Carry on travelling, with online guidance

I was alarmed to read that the chief executive of the Bank of Ireland had to resign after inadvertently stumbling on to a pornography site while looking up Las Vegas escorts, so I've sent the good man a letter offering some, admittedly belated, advice...

Dear Michael Soden,

I was sorry to hear about the unfortunate chain of events that led to your recent resignation, and wanted to offer the benefit of my experience and some suggestions for how you might avoid similar misunderstandings in future.

You see, a similar thing once happened to me. While innocently browsing the aisles of my local supermarket, I turned a corner and found myself in a marital aids expo. Within seconds I accidentally had my arms stuffed with prongs, probes and prosthetics, and I have no idea who could have taken that photo and sent it to my mum.

I would have been considerably red-faced if I hadn't had a good explanation, I can tell you.

Anyway, if you had asked me how to find out more about the delights of Las Vegas, I would have recommended that you take a look at an online travel guide.

I'm looking at one now, and it's pretty informative. For example, do you know that you can gamble in Las Vegas? And as for escorts... well it seems prostitution is practically rammed down the tourist's throat, and vice versa... In fact the only way to avoid it is by exercising a little self control, or respect.

Of course, before I travel anywhere I tend to check out the feedback forums available online. Personally, I won't even plan to stay at a friend's house without first finding out whether there are proper facilities, and if it is indeed just "five minutes from the pub".

Although you did the decent thing by resigning, no one should blame you completely. The roads to online pornography stores are paved with slick conveyor belts, and anyone can find themselves stepping behind a virtual beaded curtain if they do not pay attention to where they are heading.

Because of this it is important that companies provide their employees with guidelines for online usage and, if applicable, they should also recommend the best routes to find pertinent work-related material.

Should guidance of this nature be provided it is unlikely that any member of staff would find themselves caught with their trousers round their ankles, if you will pardon the expression.

It is worth remembering that although a lot of what you do on the internet is theoretically anonymous, someone somewhere could probably find out precisely what you are up to if they wanted to - so any misbehaviour might place you and your organisation in a dangerous position.

And then there are the dangers posed by viruses, which are probably a particular hazard given your area of interest. Never mind what that kind of exposure can do to your own good name, and the reputation of your firm.

There is an old gag that on the internet no one knows that you are a dog, but that's not always the case. It's important to remember that the web cam will hum to life just when you least expect it, as my mum pointed out following the unfortunate incident in the shop.

Best,

David Neal