Act slams service’s porn response

Act has lashed out at the service that looks after parliamentary staff, saying it took months to protect its receptionist from a bombardment of email porn.

In its weekly newsletter it said the woman was getting 1000 "highly pornographic emails a week" last year until blocks were finally put in place. The receptionist, who doesn't want to be named, said it went on for eight months.

She told the Herald she started work in the Act office in January last year and began complaining soon after. There was no child pornography but much of the material involved bestiality.

"They were of animals and people, they were pretty gross."

She had several discussions with senior Parliamentary Service staff, but apart from suggesting she make a couple of minor changes, they told her there was little they could do, she claimed.

That included one manager who "thought it was a bit of a joke and that I was overreacting", she said.

Because her husband worked in computer technology, she knew she wasn't being given accurate information.

The woman had a split screen so she could scan emails without having to open them, which meant the images frequently appeared on her screen.

It was not until then Act leader Richard Prebble intervened that the service finally appeared to take notice, she said.

"I was just so p***ed off they didn't do anything about it and made light of it. We shouldn't have to see pictures like that at work."

She is angry she was "totally misled", as when extra filters were finally put on her email in August the traffic dropped overnight.

Parliamentary Service general manager Joel George said if Act had concerns it should make them to him in writing, rather than going to the media.

He would not comment on the claims the woman's concerns had not been taken seriously.

But he said spam emails had flooded several organisations last year and new filter systems had to be put in place.

With about 60,000 emails a day going through Parliament, this had been a big job. Political parties often had public email addresses that made them particularly vulnerable to spam, he said.

"Finally there's a certain reluctance to block email correspondence to members of Parliament because it's very easy to block legitimate correspondence."

Spam was still an issue and probably always would be, but people knew how to handle it better, Mr George said.

Act leader Rodney Hide said the problem was now fixed, but should have been dealt with more seriously and quickly.

The party had raised it to highlight just how widespread the problem had been and "how difficult it is to deal with. I mean here's Parliament struggling".

While the inquiry into police porn should continue, it should be put in perspective, Mr Hide said.