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Forced to watch child porn for their job, Microsoft employees developed PTSD
http://www.mcclatchydc.com/news/nation-world/national/article125953194.html ^ | January 11, 2017 | Greg Hadley

Posted on 01/11/2017 5:47:03 PM PST by LouieFisk

Unsurprisingly, having to watch upsetting content like that every day takes a toll on moderators.

(Excerpt) Read more at mcclatchydc.com ...


TOPICS: Crime/Corruption; Culture/Society; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: employees; microsoft; ptsd; sue
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Full story at link (can't post more than 100 words from McClatchyDC).
1 posted on 01/11/2017 5:47:03 PM PST by LouieFisk
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To: LouieFisk

How can an employer force you to do something so repulsive and illegal?


2 posted on 01/11/2017 5:51:30 PM PST by BipolarBob (I thought money was burning a hole in my pocket but it was just my Samsung Galaxy 7.)
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To: LouieFisk

What??? This sounds like some torture in a POW camp. We definitely need to know why this was going on.


3 posted on 01/11/2017 5:54:25 PM PST by txrefugee
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To: BipolarBob

Someone has to do it and these guys were always free to quit if they couldn’t. Even on FR, we had incidents of childporn.

Only other option is to expand government and have law enforcement embedded in every internet company as moderators. And you know where that leads...

Even hardened officers that work on these cases get seriously messed up


4 posted on 01/11/2017 5:59:00 PM PST by varyouga
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To: txrefugee

“We definitely need to know why this was going on.”
==
Basically, their job is to pick out any illegal stuff and report it. To do that they have to sort stuff out and look at it.
I’m thinking they should have just quite instead of suing the company.


5 posted on 01/11/2017 5:59:05 PM PST by LouieFisk
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To: txrefugee

Seemingly they were assigned to some team that monitors the web for that sort of horror in order to report it to law enforcement. I guess they had to view stuff to ascertain whether or not it was porn/murder/abuse, etc, and they were assigned to the team without input and not allowed to transfer off for at least 18 months.


6 posted on 01/11/2017 6:00:28 PM PST by Wyrd bið ful aræd (Flag burners can go screw -- I'm mighty PROUD of that ragged old flag)
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To: LouieFisk

Seems like an easy fix instead of making employees wait to transfer for 18 months, limit their exposure to four to six months with a maximum amount of viewing per day....

It’s a job that has to be done, you should not have to expose yourself to toxic amounts of viewing horrific images...


7 posted on 01/11/2017 6:02:28 PM PST by Popman
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To: Popman
Seems like an easy fix...

It's not always an easy fix. I was supposed to work on a project with that stuff. I refused. There was no way I wanted to see that stuff. It didn't help my career with that company at that time but there was no alternative.

8 posted on 01/11/2017 6:07:15 PM PST by ladyjane
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To: ladyjane

I understand, on the flip side....I would be concerned if I as a manager i had personnel volunteer for the job....

That would be a major red flag...


9 posted on 01/11/2017 6:14:32 PM PST by Popman
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To: Popman

Yup, making the rotation time shorter would likely help a lot. I think it would be also wise in that the risk of getting numb/desensitized to the garbage doesn’t help either the job or the person doing it.


10 posted on 01/11/2017 6:15:19 PM PST by LouieFisk
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To: varyouga
I have worked child porn cases and fortunately haven't had to see any of the evidence. The case agents have regular meetings with a shrink to assess mental state. I knew a woman that worked those cases for years. I've seen seemingly tough guys not last six months.

I worked a case on a pedophile priest and I asked the case agent how he dealt with that. He said his rationalization was that most of his cases (federal) were looking at a minimum of 20 years. The priest was in his sixties. The day he was arrested was the last day he will spend outside of prison.

11 posted on 01/11/2017 6:18:06 PM PST by USNBandit (Sarcasm engaged at all times)
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To: Popman

I know a detective in our police department who was assigned to this duty. He could only handle about a month of it. I can’t imagine watching a minute of it.

The feds do not like this crime and they take it very seriously. Perverts who get nailed for child porn in Federal Court do not get a slap on the wrist.


12 posted on 01/11/2017 6:25:33 PM PST by henkster
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To: LouieFisk

I’d rather work in a literal sewer than do their job. Involuntarily assignment is coercion and I would suggest even cruel and inhumane working conditions. When you’re hire for a job, that’s the job you do. If they were hired on specifically for this, then I don’t have near as much sympathy.

Either way, PTSD is very real, and no normal person could stand being repeatedly exposed to such vile filth. We don’t even expect our soldiers to spend 18 months in constant combat. Microsoft has shown gross disregard for these employees.


13 posted on 01/11/2017 6:47:00 PM PST by antidisestablishment ( We few, we happy few, we basket of deplorables">)
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To: LouieFisk

I’m surprised The Evil Empire doesn’t do a prison work outreach project to hire convicted pedophiles to look for kiddie porn...


14 posted on 01/11/2017 6:54:27 PM PST by null and void (Roses are red, soylent is green. Get to the shelter, it's 2017)
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To: LouieFisk

‘Forced’??? Somehow I highly doubt it.


15 posted on 01/11/2017 7:10:53 PM PST by RushIsMyTeddyBear (****happy dance**** BIGLY!!!!)
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To: LouieFisk
Exposure to traumatic material is a common event among trauma therapists. They are at risk for "secondary traumatization." The best preventives are 1) a solid personal emotional support system, i.e. Friends and family. The second is to have an agency-provided scheduled, expected debriefing service. Probability is, these Employees wouldn't have either readily available.
16 posted on 01/11/2017 7:37:01 PM PST by hinckley buzzard
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To: LouieFisk

The depths of hell. Luke 17:2. “It would be better for them to be thrown into the sea with a millstone tied around their neck.” The innocent Microsoft workers were not prepared to examine the garbage from hell and then developed real-life traumatic disorder and then got their request for worker’s comp denied. Perhaps the workers felt trapped, wanted to prevent others from doing the examining, and did not know how to verbalize traumatic disorders. Poor nerds. They need Microsoft to fund two years on at a beach house with weekly therapy and Bible study. EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing) is the trick that fixes traumatic disorders.


17 posted on 01/11/2017 8:08:07 PM PST by Falconspeed ("Keep your fears to yourself, but share your courage with others." Robert Louis Stevenson (1850-94))
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To: ladyjane

I don’t blame you. I couldn’t do it either. Not with children as victims. It would be hard enough with adults and I’d definitely have to limit exposure. I would break down right away if it were children, though.

This would be a way to employ AI to screen contents and save humans having to view it. Of course, I realize exactly the slippery slope I am suggesting so...maybe not.


18 posted on 01/11/2017 8:18:41 PM PST by mom of young patriots
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To: LouieFisk
I think that there are several groups that need to watch this and other 'difficult' videos.

The police just before they execute a warrant for the arrest of the perpetrators so they are prepared to do what should be done if necessary.

The defense attorney so he/she can see exactly what type of animal they are defending.

The jury before they render the verdict to ensure that justice is done.

The judge before he issues sentence to make sure the law is followed to the maximum.

19 posted on 01/11/2017 8:38:55 PM PST by 11Bush
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To: henkster
Perverts who get nailed for child porn in Federal Court do not get a slap on the wrist.

John Podesta and his group of alleged pedophiles are hoping all of those Pizza emails don't mean PIZZAGATE is going to put them into court in front of a judge.

20 posted on 01/11/2017 9:05:19 PM PST by politicianslie (What would a terrorist do if he were made POTUS? : Exactly what Hussein Obama is doing)
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