Academic

The SEC and .... porn?

By Gordon Smith, Christine, Hurt, Vic Fleischer, Fred Tung, Lisa Fairfax, David Zaring

According to the WSJ Blog (which quotes the Washington Times), the SEC may have had some oversight problems of its own.  Apparently, some employees found ways to get around the SEC's computer filters and view pornography sites - a lot.   

I can't say I am extremely surprised.  An entire cottage industry of consultants exists to help companies identify this type of thing, not simply because of moral or legal concerns but because they don't want their employees to waste company time. (Nice example of how the corporate interests actually coincide with societal ones).

I should add, we have no idea how the SEC stacks up to other agencies (or private companies for that matter) in terms of employees who access porn sites on work computers.  (Time for a new OIG report?) Nevertheless, the mini-episode does tell us something about culture, norms and enforcement: despite the fact that these folks worked for a well-known government agency, knew their computers were being monitored, and that they were wasting government time and resources, they still continued with their course of conduct.   Clearly, there are impulses that drive people to commit wrongdoing, regardless of how organizations structure themselves.       

Full post as published by Conglomerate on February 02, 2010 (boomark / email).