From CNN:

“During the past five years, the SEC OIG (Office of Inspector General) substantiated that 33 SEC employees and or contractors violated Commission rules and policies, as well as the government-wide Standards of Ethical Conduct, by viewing pornographic, sexually explicit or sexually suggestive images using government computer resources and official time,” said a summary of the investigation by the inspector general’s office.

And then:

“This stunning report should make everyone question the wisdom of moving forward with plans to give regulators like the SEC even more widespread authority,” he said.

Non sequitur!

My friends in IT all tell me that employees surfing for porn during the workday is frighteningly common. The employees at the SEC who surfed for porn should be fired, but I’m not sure how this is even an interesting news story. The only difference is that the SEC caught these people, which I guess is notable for two reasons: most companies seem to not catch on that people do this until the IT staff has to clean up their computers, and also, it’s unusual that the SEC caught anybody doing anything.

That said, I’m not sure how you go from “33 employees in the SEC are pervy creeps” to “We can’t trust the SEC.” There may be other reasons not to trust the SEC, but my takeaway from this article is that the SEC should fire the people who look at porn at work, and that a tiny fraction of employees having surfed for porn at work is hardly news.

I really need to start my own news station. Although people in the Senate holding this up as reason to not allow the SEC more investigatory power may have made it news.