Wired Article Warns Don't Blog From Work
Posted on December 14, 2005
A Wired article about worker privacy warns workers not to blog from their office computer. The article cites Nancy Flynn from the ePolicy Institute who says hundreds have been fired because of content found in their blog.
The right to blog: People who like to blog -- especially about their employer -- should refrain from doing so at work.It should be noted that the ePolicy Institute provides advice to employers. Their website says, "Regulating employee eMail, Internet, and software use isn't a big brother tactic. It's smart business. Employee use of company computer resources, including eMail, the Internet, and software, can open any organization to electronic risks." If companies do clamp down on on-the-job blogging it will probably diminish the quality and quantity of some of the blogs out there. Many bloggers probably update their blogs at work while they are on the clock working for somebody else. The Wired article includes information about methods companies are using to monitor employee computer usage so if you are posting to a personal blog while at work your company might have a way to find out."The computer system is the property of the employer, and the employer has the right to monitor all internet activity," said Nancy Flynn, executive director of the ePolicy Institute. "That would include blog posts and all e-mail and internet transmissions."
Flynn estimates that hundreds of people have been fired for their blog content in recent years. In the AMA/ePolicy survey, 26 percent of respondents said they had fired workers for misusing the internet. A quarter of employers also said they'd terminated workers for e-mail misuse.