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Tom Watson, the Labour MP for West Bromwich East, left his Twitter account logged in and in the hands of his 21-year-old intern when he buggered off for a meeting. Unfortunately the intern lacked any sense and decided to have a little fun at Watson’s expense. Of course that backfired.
She posted:
“I should log out of my twitter so that my intern doesn’t twit-rape me …”
Rape and MPs is a bit of a touchy subject right now, and although it might have been funny in the eyes of the frapping teens, the MP’s 65,000 followers didn’t all see the funny side of it.
15 minutes later the intern recognised her foolish mistake and attempted to back pedal with:
“My boss is in a meeting, i’ve made a terrible mistake, im very sorry everyone, it wasn’t meant to be offensive! logging him off now! sorry!”
But the damage was done – hundreds of retweets of her first post meant that there was no way to cover it up. Finally, Watson got out of his meeting and ended the saga with:
“I sincerely apologise for the recent tweet. A lesson learned for a young intern. She’s also very sorry. I will deal with the matter offline.”
Ouch. Sounds like someone got fired. Then again it could have been a lot worse.
What’s the moral of the story? Interns can’t be trusted with your Twitter account. And if you’re an MP, for heaven’s sake don’t leave your social media accounts logged in when you’re not there. [The Telegraph]
Image credit: Woman from Shutterstock
I’m of this generation where using Fraping and even Twit-Raping are common terms, personally can’t stand either. Dunno where the idea of using rape as a term of pissing about on someones account, but god I wish it goes away.
She wasn’t fired.
Teacup storm.
Forget the intern, why isn’t the MP being reprimanded for leaving a computer unsecured? let alone logged into anything there.
And they wonder why people get antsy about the data the gov hold on everyone…
I think it is because the computer is kept in a secure part of a secure building – you can’t just wander around the offices of MPs. In fact you can’t even go around the houses of parliament without a guide, so there is little to no chance of the data being breached unless it is from someone already in the offices, and therefore it is the responsibility of the MP and his office staff (intern included) to ensure the security of the informtion in the office, including the computer.
I used to work for a medical software company – we could access 55% of the UK’s GP medical records (because approx. 55% of the UK GP’s used the software)
Very secure building – and very strict access
It was still company policy that you lock your computer when away from keyboard…and they got really mad if you forgot
Just because it’s in a secure room/building – doesn’t mean you should leave it logged in or unlocked…that’s bad security!
I agree, the place I used to work, you had to a pass to get on-site and then you needed a keycard into the office which only held maybe 40 people.
I’m not saying he was correct, just that he may have thought it would’ve been safe in his office with only his staff around. Doesn’t mean it isn’t stupid, just that you don’t expect the 3-4 people who work for you to use your account even if you don’t log-out.
I dunno about you but i always make a point of locking my PC when I leave my desk, the fact that you need to go through 4 coded doors to get to my PC and only 8 people can get past the final door.
Wow why would anyone think that’s a good idea? Playing a “prank” on a future boss who also happens to be an MP?