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Original poster

Questionable search history from staff member

85 replies

CelticMirror · 04/08/2023 07:49

Please help if you can!

NC for this one.

Shared laptop at our club, which is used at times by the teenagers if we are running a show or concert.

One of the adult staff members leaves his internet search engine account logged in.

I was using the laptop a couple of days ago and found that porn sites come up in the search bar history. I know this isn't being accessed from the club laptop (it's linked to his G account) but I am very, very uncomfortable that one of the kids might have seen this. We have kids as young as 12.

I gently notified the person in charge, who has had a word with him. Person in charge also is convinced that it's unlikely that any of the kids would have seen anything and that the risk is low but I really think he is brushing this under the carpet.

Am I being unreasonable to think that if this was a school, this guy would have been fired instantly?

I'm not sure what the answer is here; the guy in question is a good friend of mine. I know it was a genuine (albeit stupid and very, very thoughtless) mistake, but surely this is a major safeguarding issue?

OP posts:
tattygrl · 04/08/2023 11:32

This thread is going to continue to be riddled with people who think he was searching for and watching porn at work/at the club.

HE WAS WATCHING IT AT HOME, it just showed up when OP typed something into google as a previous/suggested search, because his google account was still logged in.

theyareonlynoodlesmichael · 04/08/2023 11:48

This is a really easy and common mistake to make and has happened to a handful of people I know who log onto google accounts on a work laptop and their account and search history then comes up on the machine. Many an embarrassing email to IT to fix!

Tighten up IT policy - no one to log into social accounts and delete cookies etc on a regular basis.

Ponoka7 · 04/08/2023 12:07

CelticMirror · 04/08/2023 08:20

This is a very good point. The person in charge is the safeguarding lead, though there are two officers below him. We will be reviewing this in great detail but my hands are tied as to where I go from here, as he is convinced that this is 'low risk'. I completely and utterly disagree. There will be further conversations today.

Show quote history

Your hands aren't tied, any member of staff can report safeguarding concerns outside their organisation. It's all your reputations on the line if something else happens and the person can quite rightly say that everyone knew about it. I'd want a private meeting then staff meeting,with a view to going over internet usage, at the very least.

Cas112 · 04/08/2023 13:36

He's not looking at porn from that laptop.. he's logged into his account on there gone home used his home computer/laptop on the same account so because the account is still logged into the club laptop its shown the accounts history not the computers.

It's an honest mistake and the fact you want him to lose his job is a joke. He hasn't purposely gone out his way for you all to see this/kids included. He will probably be highly embarrassed and you just want to rub salt in the wound

I would understand if it had been done on work laptop but it hasn't..

HonoriaLucastaDelagardie · 04/08/2023 15:56

It's an honest mistake and the fact you want him to lose his job is a joke

Please quote a post by op where she says she wants him to lose his job. Her actual words, not what you or anyone thinks she 'really means'.

She doesn't want him to lose his job.

She thinks it's a safeguarding issue. Which it is.

TheWayoftheLeaf · 04/08/2023 23:54

If it's linked to his G account could he have accessed them on his phone and it's shared with the laptop?

Just a thought. It's happened to me before when devices are linked.

TheWayoftheLeaf · 04/08/2023 23:56

If it's the case that that is a private search on a private account and he's just accidentally left an email logged in I think you're being ridiculous.

It's a slip up and a private search. Do t give children access to random laptops. It's as much your fault as his.

TheWayoftheLeaf · 04/08/2023 23:58

Also people on this thread show the exact issue. Technological illiteracy.

determinedtomakethiswork · 05/08/2023 10:43

I hadn't realised that if you logged in to your Google account on another computer that it would carry all your searches with it. It sounds as though it was a genuine error on his part and that he hadn't realised this would happen and obviously he wasn't searching it while he was there. I think he needs a separate login for work and you need to calm down.

determinedtomakethiswork · 05/08/2023 10:43

In fact, everyone should have a different login for work. What we search for at home is nothing to do with work.

DinnaeFashYersel · 05/08/2023 10:49

Porn in a work computer would be classed as serious or gross misconduct at my workplace resulting in a final written warning or dismissal.

AngryGreasedSantaCatcus · 05/08/2023 10:50

DinnaeFashYersel · 05/08/2023 10:49

Porn in a work computer would be classed as serious or gross misconduct at my workplace resulting in a final written warning or dismissal.

It wasn't porn at work, it was a historical search for porn at home. From what OP says it showed up as a suggestion when she was searching for something else.

determinedtomakethiswork · 05/08/2023 10:53

DinnaeFashYersel · 05/08/2023 10:49

Porn in a work computer would be classed as serious or gross misconduct at my workplace resulting in a final written warning or dismissal.

