Help - accessed inappropriate material?

buutts

Hello,
I'm looking for some advice, not condemnation for being stupid - I know that
already. Some weeks ago during a bored phase, I was browsing the web and inadvertantly (honest) stumbed on some inappropriate sites. Now the stupid part - I then chose to browse through several of them & downloaded some crap. I've learned that my boss is conducting a review of internet history and am fretful as to the consequences when this is unearthed. Just to compound matters, I'm just about to be made permanent after spending the last 6 months on contract. Any advice gladly accepted.

Kingkong

Thats Unfortunate. Just deny it someone else must of been using my computer.

Our man in Havana

Do you not delete the history from your browser?

buutts

Yes, I've the history deleted but I believe it still resides on the server. I can't deny it as it is a very small company with only 2-3 people with computers :-(

seamus

What can you do? Your best attempted defence is to try and deny it, claim that someone else may have been using your machine. However it's very easy to get information from other sources, or from multiple machines to show that it was in fact you who was doing the surfing (or that someone else was doing all your work and replying to your mails for you).

If the company has any kind of policy in place, it will say that all activities which occur under your login, are your responsibility. So while the "it wasn't me" excuse may save you from the ultimate wrath, you'll still receive serious disciplinary action.

If you're really worried, and fairly sure that your boss will uncover this stuff, then beat him to it and admit to it before he finds it. Then any consequences can be dealt out with your admission in mind, and without a big long list of dodgy sites to explain.

mountainyman

Work your ass off for a week and then go to the person who wants to make you permanent and discuss it with them. Nothng to worry about. If they want to give you the job they will, but it will cost you money at your review.

An expensive lesson.

MM

Miss Fluff

Keep your mouth shut and don't say anything unless it is brought up. The fact that your boss is conducting a review of internet history and you say that only 2/3 people in your company use a computer would suggest s/he is on to you. However, don't admit/confess to anything unless you are confronted.

Also, when you say inappropriate, how inappropriate are we talking here?

ErinGoBrath

It's very possible that somebody has already discovered it and the internet history review story is just a way of making staff aware that you shouldn't be looking at inapproriate sites.

I wouldn't worry too much about it. Be more careful in future.

FlutterinBantam

be honest ..nobody "stumbles" on inapropriate sites.

Internet is chock full of them.

Sit tight , unlikely Your boss has the time to trawl through all the internet history.

juddd

Do you have your own personal log-on, and do you always lock your p.c when you are away from the desk?
Anyway it does not matter, you should stand up and take it like a man, instead of them coming to you, you go to them and tell them staright out that you think you might have accessed an innapropiate site, are you good at using computers?, do the people there know that you are a wizz on the p.c?, the reason I am asking is that maybe you can play dumb and say you must have clicked on the wrong link(easy mistake) and then "stupidily" browsed around the site and only after you downloaded stuff you realised the mistake you made and that you are really really really really really sorry(but dont beg), if you go to them instead of them having to browse through logs and history files and investigate you will inforce the fact that you honestly do realise you made an error in judgement and that the likelyhood of you doing it again will be insignificant, you will also show them that you are not afraid to take responsibility, and that can be a big help when they have their next employee reveiw......so go to your boss and ask if you can speak in private and tell your boss the truth,if nothing else they will admire you for your honesty and your willingness to take the responsibility for your actions, it may even show them that you have great leadership skills, that you have the courage to take charge of the situation that lays out in front of you.
And hopefully they are nice people and are intelligent enough to realise you made a genuine mistake and that you wil "NEVER DO IT AGAIN!!!!!!" and let you off with a slap on the hand or a minor warning.

And by the way "I condemn you for being stupid" my hat is off to you sir for being the most stupidist of the most stupid...lol

leeroybrown

If it's a small company with only two or three people with PC's and no content filtering are you sure that there is a central record of browsing/download history? Even if there is a central record, in these cases theres always the possibility that a review is just a way to indirectly remind people that they should be spending less time browsing the web. It could also be a way to get people (possibly even you) to stop looking at inappropriate material without directly bring up the awkward subject.

If I had somehow managed to dig myself into a silly situation like you I'd only come forward if I thought that it was very likely to be brought up. Otherwise I'd put my head down, cut down my web usage to a minimum and work hard. Even if it is brought up at a later stage you can say that it was a one off monent of stupidity that hasn't been repeated since and won't be repeated again. I think that approach has at least an equal chance of turning out well as telling someone about something that they may not already know or may not want to deal with.

sgthighway

I have done audits on this in the past. The chances are someone else is also looking/browsing inappropipate sites.

We keep a history of everybodys internet history but do not act on it unless another employee complains to the HR Dept. Your boss has tmuch time on his hands.

Tobias Greeshman

Don't bother telling your Boss about your internet usage with the inappropriate sites. As someone else said, just keep your head down, get your work done and cut down your internet usage as much as possible. Telling him about it may damage your chance of being made permanent, and he may never find out the sites you visited.

Have you ever seen the server log for internet usage for even a few computers? it's massive. Personally it would take days to trawl through the information, checking each site. I think it's just a bit of white smoke really, just put it down to a warning, he probably knows a few others work has dropped a bit and is putting it down to the increased internet usage. So he's trying to put a stop to it. So just do your work and keep your nose clean. Although I can't see your boss dedicating over a day to analyse a rather large server internet history.

slave1

If I was your boss and if I knew you did what you did, I would handle the situation exactly the same as your scenario is at present.
You have received his/her message IMHO
Lesson learned, stressing out won't get you anywhere, move on

Dundhoone

We had a guy browsing inappropriate sites.
We issued a new IT policy and mailed everyone to refresh their memory on what company internet access is for, and hey presto , no more inappropriate surfing.