Compromising pics found on office computer -UPDATE-

[Red Squirrel]

I would find an anonymous way of reporting it. Like wait about a month then send an email to that person's boss from a one time use email account or something.

Something along the lines of that you suspect something and that it should be checked out.

Or break the PC somehow by deleting a system file to stop the PC from booting so the user ends up having to call the help desk and then IT will see it.

 

[ShawnD1]

Bringing images like this into the workplace shows poor discipline toward leaving his fantasies at home. What's the next step?

Maybe he'll bring a porno tape to work and get everyone's gym access taken away

 

[moshquerade]

Come to think of it...
In your workplace, does this coworker have routinely have contact with minors as a part of his job? If so, then I think it's a moral imperative that you report him. Bringing images like this into the workplace shows poor discipline toward leaving his fantasies at home. What's the next step?

If he doesn't routinely have contact with minors... delete.

No routine contact with minors for him. He is a very rare visitor to our office and never visits our off site clinics.

 

[jhu]

I can't believe no one's mentioned the easiest thing to do. Just tell someone higher up that you've found inappropriate images on the laptop. Then have that person send out a company-wide email that company laptops are for company business only and not for personal use including buying stuff on ebay, amazon, etc, or downloading music, movies, or pictures. There, problem solved.

 

[guyver01]

As someone who works in IT, my advise is the following:
Do NOT touch the files. Can they tell if you delete it? Yes.
Can they tell who downloaded it? Yes.
Can they tell when it was put onto the laptop? Yes.

Whether the pictures are illegal or not is irrelevant. They are inappropriate and possibly violate company IT policy on use of a shared laptop.

I would suggest setting up a meeting with your supervisor, your HR liason and someone from th LEGAL department.

Whether someone in HR is friends with them or not won't matter to Legal. The corporate council is required to be impartial. Since the material is inappropriate, it may also come down to a legal decision as to what actions will be taken against the offender.

Federal Whistleblower statues protect you from any reprocussions for reporting it.

If you are asking what to do, obviously the material offends you. This is enough for HR & IT & Legal to begin an investigation.

'nuff said.

 

[JulesMaximus]

what would jesus do?

He would mow my lawn!

 

[Lifted]

The answer has basically already been said. Take the laptop to your supervisor, leave the pics open, and say "Please ask <bob> not to leave pictures like this on a computer that is shared amongst the staff." Give him a look that lets him know you are seriously annoyed. From this point, the ball is in his court and you have done all that anyone can expect of you.

As far as "evidence" is concerned, you haven't tampered with anything.

As far as your relationship with higher ups in the office, you discretely reported and let them handle it as THEY see appropriate. That should at least get you some kudos come bonus time

 

[guyver01]

leave the pics open, and say "Please ask <bob> not to leave pictures like this on a computer that is shared amongst the staff."

NO.
most definitely do not do that.

As you do not know with 100&#37; accuracy that said employee put the pictures on there or not, you should not accuse them of it. This can backfire and get you into legal issues.

The best way of doing it, would be "I don't know who put these pictures on here, but they are inappropriate and should not be on a shared laptop"

 

[Adrenaline]

WWYD?

The Administrator of our office, a man, took one of our laptops with him for a few days to meetings he had in another city. Today I had the laptop and noticed a picture file on it that I hadn't seen before. I opened it and inside were a dozen pictures of two young females, definitely under age, probably about 14-15 years old, engaged in some kissing and fondling of each other. They were fully clothed.

I'm not sure what to do about it. Just leave them on there like I don't know they exist? I don't think I should delete them as I don't want any action taken on those pictures being associated with me. I really don't want to approach him on it, but it's bothering me that I've seen these pictures saved on a computer I am using.

What would you do? : /

It is in your best interest to turn in the problem to your supervisor.

I was a laptop repair tech for a few years and I had a laptop that when I booted it up had some stuff on it that was underage material on it. I handed it in to my supervisors and let them deal with it. Two days later I had a meeting with the FBI and my supervisors present.

 

[Lifted]

NO.
most definitely do not do that.

As you do not know with 100% accuracy that said employee put the pictures on there or not, you should not accuse them of it. This can backfire and get you into legal issues.

The best way of doing it, would be "I don't know who put these pictures on here, but they are inappropriate and should not be on a shared laptop"

Agreed. She did seem pretty sure, for whatever reason, that a particular person had done this. Since it could backfire, you're idea is much better.

 

[Pliablemoose]

Here's the thing...

Those pictures are of real girls, something is going on and you have knowledge it's happening, and that's independent of the act of slimeball Joe at your office...

 

[randay]

if there is child pornography then i think you may be obligated to report it to the FBI. if not, then its your morals here that are the problem. in which case my advise is to delete and forget about it, its not a big deal and you dont have all the facts.

 

[kevman]

Leave it be, don't touch it, dont delete anything. If this man is up to insidious behavior, it is bound to catch up with him real soon.

 

[ShawnD1]

Here's the thing...

Those pictures are of real girls, something is going on and you have knowledge it's happening, and that's independent of the act of slimeball Joe at your office...

I was told to shut up when I raised concern that several other chemists were reporting fake QC results when I worked in a drug lab. It's very possible that you'll get in trouble if you report someone else looking at porn. No, I'm not joking.

