University of Colorado at Boulder, Leeds School of Business, Cases in Business & Society

Blogging at Work and at Home

By Jessica Pierce

In government, perfect freedom of discussion in all its modes - speaking, writing, and printing - in law and in fact is the first requisite of good because the first condition of popular intelligence and mental progress.

. . .the sole end for which mankind are warranted, individually or collectively in interfering with the liberty of action of any of their number, is self-protection.

. . .it has been for centuries the pride of this country, and one of its most valued distinctions from the despotically-governed countries of the continent, that a man has a right to speak his

mind, on politics or on any other subject, to those who would listen to him, when and where

he will.

- John Stuart Mill

To "blog" is to keep an online personal journal-a weblog-made available either publicly or to certain lists of people. Many people use personal blogs to vent about their friends, family, and workplace or to create a kind of reality show about their love life, work life, or latest diet. Many others use blogs as a way to engage in public discourse about politics, technology, or the arts. According to a report published by the Pew Internet and American Life Project in 2005, about 7% of internet users (some 8 million people) write blogs and about a quarter of all internet users enter the Blogosphere to read blogs. (Still, 62% of respondents didn't know what a "blog" was.)

Blogging creates a number of potential conflicts between employees and employers. Because blogging is a relatively new phenomenon, legal and ethical boundaries are ambiguous. A growing number of people claim to have been fired because of their blogging activities, and more and more companies are establishing official blogging policy.

Blogging at Work

Some companies have embraced the blogging revolution. They have company sponsored blog servers and encourage employees to blog at work. Blogging is seen as a powerful and innovative way for employees to make connections, participate in collective research, share ideas, work through problems, and advertise the company's products or services.

Sun Microsystems, for example, says this in its blogging policy: "As of now, you are encouraged to tell the world about your work, without asking permission first. . . By speaking to the world, without benefit of management approval, we are accepting higher risks in the interest of higher rewards" (Sun Policy on Public Discourse). IBM also encourages employees to engage in online discussion. "As an innovation-based company, we believe in the importance of open exchange

and learning-between IBM and its clients, and among the many constituents of our emerging business and societal ecosystem" (IBM Blogging Policy and Guidelines).

Yet Sun, IBM, and other companies that explicitly encourage blogging are also careful to spell out guidelines. The Sun policy, which has been a template for many other companies, advises people to use discretion and good judgment in their blogging: don't tell company secrets, don't bad-mouth products in an amateurish way; don't disclose any company financial information; avoid personal attacks on others (especially clients); check your spelling so you don't look sloppy; and, above all, try to say something interesting. Some companies go beyond simply

sanctioning blogging by employees and hire official bloggers, who evangelize their products

or services.

Bad Blogging

Yet for all its potential, blogging is also generating conflict between employers and employees. When people create personal blogs, they sometimes say things that make employers uncomfortable. For the most part, of course, personal blogs are not meant for the boss's eyes. But the very nature of blogs, at least given current technology, is to be publicly accessible. A boss who wanted to monitor his or her employees' personal blogging could do so with relative ease.

Although data are scant, a small number of people claim to have been fired from their jobs because of their blogging activities. In one well-publicized case, flight attendant Ellen Simonetti claimed that she was fired from her job at Delta Airlines because of her blogging activity. On her blog, she posted a photo of herself in uniform that the company deemed inappropriate. In another case, Heather Armstrong was fired from her job with a software firm for venting about her job; journalist Rachael Mosteller claimed that she was fired from her job at the Durham Herald-Sun for sarcastic and rather biting blogs about her boss and co-workers. Google, Friendster, Microsoft and Wells Fargo have also reportedly fired employees for blogging. (The website http://rights.journalspace.com/ maintains a list of people allegedly fired for blogging, and of "Blogophobic" companies. http://morphemetales. blogspot.com/2004/12/statistics-onfired- bloggers.html provides another such list.)

Civil rights activists believe that company blogging policies and retaliation for personal blogs both qualify as restrictions on free speech. Neither have been tested in court, so legal guidelines remain unclear. Groups like the National Workrights Institute (NWI) consider blogging one of a whole range of "off-duty" activities that should rightly be off limits for employers. Employers do not have to like what their employees do on personal time-it is none of their business. Since civil protection for blogging is not yet clearly established, NWI recommends that those who want to blog do so with caution. In particular, they urge bloggers to make everything in their blog anonymous-their name, place of work, boss's name, co-workers' names, and any other potentially identifying information. Bloggers can also use "anonymizing" software, such as Invisiblog.com, which makes the source of a blog difficult to trace.

1. Briefly describe the laws related to employee privacy that can be applied to this case. With these rules in mind, should workers be allowed to blog about their workplace - activities, people, events, issues while at work? At work but on break/lunch? At home only? While working from home? Explain your reasoning and make connections to the law(s) if applicable (or state the law is silent on the issue).
2. If you were an employer, which of the following blogging would bother you, and would any of these be grounds for discipline?

A. Nancy has a personal blog that she uses to vent about her life, including her job. She is nasty and sarcastic about co-workers and boss, often calling them sloppy and inefficient (in addition to poorly dressed and smelly). She also gossips about office romance, and dreams openly about the day a particular male co-worker finally undresses her in the broom closet. She uses people's first names, but usually not last. Her place of work is easy to discern, since she has mentioned it by name on a number of occasions. Her blog is intended for her friends, though she understands that it is also publicly accessible.

B. What if Nancy's blog was on a company-sponsored feeder?

C. Pat is one of the founding members of a group seeking to unionize workers in your company; she also acts as group secretary, and maintains the group's Unionize! Blog. She sometimes blogs on company time.

D. Tim is a flight attendant at a major airline. He maintains a company-sponsored blog, on which he has posted a personal biography, including a photo of himself in his flight attendant uniform, with the shirt unbuttoned to reveal a tanned and muscular chest.

E. Same as above, but this time it is Tina. Her chest is less muscular, but still quite tan.

F. Marty maintains a No Iraq War! blog. His blogs are well-researched and provide thoughtful analysis of the Bush Administration's foreign policy, especially as it relates to the war. He often provides links to writings of pacifists and peace activists. He keeps a daily casualty count at the top of his page, including number of American soldiers who have died so far, and "Iraqi soldiers and citizens: Who Keeps Count?" Above this he has flying banners that say "Impeach Bush" and "War is Terrorism."

1. Rosie, an African American who works as office manager for a small advertising company, has made an appointment to see her boss, Mr. Thompson. At the meeting, Rosie presents Mr. Thompson with printouts from a blog written by Joe Flack, who works as a graphic designer for the company. The blog is a series of manifestos on white supremacy written (it appears) by Joe, as well as a record of minutes from meetings of a club or group referred to as "The White Fight." Rosie is visibly upset, and asks Mr. Thompson to please do something.

2. Assuming that proprietary secrets or financial information are not disclosed, and that blogging takes place on a personal computer (not using a company sponsored blog server) on personal time, does a company employee have the right to say whatever he or she wants about the company or other employees? If not, what limits are appropriate and why?