff and customers. There must be something wrong with the man if he must surf porn at work - is he not allowed to do it at home or just sex obsessed and/or incontinent?
Would the PC gripes stand if he was caught nursing his ego by looking at racist sites insted of porn?
20. anonymous
Whilst employed by a global multinational in what the business community sees as the early days of the WWW (1998) to consider the requirement for what I and my team labelled the Department of Information and Corporate Security I suggested that available technology be used only to log acceptable use policy breaches; never for policy enforcement. Thus we would spend less and allow almost all employees from bottom to top to provide themselves the opportunity to be fired at will.
I thought this humorous if cynical; I should charge my clients more.
21. anonymous
Whilst employed by a global multinational in what the business community sees as the early days of the WWW (1998) to consider the requirement for what I and my team labelled the Department of Information and Corporate Security I suggested that available technology be used only to log acceptable use policy breaches; never for policy enforcement. Thus we would spend less and allow almost all employees from bottom to top to provide themselves the opportunity to be fired at will.
I thought this humorous if cynical; I should charge my clients more.
22. Paul Kitchen
This was preventable.
A proper content filter would have prevented him from going to porno sites. Most latent surfers (as I am assuming is the case here - gotta give some benefit of the doubt) would have had a nibble or two at accessing innapropriate material and then given up if they knew their actions were being monitored and reported on - such as a warning screen.
Clearly there was either no content filter or he found a way around the system, this is easy for most content filters, especially where embedded URLs, peer to peer, and instant messaging are concerned.
He would likely still have his job had a proper solution been in place.
It is far better to be proactive against risks such as reputational damage, personal and family embarrassment, staff morale, infection with malicious code, legal and financial penalties etc if you have a real solution in place, else, none of you would be any the wiser about the goings on at the Bank or the CEO.
Let us also consider the cost of the reactive process that cost Mr Soden his job, the resources in time, paperwork, HR, and network resources that would have been called in once the offence had been detected. Surely a solution which PREVENTED access to such sites would have been a smarter, and ultimately less costly approach.
So let this be a lesson :) - not only should a content filter block unauthorised material on the web, it should also prevent the downloading of material via P2P and IM, as they are also prime means of downloading porn and other software such as malicious code (network worms and backdoor trojans). Yes there IS a solution that does all this - Websense. I've seen supposedly reputable content filters thrown out in favor of Websense because of the issue of workaround, embedded URLs, and ability to filter protocols other than HTTP/FTP, and I am sure this will continue to be the case.
Unfortunately you will also see repeats of people losing their jobs for accessing porn because there is NO solution in place, let alone an inadequate one. Also, any content filtering solution must be configured in accordance with a documented email and acceptable use policy.