Informa turfs out porn surfers

Publishing group Informa is to join the ranks of companies sacking staff who look at unsavoury material on the Web. Chiefs at clean-living Informa will tonight sack and discipline a number of staff for surfing for porn on the Web while at work. "We expect dismissal letters to be issued this evening," confirmed Keith Brownlie, HR director at Informa. Brownlie was unable to confirm numbers, but said suggestions of five firings and 10 disciplines were "not wide of the mark". The unfortunate bunch, who are currently suspended, is believed to include at least one senior member of staff. "We're taking a harder view on management…This will not be tolerated, whether they are management or not," added Brownlie. "We are taking quite a lead here because we take it very seriously." The company, responsible for publishing respected shipping bible Lloyd's List, refused to reveal the exact nature of the filth which had been whizzing round its email system. Last week Zurich Financial Services revealed it had sacked seven staff from its Swindon office found with "disturbing material" on their computers. According to the Black Box Network Industry survey, around eight million hours are lost every year by staff surfing the Net when they should be working.® Related stories Zurich sacks seven for 'disturbing' emails Smutty emailers sacked at New York Times Student spams sex email by mistake Sex addicts rule online