Bill bans federal employees from watching porn at work

Federal employees would be legally prohibited from watching porn or explicit material on government computers or devices, under legislation introduced Feb. 11.

The Eliminating Pornography From Agencies Act, introduced by Rep. Mark Meadows, R-N.C., is in response to reports of federal employees watching porn while at work. In one high-profile case, an Environmental Protection Agency employee watched up to six hours of porn a day and downloaded about 7,000 files to his work computer.

The EPA still has not fired the employee, according to Meadows. He said while there are rules in place at most agencies that ban watching porn it continues to happen.

"It's appalling that it requires an act of Congress to ensure that federal agencies block access to these sites," Meadows said. "There is absolutely no excuse for federal employees to be viewing and downloading pornographic materials on the taxpayers' dime."

He said downloading porn also carries a risk of viruses and malware, posing a cybersecurity threat to federal agencies.

"This commonsense legislation ensures that federal workers have a comfortable, safe work environment and protects taxpayer resources from being misused," Meadows said.