Anti-spam watchdog investigates itself

A federal anti-spam watchdog in Australia is investigating its own workers over the distribution of pornographic and racist emails.

The Australian Communications Authority ordered the investigation following staff complaints over sexually explicit emails. The workers responsible said that they received the emails from office colleagues.

Consultants investigating the claims identified 78 offensive emails.

Last month the agency was empowered under Australian laws to investigate spammers.

Experts believe that spam makes up over half of the emails around the world.