Employment and the blogosphere: risks for employer in the new communication era.

• Author: Kane, Deborah A.

Blogging has become a popular method of communicating in the modern electronic age. Many employees now have blogs, and for most, the blog is devoted to something of personal interest to the employee. Sometimes, however, those blogs are used to discuss or criticize their employer, supervisor or other employees, or even clients and competitors. There are many instances where the content of an employee's blog may be of concern to the employer, and may even expose the employer to potential liability:

* An employee may disclose confidential information about the employer, risking its trade secrets or potentially damaging relationships the employer has with its customers;

* An employee may post sexually explicit material on his or her blog, and then invite other employees to visit the blog and view that material;

* An employee may say derogatory things about co-workers or supervisors;

* An employee may post information about salaries and bonuses, and invite other employees to post such information for comparative purposes.

So what is an employer to do in these situations? The purpose of this article is to review the risks to an employer when employees operate blogs or other personal internet spaces (i.e. MySpace pages), typically outside of work, and what an employer can do to protect itself and reduce the risks created by employee blogs and use of other "new media."

What Are The Risks?

Often of utmost importance to an employer when considering an employee's personal blog is whether the information posted is somehow damaging to the employer's reputation. Take, for instance, the somewhat infamous example of the flight attendant for Delta Air Lines, who posted provocative pictures of herself in her uniform on an empty Delta airplane. The airline terminated the employee, and she later sued for discrimination, arguing that male employees were not disciplined for postings on their blogs. (3)

Concerns about the disclosure of confidential information are also a primary issue for employers, whether that information is a trade secret or simply information that gives it an edge in its particular market. Sometimes an employee may disclose confidential information without a nefarious intent to harm the company, but simply to talk about his or her work. For instance, a new assistant product manager for Google was fired for discussing potential new products on his biog. (4) The employee said he made postings on the blog because wanted to keep in touch with...