Saturday, October 07, 2006
Blog Banning
A friend sent me a podcast from Public Citizen. In it, Public Citizen attorney Greg Beck talks about the state of Kentucky banning all of its employees from reading blogs at work. The podcast is called Podcasts on Internet Freedom of Speech.
I'm of a mixed mind about this. I don't care to see freedom of speech squelched, but I do understand employers not wanting employees coasting around on the web all day, not getting their work done. However, if the work is compelling, employees won't feel a need to surf the web. On the other hand, periodic mental breaks from work make employees more effective. They can also use what they've learned in other avenues to assist them at their jobs. This be the case for me. The stuff I learn outside of work helps me to do my job more creatively and efficiently. My thought on the Kentucky matter is that they not be so rigid and simply allow limited blog reading, as long as it's work-related (lotta good tech blogs out there) or it's done on break time.
I'm of a mixed mind about this. I don't care to see freedom of speech squelched, but I do understand employers not wanting employees coasting around on the web all day, not getting their work done. However, if the work is compelling, employees won't feel a need to surf the web. On the other hand, periodic mental breaks from work make employees more effective. They can also use what they've learned in other avenues to assist them at their jobs. This be the case for me. The stuff I learn outside of work helps me to do my job more creatively and efficiently. My thought on the Kentucky matter is that they not be so rigid and simply allow limited blog reading, as long as it's work-related (lotta good tech blogs out there) or it's done on break time.
Labels: blog, creativity, freedom of speech, job
