SafeSearch Filter on Internet Search Engines (PDF; 22 KB)

The Office of Inspector General (OIG) continues to receive monthly referrals from the Office of Information Technology (OIT) of employees who have used their SEC- assigned computers to access Internet pornography in violation of Commission rules and policies and notwithstanding the agency’s Internet filter. We have conducted investigations and inquiries into many of these referrals.

Several of the investigations and inquiries conducted by the OIG have revealed that SEC employees were able to access pornographic images by searching for images using Internet search engines such as Google and Yahoo and turning off the SafeSearch Filter feature. We understand from conversations with the OIT Security Group that technology is currently available that would enable OIT to prevent employees from turning off the SafeSearch Filter feature when searching for images on the Internet. In addition, as the OIT Security Group has acknowledged, new technology changes and tools may be developed to circumvent IT security policies that will require additional measures in the future.

We are recommending that the technology that will prevent employees from turning off the SafeSearch Filter be implemented expeditiously on a Commission-wide basis to further limit employees’ ability to access pornographic images from their Commission computers. We are also recommending that the OIT Security Group continue to monitor new developments in technology in order to restrict employees’ ability to circumvent the filters.

Source: U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, Office of Inspector General

This entry was posted on Saturday, January 3rd, 2009 and is filed under Access to Information, Censorship, Government Documents and Political Information, Search News, Technology and Internet, Web Search. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Responses are currently closed, but you can trackback from your own site.