Campaign to "Save Dave," the poor banker caught looking at girlie pics on TV

Our guest blogger Kristie Lu Stout told me that a “Save Dave campaign has been set up in London for the hapless banker caught on TV looking at pics of Miranda Kerr."

The online campaign. The story from the Melbourne Age.

"Apparently, the dude is on leave this week," says Kristie.

Mark Frauenfelder is the founder of Boing Boing and the editor-in-chief of MAKE and Cool Tools. Twitter: @frauenfelder. Come and hear Mark speak at the ALA conference in Chicago on July 1.

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Gilgongo

This is beyond ridiculous, and makes me hate bankers even more than I did 5 minutes ago (and that’s saying something).

So here we have it. The unambiguous hypocrisy shiiiining through for what it is:

“Well, Mr Macquarie – you forced the closure of untold businesses large and small, wreaked the lives of millions, and helped bring the world’s economy to the brink of total collapse. So, we’re happy to award you a million dollar bonus this year for meeting your targets. Wait… ZOMG!!! What are you looking at on your computer screen!?? Lord save us! You’re really for the high-jump now!!”

Words fail me…. They really do.
Anonymous

I worked in ‘corporate America” for over 40 years.

I think I can truthfully say that if all those who play while in the workplace were fired, and all those who actually WORKED were rewarded more, it would not only be a better world, but we could get rid of a bunch of drones!

No wonder the economic situation is so bad in so many countries. No one wants to go to work and WORK any more, they just want to get a paycheck!

To me such people are totally useless and should be treated as such.
jwb

By the way, if you remove the last part of the URL from the link to the Age, the annoying video commercial won’t start all by itself.

HTH.
xzzy

Maybe if he still ends up getting fired, we can start another internet campaign to have Miranda Kerr visit him in person.
mweisman

lnk t Bng srch? Rlly? Hw mch s MS pyng y t pd thr trffc?
- jwb
  
  The Bing image search seems far superior to Google image search.
- dculberson
  
  Waaaaaah. Would you ask the same question if it was a link to a Google search? No? Then why with a Bing search? How much is Google paying you to astroturf for them?
- Mark Frauenfelder
  
  Bing image search is a million times better than Google’s.
  - Ito Kagehisa
    
    Well then, I’ll switch to it immediately since you endorse it, Mark.
- hisdevineshadow
  
  Can’t spell, huh.
Anonymous

little NSFW on the Miranda link woulda been nice
- Pantograph
  
  little NSFW on the Miranda link woulda been nice
  
  I would think that the Tale of Dave would shed plenty of light on the SFW-ness of Miranda Kerr pictures.
  - Lukezor
    
    @Pantograph – that made me rofl. And in my opinion, it should be compulsory for everyone to look at pictures of Miranda Kerr while at work.
scifijazznik

Campaign to “Save Dave,” the poor wanker caught looking at girlie pics on TV

Fixed headline.
DonBoy

Hey, I just realized that “Googling” someone can be reanalyzed as “Go ogling” someone. I demand a prize.
Anonymous

Save him? Why? He’s so self-involved that he is incapable of noticing that an interview is taking place directly behind him. If he can’t even act in his own best interests without making a fool of himself (i.e., not getting completely distracted by boobies at work) there is no reason whatsoever to think that he is capable of acting in clients’ best interests either, not without bungling things more often than others who aren’t as daft as he is. No, I’m guessing the real reason why people would rally around to “save” this guy is because the meatheads of the world get a twisted little thrill from standing up for someone who they think is just like them … maybe this guy should team up with Palin …
- DigglerOnline
  
  Newsflash. This is in Australia people, not “Corporate America!” And Anonymous #6 Get a life and a sence of humour while your at it.
  
  BTW Bing image search is much better than Google Image find.
Moriarty

I only link to Lycos searches.
sobreiro

I think that linking to anything but Ask Jeeves is selling out.
caipirina

There are so many things wrong with this story and how it is being spread … ‘girlie pics’? He is not looking at child porn, rather at semi clad images of a model who happily received money for it (I assume) …. there has no word from his side yet .. maybe he was researching an article?

