What do you do when you find pornography on a client's computer?

[upsciLLion]

I recently found some on a faculty member's computer. About 260 megabytes of it. Evidently he attended a conference, and boredom struck hard (no pun intended). I'm sure according to state law and the acceptable use policy regarding state property that I should let someone know, but instead I'm just looking the other way and reformatting the drive. I assume he could be fired over this, but I really don't want that.

So, what do you guys do when you find pornography on someone's computer that you're working on?

 

[Amorphus]

So are you affiliated with the organization he works for? If you're an in-house technician, you should report it. If you're a repairman for another company coming in to fix computers, you may be legally bound to confidentiality.

 

[Mr N8]

If its a personal machine, I just overlook it. If it were on a work machine, I would fill out an incident report with HR. It my job or his, in that situation, and as much as my job sucks, I'm not about to get fired for overlooking that.

 

[CVSiN]

well if its good porn copy it and burn a CD -=P

otherwise tell on the guy for having bad taste as well as beign stupid =P

 

[Rufio]

blackmail.

 

[Ausm]

Personal...I just laugh

Work..I run pr0n scans so it is impossible because I suck it all over to my system


Ausm

 

[fredtam]

Originally posted by: CVSiN
well if its good porn copy it and burn a CD -=P

otherwise tell on the guy for having bad taste as well as beign stupid =P

 

[GTaudiophile]

GA just passed a law yesterday about this. If found the first time, you're suspended without pay for at least 10 work days. If found a second time, you're booted.

 

[CyraKrin]

set it as his wallpaper with big bold white arial "I KNOW WHAT YOU DID."

 

[GTaudiophile]

Of course, if it's anything illegal, you have to report him immediately.

 

[Hankerton]

If your going to reformat, no need to be a rat. I found it on a higher-up one time a few years ago. I got a good laugh at it, reformatted the PC and created a new folder with the same name and left a word document inside entitled "Probably not a good idea"

 

[waggy]

when i used to own a computer shop. i had a reputation on being someone who didn't care if you had illegal stuff on the machine (warez that is). But one guy had a large amount of child porn. Of course i had to call the cops on that.

I never cared if someone had porn, illegal software etc. But child porn is where i draw the line.

 

[Saulbadguy]

If its someone I like, I don't care.

 

[JulesMaximus]

Yeah, don't be an ass. Just reformat and be done with it.

 

[imported_KirbsAw]

Originally posted by: Hankerton
If your going to reformat, no need to be a rat. I found it on a higher-up one time a few years ago. I got a good laugh at it, reformatted the PC and created a new folder with the same name and left a word document inside entitled "Probably not a good idea"

haha, :thumbsup:

 

So why exactly are you LOOKING for it?

 

[Hossenfeffer]

I have a client that tends to surf for porn. I let him know that it's not a good idea. If he "has" to do it, at least keep it confined to a CD.

If I were an employee there, I'd be inclined to fill out a report. I'd like to think that a friendly "Dude, you don't want to be doing this" would at least lay the groundwork. If it still goes on, let the guy know that you have to report it, otherwise you'll lose your job.

 

[Modeps]

First, burn it to a cd, then reformat. It's just pr0n.

 

[Hossenfeffer]

Originally posted by: JulesMaximus
Yeah, don't be an ass. Just reformat and be done with it.

It's not being an ass to bring it up. It's the sort of thing that jobs are lost over.

 

[upsciLLion]

Originally posted by: Amorphus
So are you affiliated with the organization he works for? If you're an in-house technician, you should report it. If you're a repairman for another company coming in to fix computers, you may be legally bound to confidentiality.

Yes, we both work for a state university.

I'm a very expendable/replaceable student tech, so I think I may just dodge this one. If it were child pornography, as discussed previously, I would definitely let the fuzz know about it. I didn't thoroughly investigate the material, but from what I saw none of it was illegal in that sense. I'll probably just ask the senior tech who was assigned the work order to make mention of it to the owner of the machine.

 

[thirdlegstump]

I usually create a folder on the desktop called "recovered documents" and leave all the crap in the root of that folder.

 

[upsciLLion]

Originally posted by: SampSon
So why exactly are you LOOKING for it?

I was looking for any data that needed to be backup before reformatting the hard drive.

 

[Hossenfeffer]

Originally posted by: upsciLLion

Originally posted by: Amorphus
So are you affiliated with the organization he works for? If you're an in-house technician, you should report it. If you're a repairman for another company coming in to fix computers, you may be legally bound to confidentiality.

Yes, we both work for a state university.

I'm a very expendable/replaceable student tech, so I think I may just dodge this one. If it were child pornography, as discussed previously, I would definitely let the fuzz know about it. I didn't thoroughly investigate the material, but from what I saw none of it was illegal in that sense. I'll probably just ask the senior tech who was assigned the work order to make mention of it to the owner of the machine.

Sounds like a good choice.

 

[Phoenix86]

If it's kiddy porn, call HR followed by the police. As a tech., you become liable once you realize it's child porn and do nothing.

If it's just porn on a work machine, format and go about your merry way. Do you really want someone to lose their job over this? I SERIOUSLY doubt the company policy states YOU have to report it (your job should not be at risk, but could be). It's much more likely that the policy states you can have it, not that you must report people that do. That's only of you find it offensive.

 

[toant103]

Originally posted by: upsciLLion
I recently found some on a faculty member's computer. About 260 megabytes of it. Evidently he attended a conference, and boredom struck hard (no pun intended). I'm sure according to state law and the acceptable use policy regarding state property that I should let someone know, but instead I'm just looking the other way and reformatting the drive. I assume he could be fired over this, but I really don't want that.

So, what do you guys do when you find pornography on someone's computer that you're working on?

check it out