| Buffalo School Board President Fights Pornography Allegations |
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A draft report of a state audit of Buffalo School System computers reportedly contains allegations that pornography was downloaded onto a laptop used by school board president Ralph Hernandez. The controversy is helping to underscore the perils of increased computer use by public officials in all aspects of their work. According to individuals with access to the draft audit report, the routine investigation by the office of New York comptroller Thomas P. DiNapoli found 15 Buffalo school computers with evidence of visits to pornographic Web sites or allegedly pornographic images. Hernandez firmly denies misusing the district's computer, although he did admit using it to run a tax preparation program for personal purposes. In a statement, he defended his use of the laptop: "I did not think it was a violation of the laptop acceptable use policy," Hernandez said, "and certainly did not by that occasional usage intend to violate the district’s IT policy. I apologize and pledge to adhere to the district’s acceptable policies when using my laptop." All nine Buffalo school board members have been issued laptops as part of an initiative to reduce the use of paper at Board meetings. The use of the laptops is governed by the district's acceptable use policy. In his statement, Hernandez said that the report indicates that the audit found evidence of visits to seven adult sites. There is currently no information regarding where the Web site evidence was found, or the names of the particular sites. The audit is scheduled to be released between Christmas and New Year's. |
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