Legislation Reintroduced to Prevent Federal Employees From Watching Porn at Work

Legislation has been reintroduced in the House to prohibit federal employees from watching porn on their work computers.

Congressman Mark Meadows (R-NC) has reintroduced legislation (H.R. 680) in the current Congress to prohibit federal employees from accessing pornographic websites on agency computer networks.

Meadows had previously introduced the legislation in 2015. At that time, Meadows said:

While there are rules in place at most agencies to ban this kind of unprofessional and potentially hostile workplace behavior, it continues to take place. There is absolutely no excuse for federal employees to be viewing and downloading pornographic materials on the taxpayers’ dime.

He cited a case in which an EPA employee was caught watching porn at his desk for as much as 6 hours a day, yet wasn’t fired, as the primary impetus for introducing the legislation.

“It’s appalling that it requires an act of Congress to ensure that federal agencies block access to these sites,” Meadows said at the time.

The bill passed through a House Committee but ultimately died in that particular Congress. Now Meadows is trying again.

About the Author

Ian Smith is one of the co-founders of FedSmith.com. He has over 20 years of combined experience in media and government services, having worked at two government contracting firms and an online news and web development company prior to his current role at FedSmith.