WASTE.COM; PUBLIC EMPLOYEES USING INTERNET FOR SEX, DRUGS AND ROCK 'N' ROLL

Taxpayer-funded Internet accounts - which are supposed to make public
servants more productive - are being abused in government offices and
schools throughout the state.

Scalping sports tickets. Buying erotic Japanese comics. Exchanging
drug-making tips. Soliciting sex from gay teenagers.

Those are some of the improper, or illegal, ways Internet accounts are being
used in government offices and schools, a Herald review has found.

"Women Of Wrestling could be up by tonight! If you don't know WOW is a Free
Nude women of wrestling page," said one message from a state Department of
Education Net account.

In the past year 402 e-mail messages were posted from that MassEd.Net
account to promote a sex-and-wrestling Web site.

Many agencies have acceptable use policies. But often they are poorly
enforced, allowing conduct such as:

At state Auditor Joseph DeNucci's Springfield office, an office manager
hawked high-priced sports and rock tickets - a possible violation of
scalping laws in an agency charged with keeping government honest.

At New Bedford High School an Internet user posted drug-making and
drug-buying advice on LSD and other hallucinogens.

At Boston Mayor Thomas M. Menino's office, one aide gave advice on "pen
pistols" and other easily-concealed firearms.

At Secretary of State William F. Galvin's office, an Internet user gabbed on
the job in 324 messages about "The Simpsons" and other TV shows.

These Internet messages were posted to public newsgroups - the equivalent of
a worldwide bulletin board - and preserved in archives.

The messages are easily retrieved with the search engine Deja.com. Often
they are time-stamped, showing they were written during working hours.

"There's a human tendency to abuse this technology, and it's important to
get a handle on it by enforcing acceptable use policies," said Sam Tyler of
the Boston Municipal Research Bureau.

Numerous public servants went beyond cyber-slacking to engage in highly
questionable, or possibly illegal, Internet conduct.

In 22 posted messages, the auditor's aide resold - at a high markup -
tickets for UMass basketball games, U.S. Open tennis matches, and Elton John
and Rolling Stones concerts.

"$600 or best offer for the pair. Will FEDEX to you - Email Reply if
interested," the DeNucci aide, John E. Quinn, said in a message using a
state Internet account to sell NCAA Final Four tickets.

Quinn also sent other messages using a University of Massachusetts at
Amherst employee account.

"The tree you're barking up could be very harmful to me and my livelihood,"
said Quinn, contacted at his Springfield office. An auditor's office
spokesman said the allegations would be investigated.

At Boston City Hall, employee Matthew Donovan denied he used his city
account to chat about guns. But mayoral spokeswoman Robin Bavaro said
Donovan had previously been caught misusing the Internet and was suspended for
three weeks without pay last year.

Donovan's August 1997 messages discuss grenade launchers and MAC- Stinger
"pen pistols" - easily-concealed .22 caliber firearms that look like writing
pens.

"Inappropriate use of the Internet will not be tolerated," Bavaro said.

A Secretary of State Internet account issued to Carolyn M. Crapo was used
during working hours to post 324 Internet messages about TV shows.

"I admit there's a few odd things that could make one question Abe's
sexuality," said one message to alt.tv.simpsons, discussing whether Homer
Simpson's father is gay.

Crapo's supervisor, Kevin Thibault, said lack of supervision allowed
violations of Secretary of State office rules.

Another state computer account, at the state Department of Public Works, was
used to buy and sell erotic Japanese cartoons known as anime, including a
cartoon series called "Rapeman," which glorifies rape.

Employees offered for sale dozens of items, including a $125 piano accordion
and a $400 Beanie Baby. Others advertised for roommates and vacation advice.

The Herald review showed workers at Boston and Lexington public schools, the
Boston Public Library, Andover and Shrewsbury town halls, the state Senate
and the state Social Services and Administration and Finance departments
also diverted themselves on the Internet.

An account assigned to Stephen Sossaman, a Westfield State College English
professor, was used to help organize protests by nudists angered by attempts
to keep the Holocaust movie "Schindler's List" - which included nudity - off
broadcast TV.

Sossaman, in an interview, said he did not consider the e-mail to be a
political protest. And he said the movie was within his field of academic
expertise, popular culture.

Another Education Department Internet account solicited casual sex with gay
teenagers, in a message titled "looking for a little action" sent to the
Internet newsgroup alt.teens.gay.

"If you live in WMASS or Northern CT and want to have fun send me an e-mail.
NO RELATIONSHIPS!!!!!!!," said a May 1998 Education Department message.

The state's Internet program ushers in the information age for 22,000
teachers at a cost of $1.3 million a year.

The nude Women of Wrestling Web site was being promoted by a Department of
Education account issued to two schoolteachers at a school in the Worcester
suburb of Oxford.

But the real culprits were their two sons, 14 and 16. "I started the site
because I'm really into wrestling. We put the nude pictures on because
that's what guys want to see," the 14-year-old said in a telephone interview.

"The e-mail account belongs to my parents. They use it sometimes for teacher
stuff," explained the boy.

Recently the Web page had advertisements for Visa credit cards and Swiss
Army knives. And a Web counter showed it attracted more than 91,000 visitors.

Tomorrow: Lovelorn Bay State inmates seek mates on Net.