In a very troubling development, prosecutors in the Pennsylvania attorney general's office and employees in other state agencies have been accused of sending porn and other inappropriate content via government email systems. According to the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, the Secretary of the Department of Environmental Protection and the department's deputy chief counsel have resigned over the scandal.
NBC News has reported that one political appointee who sits on the state Board of Probation and Parole has refused to step down at this point. The emails involved in the scandal reportedly contained, "still photos of women in pin-up-style poses; mock workplace motivational
posters that showed women performing sex acts with male characters who
appeared to be their bosses; and video files, bearing winking titles
like "NASCAR Victory," or "Delta Faucet commercial" that showed women
and men engaged in intercourse and other sexually suggestive acts."
I have talked to some friends of mine who work(ed) in the attorney
general's office of other states and none of them send porn via email to
their coworkers on work or personal email. Each person I spoke with also stated that if they were involved in this type of behavior they most likely would be fired or forced to resign. Last year, a federal judge in Montana was forced into retirement over allegedly racist emails that he sent.
It is important to be very careful about what one sends via email or other digital platforms. In general, I do not recommend utilizing work email for personal purposes.
Copyright 2014 by Shear Law, LLC All rights reserved.
No comments:
Post a Comment