Did you read the thread? He didn't search for porn on a work computer. He searched for it on his own computer at home and then when he logged into Google at work it showed his previous searches.

saraclara · 05/08/2023 11:01

It's absolutely a safeguarding issue, and needs to be recorded. He's the safeguarding lead and if anyone else had done this, he wouldn't have hesitated to record and report it.

There is no evidence that one of the teens didn't see it. So it can't be brushed under the carpet.

CurlewKate · 05/08/2023 11:03

My son works with young people-they also use a club laptop for shows etc. He says he would lose his job if he logged into his own account on it.

DinnaeFashYersel · 05/08/2023 12:48

@AngryGreasedSantaCatcus

It wasn't porn at work, it was a historical search for porn at home. From what OP says it showed up as a suggestion when she was searching for something else

Nonetheless if using a work laptop or pc this would being regarded as serious or gross misconduct at my workplace

Want to search for porn - use your own device.

KrisAkabusi · 05/08/2023 13:09

DinnaeFashYersel · 05/08/2023 12:48

@AngryGreasedSantaCatcus

It wasn't porn at work, it was a historical search for porn at home. From what OP says it showed up as a suggestion when she was searching for something else

Nonetheless if using a work laptop or pc this would being regarded as serious or gross misconduct at my workplace

Want to search for porn - use your own device.

FFS! It was just explained IN THE POST YOU ARE QUOTING that that's exactly what he did! He used his own device, in his own time, in his own house! It's only because he logged into the club laptop with his Google account that it showed up in his search history.

Robyn847 · 05/08/2023 13:37

This thread is 50% people who understand what happened and 50% people who haven't read the thread and THINK they know what happened, and are so busy waving their flaming torches and clattering their pitchforks together they can't hear the rest of us trying to explain.

ballsdeep · 05/08/2023 13:52

DinnaeFashYersel · 05/08/2023 12:48

@AngryGreasedSantaCatcus

It wasn't porn at work, it was a historical search for porn at home. From what OP says it showed up as a suggestion when she was searching for something else

Nonetheless if using a work laptop or pc this would being regarded as serious or gross misconduct at my workplace

Want to search for porn - use your own device.

Omg the technological incompetence of some people on this thread is mind blowing!!!!!! READ the FULL THREAD !!!!!

it was from his search history on another device. He didn’t look at porn in work!

ElFupacabra · 05/08/2023 14:01

DinnaeFashYersel · 05/08/2023 12:48

@AngryGreasedSantaCatcus

It wasn't porn at work, it was a historical search for porn at home. From what OP says it showed up as a suggestion when she was searching for something else

Nonetheless if using a work laptop or pc this would being regarded as serious or gross misconduct at my workplace

Want to search for porn - use your own device.

He did use his own device. The work laptop was signed into his Google account.
He is also signed into his Google account on his own personal device (phone or laptop).
He viewed porn at home.
OP then searched something, I’m thinking she searched “you” expecting “YouTube” to be in the search history but “YouPorn” was listed as a previously searched suggested site.

Do you not understand how Google accounts work?

Daphnis156 · 05/08/2023 14:19

You seem as interested in his porn as he is.
And you're not much of a friend.

saraclara · 05/08/2023 14:44

Daphnis156 · 05/08/2023 14:19

You seem as interested in his porn as he is.
And you're not much of a friend.

Friend or not, they work with children, the the group laptop was compromised, and it made links to porn accessible to the children that they are responsible for. That is a big safeguarding issue, and such events HAVE to be recorded.

If your own child's safeguarding was compromised at a school, club or sports group, and you discovered that a colleague of the person who put your child at risk had covered it up because they're friends, I honestly don't think you'd be happy with that. You certainly shouldn't be.

Safeguarding is huge now (as it should be). No organisation can afford to sweep anything under the carpet, and nor should they.

GuinnessBird · 05/08/2023 16:12

I think this thread demonstrates why OP's friend didn't think that searching for porn at home would then show up the searches on his work device, it's technical incompetence.

It was a mistake and I'm not sure what else OP expects to happen to the employee, if anything the organisation needs to tighten up their security and disable Google accounts from being able to sign in.

SparklyTwinkleGlitter · 05/08/2023 16:31

Why are so many posters minimising the fact that this vile man was actively looking for Porn on the internet. The fact he did it at home is completely irrelevant.

Decent men DO NOT go searching for PORN on the internet.

I couldn’t look him in the face again after discovering that so goodness knows how you can manage to stay friends with him.

To the posters defending him, would you really be ok knowing that the man working closely with your child is a porn addict? 🤮

AngryGreasedSantaCatcus · 05/08/2023 16:56

@saraclara what this incident definitely highlighted is that IT security and safeguarding is utterly crap at OP's place of work, and they need a professional to deal with it, not just OP fiddling with it to make it as safe as she can. That should definitely be taken seriously and dealt with it quickly and appropriately.