I Want to Brake Free

A close friend of mine (who shall remain nameless, at least for now) is currently being harassed by his boss at work over the most simple things written in his blog - some of which are just comments by his readers. I believe that this constitutes the first case of a Maltese blogger who is being censored by senior management at his place of work.

(Do you know of a similar case? Are you involved in one yourself? Please let me know.)

Unlike the notorious cases of the Google employee who was fired for commenting about things he really shouldn't have (free speech doesn't mean saying anything that comes to your head, dude! ever heard of common decency?), or the flight attendant who lost her job after posting what some considered "inappropriate" photos of herself posing "suggestively" onboard a Delta airline plane in her work uniform, the Maltese blogger in question is miles away from really offending the organization he works for in a significant way. Unfortunately, I cannot disclose much more without giving away his identity and getting him into more trouble than he cares for.

A couple of days ago, USA Today published an interesting article about companies who are firing and disciplining employees for what they say about work on their blogs. While the article focuses on cases in America, this is obviously not an issue that is restricted to the States. And this is to say nothing about government control over bloggers in countries like China and Iran. Malta's own blogosphere is clearly not letting sleeping dogs lie. Take a look at the anonymous blog Nurse Life, for instance; wonderful stuff, but I doubt some bureaucrat doesn't think that it's (at the very least) highly problematic. We even have one Maltese blogger (indirectly) begging not to be employed after going through the ordeal of applying for a job. (I know you really don't care, Alex!) Blogs are quite liberating, but they can be quite dangerous when not handled with care.

So, what are our legal rights as bloggers? Some of our rights are outlined in the USA Today article I mentioned above, but there's obviously much more to it than a simple newspaper article can cover. Quite serendipitously, this morning I received a press release from the EFF (Electronic Frontier Foundation) announcing the publication of the EFF Legal Guide for Bloggers. This guide is mostly addressed at bloggers living in the USA, so there's a need to address similar issues for blogger in other countries, even if the basic guidelines apply in most democracies.

Some major corporations already see blogs as double-edged swords. They recognize that blogs can create valuable buzz about a company, but at the same time they definitely want to stop the online publishing of trade secrets. Their solution is to provide clear blogging guidelines designed to prevent problems, without stifling blogs. Some already have. It's a tricky balance to achieve, but if you don't like your employer's blogging guidelines there's now another reason to look for work elsewhere...unless you're comfortable with being a corporate slave.