And I don’t know the laws in AU, but when I worked in the US, filming employees without their knowledge was a big no no.

Of course, daddling on the internets on company time is a bad thing … but as the human brain functions, you just need to take a break from time to time, which might involve opening well meaning lolcats emails from friends as a diversion, and out comes a lady in a swimsuit ..

I always come back to the point, as long as someone i delivering the results he / she was hired for, they can fire up their brain with pretty much whatever they want. Pointing a cam at them … well … I think Dave might have an angle to sue the company …
- Gloria
  
  @8: “Girlie pics” doesn’t refer to child porn. It’s a slightly antique term (a few decades ago) to refer to sexy photos of ladies — pin-ups, etc. — and sometimes as a very euphemistic term for porn (which, of course, is defined varyingly depending on the time period).
- Gloria
  
  I’d also point out that news shows often have little reports like this supplied by other establishments, and many such places have office backgrounds just like this.
  
  The same employees have probably been filmed in this same way dozens of times and I’m guessing since it’s a fairly routine and incredibly public thing, they probably *have* signed some of kind of release/waiver.
Anonymous

Looks like Dave has been successfully saved! http://news.hereisthecity.com/news/business_news/9913.cntns
Pantograph

UPDATE: Apparently Dave is safe, with some help from Miranda.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2010/feb/05/bank-trader-job-saved-photos
SamSam

The website, called Here Is The City, is calling on readers to email Macquarie Group headquarters in Sydney with the words “Don’t fire David Kiely” as the subject title.

The website has provided the email address of Macquarie’s media team, mediaquery@macquarie.com.

I sent an email. I like the idea of their email inbox being filled with thousands upon thousands of these.
Anonymous

#23> I think you have it backwards. The people that are working hard for “corporate america” and not playing are the ones that are actually the drones.
bodenski

The article hints that it might have been a joke and that the suspect might have only been opening email attachments. I could imagine someone thinking it a fine joke and the dupe opening (1 or 2) files with fake names such as 2009australian_earning. Zoomed, frame by frame analysis may tell if it is an email program that he goes back to between pictures.

Either way, look for this to become the new rickroll.
Anonymous

It’s really unfortunate that this is news at all.

Why a guy should have to worry about being strung up for looking at totally legal, non-nude images during a break is beyond me.

I hope someday that the cultural bias and taboos against sex are removed and placed somewhere they belong – like violence (wouldn’t that be nice).

~I
dculberson

I forgot to mention:

I didn’t know that Victor Garber did PR work for banks! I guess Alias ending really put a crimp in things.

And just to annoy the payola whiners:

http://www.bing.com/images/search?q=victor+garber
musicman

Actually, I’m not sure that he needs saving – while I feel bad for the guy, I have to agree with this take on it.

Oh, and Mark is right about bing image search – google’s is shite.
- Anonymous
  
  @ #26
  
  thoroughly enjoyed the article. at first i thought, one leering coworker doesn’t seem all that bad. but, having to pass by a whole row of them at work—a place i already despise—would be awfully unpleasant
Anonymous

If he gets fired I would believe that he was lucky, BECAUSE he got such an idiot Boss who doesn’t understand anything. If that was an unforgivable mistake so why CNN shows these images once again and with better quality on TV ???
here is the link( http://www.cnn.com/video/#/video/offbeat/2010/02/04/moos.save.dave.cnn?hpt=C2)
Anonymous

Wow. I’m with Musicman: tough break, but sexism in the workplace has got to go.

When I’m at work, I want to feel like I’m respected. I don’t want to talk to a colleague and wonder if he considers me in the same way as some naked woman on his screen saver.

Gentlemen, let this be a lesson to you. If you don’t know how to act like professional at the office: quit your job, work from home, and look at whatever you want. But please please please don’t subject me to your fantasies in (what ought to be) a neutral environment.
- Pantograph
  
  I don’t see what’s sexist about looking at pictures of beautiful half-naked women. I do it. As I’m typing this, the girl I work with is looking at pictures of half-naked male models.
  
  Then again, working in a photo lab we see plenty of stuff that is deemed NSFW in other places, so perhaps we’re not normal that way.