Many people object vigorously to the content of pornographic, violent, and hate spam. Many porn spam messages contain explicit words in their subject lines and graphic photos in their contents. Just imagine them showing up on somebody’s screen in the average cube farm — even once. And how about more than once?
Let’s face it: Repeated exposure to this material is bound to offend, embarrass, and anger some employees to the point that they complain — especially if the organization is doing too little to block spam. Especially offended employees (all it takes is one) may resort to the civil legal system for relief, on the grounds that they should not have to be frequently subjected to material they find offensive (you may recall the story line behind the famous phrase, “I’m mad as hell, and I’m not going to take it any more!”).
An organization that doesn’t do enough to stop spam may find itself as a defendant in a lawsuit, on the grounds that the workplace has become a place of hostility or harassment. (I can picture the cross-examination now: “Mr. Thompson, as IT Director, isn’t it true that your department did nothing to stop the pornographic spam that was arriving in Ms. Winter’s inbox every day?”) Personally, I would never want to face this kind of a cross-examination.
