Ford's porno furore fans flames of discontent

One story this week has sparked furious debate - Ford's ultimatum which gives staff two weeks to remove all porn from their work networks and hard drives or face the severest of disciplinary measures (http://www.silicon.com/a51802 ).

It's not hard to see other large companies following suit and many of you applauded Ford's stance. However, others weren't so impressed. Getting sacked for looking at a few nudey pics seemed a step too far for many readers - and many seemed a little too concerned for their interest to be purely hypothetical - but who are we to judge, here is what you lot had to say:

Can't we just be discreet?
In this day and age there is no point trying to stop people viewing what they want to view. Ask if people would please be discrete."

What will we be able to keep?
By Alex Clay
"Who decides what is acceptable and what not. I think we would all agree that hardcore is out of order but what about a Kylie calendar or a copy of the Sun will these people also be sacked - just because it comes from the internet don't make it bad."

Does it say 'surf porn' in your job description?
By Louise Yanik
"To dictate what we are allowed or not by employers is unfortunately for society, a fact of life. The simple reason is that they pay you to do a job which is usually explained to you on your first day by way of a job spec. I am certain that this does not include `surfing porn` and this would obviously be seen as taking the pith!!!..We are all guilty of sending silly e-mails and maybe if there were spot checks conducted we may reduce the level of these mails going out unnecessarily- saving the company time and money."

It's the world gone mad!
By Robert Sims
"This joyless organisation has a vested interest in crawling up the EU's backside - but they are making a serious mistake and under estimate the backlash and long term consequences of collaborating with them in their Marxist police state censorship."

What counts as pornographic?
By Geoffrey Darnton
"Do we yet have reasonable operational definitions of pornographic, sexist, or racist material? Or are we dependent on arbitrary individual prejudices about this, effected in a fashionable climate of political correctness?"

Great Approach
By Marie Griffiths
Ford are definitely doing the responsible thing. To actually give their workers a chance to get rid of any offensive material is most lenient. Most companies would fire you on the spot for having any indecent material on your PC.

Brilliant idea
"I totally agree with Ford's approach - they'd only get sued by someone for allowing that material to remain within their IT network if they didn't insist on its removal."

Savings all round
By Jamie Slee
"If people want to look at pornography and other such material they can do it in their own time. Sounds like a good idea by Ford. It will save time, disk space and possible litigation."

It's just the way it is, change is a dangerous thing
"While most people agree that work computers should be used appropriately there has to be a margin of appreciation. If, as is far from uncommon in manufacturing industry, there is a culture of smutty jokes and pinup calendars it would be legally very questionable to attempt to impose a higher standard when similar material is on a computer."