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EFF Guide To Blogging Anonymously
jacksonwest writes "Annalee Newitz and Kurt Opsahl just published a great how-to on blogging anonymously. How To Blog Safely About Work (Or Anything Else), covering both the legal and technical aspects of blogging about your job and staying truly anonymous. A must read for those blogging from or about their office."
Don't do it!
It's way too easy for your employer to get any network traffic. My employer had a keylogger installed on one cow-irker's computer. Well, I suppose you could get away with it as long as you only speak in glowing terms about your employer.
We had a case recently where a bunch of stock brokers were fired (and sued as I recall) because the sms messages they thought were safe; weren't!
HR probably wouldn't approve.
Because it's probably illegal? HR knows their business. You really ought to stick to yours and judge the candidates on their merits. If you have something to ask them about their past, bring it up in the interview.
Free speech is great.
The right to free speech does not extend to your employment unless you have a contract that says it does.
As has been said a million times before on Slashdot whenever this sort of thing comes up, most U.S. states and many foreign countries have "at-will" employment, meaning your employer keeps paying you money solely because they wish to. They have the right to terminate you at any time, for any reason*, and you do NOT have the right to a job.
*With reasonable limitations. For instance, it's illegal to fire someone for being gay, or female, or black, or handicapped, etc., in the United States.
p
In Korea, long hair is for old people!
It's scary to think that we leave a trail behind online.
No, it's stupid to think that you don't. Especially if you are blogging, where the entire idea is that you leave a trail behind online.
Here's an idea for those who'd like to blog about work: don't. Seriously. I'm as pro free speech as anyone, but being in favor of free speech doesn't mean I think people should be gabbing endlessly on cell phones during theatrical movie showings or that strangers should be screaming in my ear as I'm walking down the street or that employees should be talking about their employers on publicly accessible blogs. I mean, use your freakin' head.
Just because you can do something doesn't mean you should do that thing.
And if you do, and you have to face the consequences of it, tough tits. It was your choice. Nobody asked you to write a blog. In most cases, nobody but your employer probably even cared to read it.
To think you can actually write something in public online and not "leave a trail" is beyond naive.
(And yes, I practice what I preach - I have a blog, and I have another site as well. I have never even mentioned the name of either my current employer or my previous employer online. It should be pretty much common sense, but I guess it isn't. These are things you do not publicly broadcast unless it is part of your job to do so.)
occurring during nonworking hours away from the employer's premises.
The photos were taken on the employer's plane. But does an employer's vehicle qualify as an employer's premises?
Posting pictures of yourself isn't illegal, but it didn't help the Queen of the Air...
She posted pictures of herself wearing the company uniform.
The thing is that I don't blog. The things I find about me under google are freind's journals, stats from the sports I played, and some newspaper articals. People who don't know how to turn on a computer could be mentioned several times online by people they know.
Bit surprised nobody has mentioned Tor.[0] Tor is a way for individuals, groups to source and share information but avoid some of the pitfalls. Tor is a useful tool for making your data (somewhat more) anonymous. Tor allows users to better hide the source or destination of their activities on-line. Tor unlike conventional encryption focuses on the header component of TCP packets so it makes it harder to determine the source or destination of your packets and ultimately your data. You can read more about how it works [1] and the Tor Protocol Specification here [2] and how it works here [3]. Tor should be another essential tool in your security kit.
Reference
[0] Tor, EFF Overview: http://tor.eff.org/overview.html
[1] Tor, How it works: http://tor.eff.org/howitworks.html
[2] Tor Protocol Specification: http://tor.eff.org/cvs/tor/doc/tor-spec.txt
[3] Tor: How it Works: http://tor.eff.org/howitworks.html
peterrenshaw ~ Another Scrappy Startup
Invisiblog lets you post blog entries via the anonymous remailer network.