Congressman Walter Jones (R-NC) sent a letter this past week to House Appropriations Committee Chairman Harold Rogers (R-KY) requesting that language be included in all future appropriations bills to ensure that federal agencies block the viewing, downloading, and exchanging of pornography on their computer networks.
Jones sent the letter because of something that caught his eye in the appropriations bill (H.R. 2029) that was recently signed into law. Jones noted there was a clause in the legislation which said:
“None of the funds made available in this Act may be used to maintain or establish a computer network unless such network blocks the viewing, downloading and exchanging of pornography.”
Jones noted that the language only applied to certain agencies, but he wants to make sure that it applies to all federal agencies and their employees going forward. In particular, he said that conspicuously absent from the list of agencies were the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), and the Department of Interior. All three of those agencies have been the subject of high-profile media stories about their employees surfing porn at the office. (see, for example, Bill Would Ban Federal Employees From Watching Porn at Work)
At the EPA in 2014, for example, an employee admitted to watching porn for up to 6 hours per day at work while also downloading 7,000 pornographic files.
“We are over $19 trillion in debt, and taxpayers are paying for federal employees to waste time at work surfing porn. This is a well-documented, government-wide problem. It’s time to put a stop to it. My solution is simple and I urge all of my colleagues to join me in blocking employees at all federal agencies from viewing porn on the job,” said Congressman Jones.
A copy of the letter is included below.
Congressman Jones Letter on Blocking Pornography on Agency Computer Networks, March 17, 2016
