Sweden’s Airport Authority caught in porn scandal

A routine investigation into computer network problems at Sweden’s Airport Authority revealed that several of its staff have been regularly surfing pornographic websites on the Internet while working. Seven employees of the LFV Group have been fired for porn surfing, and an eighth quit when it was discovered he was violating Sweden’s anti-child pornography laws.

LFV Group’s boss, Lars Rekke, told the TT news agency: “This is an awful story and I’m both shocked and disappointed.” Ironically, it was the unexplained slowdown in the agency’s computer network that prompted the check. Porn sites have a lot of imagery, and thus use up a lot of bandwidth.

During the check, LFV ran a detailed analysis of what kind of Internet traffic was running through the agency’s computer network thinking perhaps a virus was at work. What they discovered was a huge amount of traffic directed at pornographic websites, including at least one site featuring minors.

Rekke believes the eight employees weren’t organised in any way as a group effort. “They worked in different facilities throughout the country, from Lulea in the north and southwards. We’re talking about various islands of activity,” he said.

But after the investigation, it turns out the employees were using between 25 and 75 percent of their workday surfing Internet porn. Interestingly, it’s not always automatic termination if an employee is caught surfing porn while on the clock in Sweden. The rules depend entirely on the workplace, but LFV has clear rules against using the Internet to browse any offensive website; and all hardcore pornography qualifies in LFV’s book.