Microsoft Fires Blogger for Mac Photo

There are lots of reasons to be careful about using the Internet. Here’s
one more – the stuff you publish on your personal website could cost
you your job. Michael Hanscom learned the hard way. Hanscom worked
at a printing shop in the Redmond, Wash., headquarters of Microsoft
Corp.

Last October, Hanscom published
in his blog a photo of a pallet of Apple Macintosh computers being
delivered to Microsoft headquarters. The following week Hanscom was
fired for allegedly violating a confidentiality agreement he’d signed
when Microsoft hired him.

Even as Microsoft fires a blogger like Hanscom for going too far, it
tolerates others like Robert Scoble, treating their hobby as a way
to build a more personal relationship with its customers. The two cases
show
how the rise of blogging has created new opportunities and perils for
workers and employers alike.

A Microsoft spokesman confirmed Hanscom’s firing but declined to
provide further details. The company said it does not have a blog
policy.

from
the Boston Globe