British parliament computers used to access porn

Computers in the British parliament were used by MPs and their staff to access pornographic websites 300,000 times over the past year, a media report said.

The total represents more than 820 sites a day, the Daily Mail reported citing data released by the Palace of Westminster IT bosses Tuesday in response to information request.

The figures also covers "attempts to access websites categorised as pornography".

However, officials said the figure is not a reflection of deliberate efforts to find sexual content as it included pop-ups as well.

According to the report, all the devices monitored were used by MPs and their staff between 2012 and 2013.

"This highlights the fact that many people working in parliament are spending far too much time on websites that have nothing to do with their job. The internet can be a useful tool for MPs and their staff when it comes to scrutinising government legislation," Matthew Sinclair, chief executive of the TaxPayers' Alliance told Daily Mail.

"However, taxpayers expect their MPs and those working in their offices to get on with their important jobs rather than spending time surfing questionable websites," Sinclair added.

A spokesperson of the House of Commons said the records did not prove that the users "intended" to access pornography, adding, the House of Commons would not put in rules that could restrict attempts to "carry out research".

"We do not consider the data to provide an accurate representation of the number of purposeful requests made by network users due to the ways in which websites can be designed to act, react and interact and due to the potential operation of third-party software," the spokesperson said.