 

[Riceninja]

unfortunately we need a bit more detail before we can say what the right thing to do is. Please describe the clothes they were wearing, pigment of their skin, and any other noticeable physical details. then describe the kissing, but do it slowly, and describe it like you mean it. same thing with the fondling.

i am so hard right now

 

[guyver01]

It's very possible that you'll get in trouble if you report someone else looking at porn. No, I'm not joking.

If i report someone, i'd PRAY to get in trouble.
As .. Whistleblower Laws prevent retaliation in any way, shape or form and some even provide monetary compensation if such rretaliation does take place.

A perfect example is SOX:

Section 1107 of the SOX 18 U.S.C. &#167; 1513(e) states:
Whoever knowingly, with the intent to retaliate, takes any action harmful to any person, including interference with the lawful employment or livelihood of any person, for providing to a law enforcement officer any truthful information relating to the commission or possible commission of any federal offense, shall be fined under this title, imprisoned not more than 10 years, or both.

 

[adlep]

WWYD?

The Administrator of our office, a man, took one of our laptops with him for a few days to meetings he had in another city. Today I had the laptop and noticed a picture file on it that I hadn't seen before. I opened it and inside were a dozen pictures of two young females, definitely under age, probably about 14-15 years old, engaged in some kissing and fondling of each other. They were fully clothed.

I'm not sure what to do about it. Just leave them on there like I don't know they exist? I don't think I should delete them as I don't want any action taken on those pictures being associated with me. I really don't want to approach him on it, but it's bothering me that I've seen these pictures saved on a computer I am using.

What would you do? : /

How is this possible on a corporate laptop?
Do you have a domain controller where everybody has his/her own account and a separate profile on a computer?
What where you doing in this guy's profile?
Where you specifically looking for pictures?
The way I setup things, is that it is impossible for the regular user to access a local profile of another user UNLESS that user is made to be a local admin.

 

[guyver01]

Do you have a domain controller where everybody has his/her own account and a separate profile on a computer?

Some companies unfortunately dont for shared laptops...

One company i worked for, we had a department that had a single "shared laptop" for employees when they traveled. They usually sent the laptop to the employee (the employees were remote) and they had a generic local username/password, something like TempUser/TempUser .. Since the employees were remote, they couldn't log into the laptop in an office to set up a local profile. Everyone saw everyone's files.

 

[Lifted]

I'm pretty sure whistleblower laws usually apply to people reporting things going on in a company that may be illegal or cause harm to someone (such as all the pharmaceutical cases) to a government agency of some sort, or perhaps the media, unless there is some all encompassing federal law that covers tattling on co-workers for things that aren't illegal.

NY state law:

Public and private employers cannot discipline or take retaliatory action against employees who disclose or threaten to disclose activities, policies or practices that violate laws or regulations or threaten public health or safety. The protections extend to public employees who disclose to a governmental body information that they reasonably believe to be an improper governmental action. Aggrieved employees can sue for reinstatement, back-pay and benefits and may be entitled to courts costs and attorney fees. A prevailing employer may recover court costs and attorney fees if the suit is not based on law or fact.

http://www.ncsl.org/default.aspx?tabid=13390

 

[guyver01]

Sexual Harassment is a federal offense. And no... nothing SEXUAL has to be occurring for sexual harassment to occur.

leaving inappropriate pictures on a company laptop (sexual or not) that makes someone feel uncomfortable, is considered Sexual Harassment.

and SOX covers commission or possible commission of any federal offense.

 

[Lifted]

Sexual Harassment is a federal offense. And no... nothing SEXUAL has to be occurring for sexual harassment to occur.

leaving inappropriate pictures on a company laptop (sexual or not) that makes someone feel uncomfortable, is considered Sexual Harassment.

and SOX covers commission or possible commission of any federal offense.

Sounds like moshquerade is getting PAID!

CHAAAA CHING!!!! :awe:

 

[Iron Woode]

WWYD?

The Administrator of our office, a man, took one of our laptops with him for a few days to meetings he had in another city. Today I had the laptop and noticed a picture file on it that I hadn't seen before. I opened it and inside were a dozen pictures of two young females, definitely under age, probably about 14-15 years old, engaged in some kissing and fondling of each other. They were fully clothed.

I'm not sure what to do about it. Just leave them on there like I don't know they exist? I don't think I should delete them as I don't want any action taken on those pictures being associated with me. I really don't want to approach him on it, but it's bothering me that I've seen these pictures saved on a computer I am using.

What would you do? : /

give them a cup.

 

[rhino56]

It's really hard to judge the actual ages of girls these days, as i get older girls in their mid 20's look like teenagers to me. in my state (OK) the age of consent is 16 anyways so as long as it's not obvious child pornography, i would be very careful as to be a whistle blower if it is an admin of your office. Could he fire you? I would talk to him and tell him you saw the pics on there, maybe they were there before him? his teenage kid used the laptop? could be many reasons of how they got on there so keep in mind you may be destroying someones life who was innocent. If it were nude pics of underage girls then it's worth the cost of accusing someone who may be innocent when a childs life is at stake.
sounds like at most they would be considered obscene material and you would have someone higher up as an enemy. I'm sure you will do the right thing.

 

[T9D]

...

 

[ShawnD1]

Please god don't be one of those people I see on the real cold case files where 20 years later the losers finally come out and say something after dozens of other lives were ruined or he escalated. I want to punch those people, it all could have avoided if they did the right thing. Maybe it's nothing but maybe it is something. At least let it get looked into.

It could be the opposite, where parents bring innocent photos of their baby to walmart then have their children taken away because some douche over-reacted. (story).