A piece in Computerworld underscores the potential legal risks of corporate and corporate-sanctioned blogs.
Corporate lawyers point out that web-journaling is legally no different than any other electronic communication, including email and online message boards. And companies most often get into trouble when uncontrolled bloggers do things like make statements to pump up the stock, give away trade secrets or compare selected supervisors to unbathed farm animals.
But even with the best intentions, a corporate blogger can inadvertently disclose or hint at proprietary strategies, operational problems or internal conflicts.
For example… I noticed how a top executive for a major public company recently used his blog to urge employees to keep company information confidential, saying "crucial data and photos" had been leaked.
He did not elaborate on what that crucial data might have been or the impact the leaks had, where the leaks came from or where they went, what steps had been taken to find and eliminate the leaks, or if there had been an internal investigation to find out. Nor did he say if any of this had been disclosed.
I’m betting that a year from now, blog posts like this will cause as much ruckus as if they were impromptu statements made during an earnings call.
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COMPUTERWORLD: Does corporate blogging change the legal landscape?
