Welcome to the 21st Century!

I have a friend that lost her job yesterday. The reason for termination: a blog that she wrote on her MySpace page!!!

There were extenuating circumstances, but basically she posted a blog a couple of years ago. A disgruntled employee found her MySpace page, read through her archived blogs, and found one that was incriminating. He printed it and photocopied it. He made several copies and posted them all around her workplace-- hidden under other papers on clipboards, in stacks of invoices, etc. He was bold enough to even hang one on her office door! I read the blog, and she was obviously having a bad day when she wrote it-- two years ago. She was basically venting, but she came off as being a racist.

This reminds me of a time a few years ago, when a co-worker of mine got framed by one of his employees in a similar method. "Matthew" (not his real name, obviously) had a habit of "dating" online. He hooked up with someone in a chat room and they went private. The conversation got steamier and steamier (or should that be "more and more steamy?). The anonymous person on the other end of the conversation asked "Matthew" if he had any nude pics. As luck would have it, Matthew did in fact have a few nudes and he emailed them to his new friend. Suddenly the "conversation" stopped- and the new friend signed out of the chat room. A few days later, "Matthew's" workplace was littered with copies of his nude pics. There were dozens of copies, and they were hidden everywhere-- in books, magazines, desk drawers, etc. Everyone that worked for him received a copy of his naked picture. He didn't get fired, but he was totally embarrassed.

In this day and age, it is pretty dangerous and risky to post anything on a message board, chatroom or blog. I'm a little dubious about posting any new entries on this blog now. Honestly, I feel like going back and looking through all of my archives-- who knows what's out there that may be offensive to someone. I wouldn't want any co-workers to get a grudge against me and use my own words to bite me. Who knows if I have ever posted anything offensive? I don't think I have, but who knows? What I think is just a simple blog entry could be misconstrued into something that someone could use to embarrass me.

As a precaution-- I've gone through my MySpace account and weeded out any of my coworkers. I've also changed my profile so that it can only be viewed by people that I've accepted as friends. Call me paranoid, but I'd rather be safe than sorry!