Bloggers Beware
Published March 22, 2005
Blogs may have one time been a way of getting your thoughts out to a public, publishing without the penalty of slander/libel laws, agents or angst-filled nights.
Something between a diary and a chat with friends, a blog could reveal your private thoughts in a semi-public arena. You could rant and rave and spout off about just about anything and like a diary, you wouldn't expect any repercussions.
Yet blogs and the Internet have gotten legit and are no longer a wild wilderness with few laws or boundaries. What you write during your off work hours can affect your working reality. You can get fired.
According to AP Internet writer Anick Jesdanun, blogs aren't private off-hours activities any more. People get fired for their missteps in blogging. Jesdanun reported that flight attendant Ellen Simonetti was fired for a suggestive photo of herself in uniform. Mark Jen lost his job at Google for speculating about his employer's financial situation.
Commenting about work probably is off-limit for bloggers who want to hold on to their jobs. But does your company have a blog policy?
Most people already know that it's against company policy to surf the Net for porn sites at work unless that's part of your job and some people do get paid to do just that. Most people probably know it's against company policy to forward jokes that wouldn't be considered PC such as racist or sexist jokes and photos at work.
Yet what are the rules for blogs, something that only 7 percent of American adults admit to doing? According to the Pew Internet and American Life Project that's 8 million people in the U.S. Of the 120 million adults who use the Internet, 27 percent say they read blogs, that's a 58 percent increase in one year or 32 million Americans as of the end of 2004.
That may seem like a phenomenal number, but the majority of Internet users do not know what a blog is and what blog means. Do you think legislators are ready to regulate what most people don't know or understand? And are you willing to risk losing your job because of it? Should you lose your job because of something you say or do when you are not on company time?
You don't have to be providing company secrets, trashing the managers or making soft porn in your company's uniform to get fired. Simonetti posted photos of herself in uniform in a company plane with her bra partly exposed according to the AP story. But another person lost his job over "experimental short stories."
Think before you write and publish because some day your boss might catch up with your blog activities. A few companies do have policies according to the AP report and some are forced to form them, but do you really want to be the catalyst for a policy while you're looking for a new job?
- Bloggers Beware
- Published: March 22, 2005
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- Section: Sci/Tech
- Filed Under: Sci/Tech: Internet, Culture: Media
- Writer: Purple Tigress
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Comments on this articleComments
Obvious but:
and don't use your PC at work to blog on..! Duhhhhhhhhhhh
Who is the person that lost his job over the experimental short stories? I'm curious to know what was so offensive about them that they caused him to get fired. I don't see how a company has a legal leg to stand on for firing someone for doing something that has absolutely nothing to do with his workplace, unless he used clear and specific examples of events and people in his workplace.
If you want to see the article I read, click the link to Anick Jesdanun. According to the article: In 1997, blogging pioneer Cameron Barrett lost a job at a small marketing firm in Michigan after co-workers stumbled upon "experimental" short stories from his creative writing class on his site. Now, he's much more cautious, and he suspended his blog while campaigning for Wesley Clark during the Democratic presidential primaries.
I'm also interested to find out what was so bad about these experimental short stories. Perhaps they were counter to company image?
You can read the NY Times account.
You can also visit the person's Website, CamWorld. Check out the disclaimer in the left margin.
Writing under a pseudonym isn't always possible. Sometimes you are pressured not to use a pseudonym and as I pointed out in terms of erotica, not everyone can separate fictional characters and the author. In his case, I think it was the sex and violence (two major selling points in movies and fiction) that did it, but I haven't read his stories.
Of course, as a journalist, you're not supposed to use a pseudonym and as bloggers we are in this vague world between reality, news, fiction and non-fiction.
As for the ACLU and freedom of speech angle, I think if you are a contractor, vendor or contingency worker (temp), your employer doesn't have to give a reason to fire you.
Let us not forget that there are jobs not worth keeping and some people might use a blog as a good way to get themselves on a better path. I worked for the State of New York Office of Mental Hygiene for over 8 years. Finally I quit and became a photographer. A nasty (what else?) blog about the "System" might have tempted me to cut short the hell of working in Kafka's nightmares. Blog on.
But that should be your choice not theirs. Although your point may be that in a subconcious effort to get fired, people may take such risks?
Glad you went on to a better job.
If one was dumb enough to blog at work, one should be caught.
These people weren't blogging at work. They had comments in their blog about work or photos that somehow linked them to their company.
The question becomes how much right does your company have to govern your off-work activities?
I generally think that if you write under your own name and you don't want your blog [or other writing] to impact your job, then you should be careful when writing about topics that you wouldn't normally discuss in the workplace.
My personal approach is that I might discuss non-work topics and opinions with some coworkers after getting to know them well and developing a friendship, but I wouldn't share those thoughts with *all* my coworkers. Writing under your own name essentially broadcasts to everyone, so I don't do that.
I skimmed one of the aforementioned writer's short stories. I saw a little male sexual fantasy and a little violence [people started exploding, literally, in a supermarket]. Nothing in it bothered me. But maybe the women he worked with became concerned about his sexual imagination and whether or not he was turning it off at work. Who knows?
I would have to say that in the US, people's imaginations get them in trouble way too much. We're not allowed to be creative and express ideas not considered "appropriate" or "in the mainstream." Kids who write short stories about a high school being taken over by zombies are being charged with felonies, for chrissakes.
It sucks, but it's reality. You just don't know how the people you work with are going to interpret your fiction/political opinion/whatever, and we in the US live in a very judgmental and narrow-minded society.
everyone should quit work and blog full-time
Not all of us have extremely understanding spouses who will support that career change. 8-)
everyone should get one like that
at Wives-R-Us
The next blog I have will be anonymous, in fact it will be so anonymous that even I won't know it's me.
Wives R us indeed, how about "Wives who've given up on their husbands working for the man" store.
at least I didn't say I got you on sale - you're a premium item
Any gifts with purchase?
[Dawn, I apologize for taking the thread in your direction.]
Understandable analogy bhw :)
I have in fact been lavished with gifts since the day we met
Dawn & Eric, perhaps you two should get a room? ;-)
A room wouldn't help, what we need is a babysitter, or two.
Gee, where do we find a husband that will support wifely blogging? Is there a Wife-R-Us or do we just need to move to Alaska where the ratio of men to women favors the women?
Will Blog for Crack !
Is there a state like Alaska for men where the inverse ratio of women to men is that high ...........????
hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm..........
Gee, Tristan...do your own research.
Maybe you'll have to go to Venus? (If one is to believe John Gray which I don't).
Purple T, the reptoids living there don't like your suggestion.
Why? They don't want to add male earthlings to their diet?
Too high in fat? On a low protein diet? Picky, picky, picky. ;)
No, they find men suffering from raging Testosterones to be unpalatable ;-)
perhaps the propensity of prosaic prose purveying persnickity pieces of pusillanimous positions postulating a plethora of prejudicial posturing pre-disposes people to perpetual perplexity at the preponderance of poltroons populating the planet?
punctuation can be paramount
/paragraph
Excelsior!
"Think before you publish" is probably a good adage no matter what the subject or what the venue.
Nice review.
what?...no one appreciates alliteration?
apparently...
Excelsior!
Add your comment, speak your mind
(Or ping: http://blogcritics.org/mt/tb/27116)
You know, it's a really simple concept. If you dont' wish to get fired, don't put anything questionable on your blog regarding work.
If you wish to rant and rave about work, don't make your blog public.