At least 240 British civil servants have been disciplined for having pornography on their work computers, The Times of London reported Thursday.
An internal investigation was set up at the Department of Work and Pensions in July 2003, originally intended to check computers used by the department's 140,000 staffers nationwide.
Key words were used to flag suspect sites and within three days some 37,000 records of porn Web sites via search engines or Internet addresses were found.
The investigation resulted in 240 civil servants being disciplined in since last July. In all, 16 people were fired, three resigned and another 211 were disciplined for misconduct at work.
Despite the crackdown, some 2,319,569 pornographic images and Web sites were accessed since December, some showing children as young as 13.
There have also been dismissals and disciplinary action at other government departments for similar misconduct, including the departments of Health and Transport, the Prison Service, the Northern Ireland Office and the Foreign Office.
© Copyright 2004 by United Press International
