SEC's Porn Problem Was Rampant, According To Reports

Nearly a dozen SEC workers were found to have viewed pornography at work, according to a story originally reported by the Washington Times.

But the problems may be even worse than that. Gawker got a hold of documents that detail 16 investigations into employees and contractors who viewed porn a stunning 8,273 times. Among the revelations are names of illicit websites accessed at work. According to Gawker's John Cook, the documents include reports from "one man who said his daily porn viewing at work was limited to 'no longer than an hour and a half a day.; The man told investigators that his porn habit grew out of looking at photos of men in bathing suits, which is sometimes known as 'gateway porn.'"

The unidentified employee may have more serious problems -- as Gawker notes, "Two video files found on his computer were referred to the FBI because investigators suspected that the men depicted having sex in them were underage."

One SEC worker -- actually it was a supervisor , according to Dealbreaker -- reportedly viewed porn sites at work to combat stress.

Check out The Washington Times piece here -- and Gawker's report here.

Comments

[GoDogGo]

09:00 PM on 03/24/2010

Any of you know how much p0/n is being viewed at your own companies? For most of you, if you're working in an average office, it's it a TON.

[gwix]

01:18 PM on 04/02/2010

Are you for real?

These were supposed to be our watchdogs, overseeing that the financial community wasn't doing anything bad to our economy.Don't you think the American citizens deserved an SEC that was watching out for us instead of watching this crud?

Gimme a break.

Are you Republican?

[GoDogGo]

05:48 PM on 04/02/2010

I'm simply pointing out a truth of modern office life, that's all. This kind of behavior is happening under all of our noses in all of our own companies.

Sure, the SEC shouldn't be doing this and I'm not justifying it by any means. But let's not be "shocked" when this same thing is going on in the cube next to yours.

Besides, "are you a republican?" sounds pretty McCarthyesque. I'm not, but party has nothing to do with this.

[coolaid8]

06:48 PM on 03/24/2010

They can save money by getting a direct feed into the TSA full body scanners. It owld be a fine example of inter-agency cooperation.

[DjTaz]

02:06 PM on 04/02/2010

ROLF!!!! Great post!

[newtom]

02:01 PM on 03/24/2010

Doesn't the SEC have filters and content controls on their computers? Ridiculous.

[copelli21]

03:16 PM on 03/24/2010

Ok! That is craziness. I know the Fed gov't can afford to get some filters on these gov't pcs!!

Heck I am at a major aerospace company and at one point , the filter wouldn't even allow us to get to HuffPost!

[coolaid8]

06:49 PM on 03/24/2010

That is because it is political porn.

[BBackSoon]

01:23 PM on 03/24/2010

First off let me say: I don't care if they were looking at porn. As long as it was legal stuff.

I personally know there are times and places for everything and Work is one of the places that many things are not welcome.

That being said, the real issue here is how much time was wasted,? As I type this at lunch, at work and on a company computer.

[PorgieTyrbeiter]

11:37 AM on 03/24/2010

Gotta love the hirsute hand on the keyboard

[NYCIC]

07:29 AM on 03/24/2010

They had more than time on their hands.

[satanlite]

06:54 AM on 03/24/2010

Looks like our interests aren't the only thing being yanked around over there.

[PorgieTyrbeiter]

11:35 AM on 03/24/2010

Heh...good one

[poindexter]

05:09 AM on 03/24/2010

Now we know why enforcement by the SEC is non-existent!

[JulieDole]

03:43 AM on 03/24/2010

That's not a real picture - he's typing with both hands.

[cef911f1]

05:29 AM on 03/24/2010

Julie, you are truly on top of your game this morning. Thanks for the chuckles.

[copelli21]

03:17 PM on 03/24/2010

LOL!

[maslin]

02:50 AM on 03/24/2010

When watching America get screwed gets too stressful, SEC employees need another outlet.

[plaidsportcoat]

04:22 AM on 03/24/2010

he needs to retain his own talent!

[ie]

01:33 AM on 03/24/2010

surfin' porn on the taxpayers' dime while ignoring repeated requests to investigate Bernie Madoff.

Priceless.

[MarkInIrvine]

12:44 AM on 03/24/2010

This is much worse than looking at HuffPo at work, right?

[progressivewithaP]

03:11 AM on 03/24/2010

The difference is that porn sites are full of viruses and malware......and most co-workers don't care if they catch you reading blogs. Porn on the other hand....

OF course if you have your own office and a great Virus protection software, then maybe it's a different story ;-)

[JulieDole]

03:46 AM on 03/24/2010

"The difference is that porn sites are full of viruses and malware..."

Hence, the need to wear a condom when porn surfing.

[jojobinx]

12:34 AM on 03/24/2010

These people get paid for watching porn and I can't find a job. Where is the
Fairness in this? I am so sick of hearing things like this going on and not a thing is done about it. Yet people make heartless remarks about the unemployed getting a free ride..... Who
Is getting a free ride here?

[MikeDu]

12:32 AM on 03/24/2010

I suppose we're *supposed* to express some form of hysterical pilgrim outrage? The right wing at least should be wildly in favor of this. They seem to prefer anything rather than the government doing its job properly. And this is considerably milder than the Bush admin officials who spent their time screwing lobbyist hookers.

[chillwind]

02:06 AM on 03/24/2010

I was going to say, they probably picked up the habit during the Bush years, when they had all that time on their hands. The administration prevented them from doing their jobs. (Not to mention the Supreme Court Motorolla v. Scientific Atlanta case, and Senator Michael Oxley sending a letter to the SEC chairman, threatening to cut funding)

[Jim Pasterczyk]

12:24 AM on 03/24/2010

Does the Other Times give a time frame or do they just spray this factoid out there presuming people will blame Obama for it? Guilt by innuendo; typical GOP ploy.