Qantas defends online security amidst child pornography case

Mark Stephen Heers, 45, of NSW, pleaded guilty last Friday to three counts of accessing child pornography that he viewed at a Qantas airport lounge in Melbourne last September.

Heers was caught red-handed at a Qantas airport lounge when a fellow passenger witnessed him viewing illegal websites and notified Qantas staff who subsequently called the Australian Federal Police.

The prosecution in the case said Heers was able to view 76 pornographic files in a 40 minute period in the Qantas lounge, some of which contained images of children engaging in explicit acts as young as six.

Heers was convicted and sentenced to a 12-month community based order.

Qantas said despite the incident, it feels it provides more than adequate online security.

“We’ve had a range of stringent access restrictions in place, we’re always improving them,” said a Qantas spokesman who declined to supply his name.

“We’re continually monitoring them; the goalposts in this area are always changing, so we’re constantly enhancing our security measures.”

The spokesman would not comment on the specific security measures in place or what Qantas plans to do to prevent similar security problems from occurring in the future.