You never know what you'll find...

My job has a lot of interesting people. It also has a lot of independence. Sometimes, when you take one of those interesting people and you put them alone in a dark room, great things happen -- you might end up with an award winning idea or broadcast. Other times, you end up with something you want nothing to do with.

Over the past few weeks, there have been rumors swirling around the compound that one particular person has had dates meet them in the compound, spend a few hours with them, perhaps exchange massages in the dark room the person spends all their time in. It has needless to say made some people feel uncomfortable in their work environment. Two weeks ago, someone noticed that this individual was on a website that they shouldn't have been on. As the administrator of the computer network, I was asked by that persons administrator if I could either confirm or deny the claims of visiting the pornographic website. I do possess that ability, and much to my chagrin, I was able to confirm it.

It's not uncommon in my industry to walk past a bunch of people looking at some girl on youtube with large breasts, or perhaps a girl flashing from last nights game on a "highlight" reel. That kind of behavior is almost accepted in the trucks. What makes this persons actions different is that he is visiting gay websites. That is why people are saying something, and it's making them feel uncomfortable.

I'm not a fan of people openly looking at girls in the truck, but I'm not against it either. I'm not going to lie and say that I've never stopped and watched whatever they were looking at. I also am very uncomfortable with the double standard that exists - that it's "ok" to look at straight porn, but when it is gay porn it's a problem.

I talked to the owner of my company about it in generic terms since there are potential legal repercussions here. Initially, he asked can I block that person from getting online. The answer to that question of course is yes, but it's not that simple. Here's what's going to happen. The person's supervisor is going to confront him with logs of information tracked over the weekend, presenting it as a case that the person was surfing the internet while we were on the air and they should have been working. The person will know at that point that he has been outed, because the websites visited are right there. I'm working on a proxy page that every person will have to go to starting next week when they first log on to the truck network. It will outline an Acceptable Use Policy that you have to agree to in order to continue. At that point, you will be able to get on the internet, knowing that your traffic is being monitored, and filtered for porn. Unfortunately for those who complained about this, they will be blocked from going to any porn sites they may have visited as well.

All of this means more BS work for me. I can't wait until next week when people start asking why is there all of a sudden an Acceptable Use Policy they have to agree to.