Fired for Blogging?

Even though I posted on the team blog this week, I still wanted to make a few short comments on the discussion that we had in class about the woman who was fired for putting a picture of herself in her work uniform on her blog. In the blog, she also talked about her job. When the company discovered the blog, she was fired. After hearing about this, I did some research and found even more stories about people being fired for their "online diaries."

I was completely shocked at the amount of stories about people being fired from this. Do I think this is right? Absolutely not! I mean, whatever happened to free speech? I think we all should have the right to say what we think and how we feel. Whether we are talking to our friends in a local restaurant or talking to a million people online, isn't it the same thing? Cicero once said, "Freedom is a possession of inestimable value." You can't put a price on being able to say what you think.

Even though I think being fired for blogging is wrong, I can understand the employers point of view. The employer is thinking about their own reputation. Negative comments by employees can cause the company harm. The ironic thing is that most companies have their employees sign contracts about this kind a of stuff, but the majority of contracts say nothing about blogging. I think that companies need to address this problem BEFORE hiring someone. If you can be fired for blogging about your difficult day at work, then you need to be informed from the beginning about it!!