Unnecessary Information

I was looking at the company intranet web site at work yesterday and in the area of the page dedicated to propaganda there was a warning about Social Networks which linked to the company information policy.  Like most corporate policies found in employee handbooks and their ilk it was mostly common sense stuff about keeping company information secure.  It seemed to be lacking in some respects and their was one bullet point that I thought was disturbing.

What was blatantly absent was a policy that said "don't make an ass of yourself on the Internet."  It is quite possible to guard client and company information, but still get yourself into all sorts of trouble when your co-workers and managers discover all your racist friends, your essay on why LSD should be legalized, or those pictures of you blind drunk at that party 15 years ago.  The Internet really does present a new and exciting problem in the employer-employee relationship in these days of "respect my privacy, but please read about my darkest feelings in my blog."

I am somewhat careful about what content I put out into public, often to the detriment of my personal entertainment value.  You never know when there will be a room full of managers huddled around a laptop reading your web site.  I withhold for the most part any little stories that could be construed as putting my employer in a bad light.   What you are reading now is probably the most subversive public statement of my opinions I have allowed myself in years.  One has to use some common sense and restraint in all aspects of life, but I think that overall the employer's intrusion into personal life is far too invasive.  When you work for a big company, you are effectively waving your right to free speech.  The constitution protects you from the government, not from your employer's ability to take away your livelihood at his discretion.  I feel stifled when I think about that.

The other item, which disturbed me was a bullet point in the Information Policy which read "Do Not collect unnecessary information."  I don't need to know how cheese is made, but am I forbidden from finding out?  Can I still watch the discovery channel and PBS?  Am I allowed to read books not directly related to my job?  Yes, I am taking it a little out of context, but I still don't like the way they framed it in the official policy.  You never know what a lawyer would do with language like that.