As discussed in a number of areas on this wiki, is the rise of the use of blogs both personal and work related. But what happens, when one is caught at work, writing a post on their personal blog? Well a number of examples has shown that they get fired.

With the employers, now more than ever cracking down and non-work related internet use, it seems as a normal progression, that they would crack down on the use of personal blogs during work - given you are paid to work for a company so company time should be spent doing company work not personal work.

Even further than this, people have been fired for writing in their own time about their companies such as one microsoft employee. Who despite storing his blog and a non microsoft server, was fired due to remarks made about the company (which he work for) see Of blogging and unemployment This is a different situation than blogging at work. Legally this could be an invasion of privacy. As those things said outside of work are unrelated to the work environment.

Although this may be considered a breach of the implied duty to maintain mutual trust and confidence inherent to all contracts of employment. * Comment by Alex

A French woman was fired by her accounting firm, despite making no mention of her name or the company she worked for and has now launched a test case under French employment law.

Struan Robertson, a technology lawyer & editor of Outlaw.com recommends the following

* Remember you can never be entirely sure who is reading
* Don't rely on a pseudonym to preserve anonymity
* Be aware of the dangers of defamation
* Respect copyright and intellectual property laws
* Avoid jokes which could provoke a sexual or racial harassment claim

Issues also include, a blogger making a company announcement prior to it being made public.

For tips on how to safely blog without being affected by your employee see the Electronic Frontier Foundations

by Adam_Shell