Drive to stop workers viewing porn

A major campaign against child pornography downloaded by office workers is launched today.

Backed by the Home Office, it aims to persuade technical staff to report workers who download illegal content.

"We found a lot of IT staff are very worried that by looking at this material they will get into trouble, when in fact it is their users downloading it," said Peter Robbins of the Internet Watch Foundation, which produced the guide.

" e hope that by spelling out the facts, staff will not simply turn a blind eye when they see illegal content being downloaded."

A highly critical report from the Audit Commission revealed that downloading porn represents nearly 50 per cent of all cases of IT abuse in the public services. Experts believe a similar figure is likely in all offices.

The Government welcomed the plan. "I would urge all IT professionals to look at the foundation's website... and report any incidence of child abuse images on their companies' systems and servers," said Paul Goggins, parliamentary under-secretary for policing, security and community safety.