Employer Held to Have Duty to Report Employee’s use of Company Computer to Transmit and Access Computer to Transmit and Access Child Pornography

A New Jersey Court of Appeals has held that an employer who knows that an employee is using the employer’s computer to access and transmit child pornography has a duty to report that knowledge to relevant authorities, and may be liable to the child for its failure to report the employee’s activities. In this particular case, the employer had been informed, and had determined through an internal investigation, that the employee had accessed pornographic site, including those that could reasonably be determined to contain child pornography based simply on the url of the site. This case is important to Internet infrastructure providers for two reasons. First it reinforces the need for you to create, implement and enforce your child pornography policies. These policies should include features designed to ensure that your employees do not gain access to child pornographic material reported to you. The second, is to take allegations of improper employee behavior seriously, and take action on internal investigations. Opinion