So, if this guy’s suit succeeds then they’ll have to provide him with a handicapped sticker for his PC which gives him access to porn sites?
IBM Worker Says He Was Fired For Chat Room Addiction
A Vietnam veteran who worked at an IBM research facility in East Fishkill, N.Y., claims he was wrongfully terminated by the computer maker for having an addiction to Internet chat rooms, according to a lawsuit filed by the vet.
In his legal action against IBM, James Pacenza admits that he spent time in chat rooms during work hours, but claims his behavior is the result of an addiction and that IBM should have offered him counseling instead of firing him. Employees “with much more severe psychological problems, in the form of drug or alcohol problems … are allowed treatment programs” at IBM, Pacenza argues in his lawsuit.
In a study released last month, the Stanford University School of Medicine found that one in eight Americans exhibited signs of possible Internet addiction. Dr. Elias Aboujaoude, the study’s lead author, said in a statement, “We need to consider the fact that [the Internet] creates real problems for a subset of people.”
The flaw in the core of this problem and those like it is the tendency for modern psychiatric medicine to define a condition as a candidate for treatment in the event the individual considers the condition to significantly impair their ability to function in day to day life.
Granted, “internet addiction” is arguably one of the lamest syndromes ever invented, and worse, the inability to make even basic, semi-objective determinations about an individual’s capacity to attend the “activities of daily living” and conditions that have concrete, debilitating effects on it make such conditions that much harder to treat. More so, the slackers and fakes make it difficult to make any real headway with the flat earthers.
I’d have to offer a mea culpa on this one, regardless. This is an example of why I hate weekend hippies and college liberals.
On a lighter note, I know a mac user who does computing security for a major defense contractor and their counterparts in the military whose pulled pr0n patrol and been tasked with identifying users who visit restricted sites and logging their activity. One in particular stood out since, by means of some sophisticated hackery I never did learn the MO for, they averaged out as connecting to a new pr0n site once every ten seconds. Given that pr0n’s only 1% of the internets in the first place, the mind fairly boggles. On a more serious note, however, it’s kind of remarkable how many people actually log significant time on porn sites at work.
The REAL problem is that you can’t fire someone for having a destructive addiction. If you give someone a chance that you know is prone to any destructive addiction you open yourself up to this liability.
What a dork. (And I write this while at work). OFTLO this is your wake up call.
#3 – HEY! Leave me alone. I’m looking at pr0n!
Yeah, doesnt this blog have, like an editor to check for typos………
#5…Mark…..geeeesh…this isn’t the friggin Washington Post.
#5: Typos in the reader’s comments?
7. I’m looking up pr0n in Wiki……..
It’s killing me to say this, but I think the guy has a valid complaint. What’s defined as an addiction is definitely a fluid concept, and the psychiatric profession has one of the worst records of any science at determining what’s a (valid) disorder and what is not.
That being said, eventually addiction will determined by brain chemistry and other physical characteristics and will be treated as such. As someone who once had almost debilitating Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD), I know first hand that one need not be a substance abuser to show addictive type behavior.
9. Nah.I think he just wanted to surf porn at work. Even if he had OCD, I really dont see that IBM would be required to pay for treatment. Unless its job related stress disorder, working for those stiffs, maybe.
#8: Using pr0n in the title instead of “porn” helps keep our site from being knocked off by the nanny filters. It’s also the oh, so cool way to spell it!
11. Nice way to cover your ass Uncle Dave. Youve earned my respect.
#12
The word “pr0n” has been used for a long time.