Navigating Asia's Minefields in Corporate Blogging

Regional companies are looking to multinationals such as Sun Microsystems as they set policies about what employees can—and can't—say on the Net

by Lee Min Keong

The enterprise community is beginning to view blogging as alternative means to interact with customers and partners, promote corporate unity and strengthen corporate branding. However, telling the whole world about company matters has potential risks which bloggers may sometimes be unaware of.

Though still a rare occurrence in Asia, there have been reports of companies in the United States firing employees or contractors over the content of their personal online journals. In most cases, the bloggers were terminated for criticizing the company or fellow workers, disclosing confidential information or discussing offensive material.

Despite the risk, few companies in the region have formulated policies that specifically address blogging activities conducted by their employees. Given the potential minefields that exist for corporate bloggers, multinational companies have taken the lead to issue blogging guidelines for employees.

At Sun Microsystems, where over 1,300 employees blog on the company's Web site, there are blogging guidelines which ominously warn employeesthat posting "the wrong thing on your blog could cost you your job at Sun".

According to the guidelines, disclosure of non-public technical information such as software codes, without prior approval can have severe repercussions. The guidelines state that doing so can cause Sun, to lose its right to protect its intellectual property and export its products and technology outside the United States.

Sun employees are also warned that disclosing or speculating on the company's non-public financial or operational information can result in "swift and severe" legal consequences for the blogger, as well as Sun. Most of the risks associated with blogging by employees can be avoided by "just being careful and responsible", the company's guidelines advise.

Professional or not?
Perhaps recognizing the growing popularity of blogs, Malaysia's Information Ministry is currently attempting to classify bloggers--either as professionals and non-professionals--as a means to prevent misuse of blogs.

The country's national news agency Bernama recently reported that Information Minister Zainuddin Maidin defines professional bloggers as those who are "more responsible" in ensuring their Web content is based on the truth, and not rumors.

"This classification will also facilitate the action to be taken against those found to have violated the country's laws," Zainuddin said.

According to Tyson Dowd, Microsoft Malaysia's senior director of local software economy, employees at the software company are reminded "to be smart" when they write blogs.

"First, employees must follow all Microsoft policies on standards of business conduct, confidential information and human resources policies," Dowd told ZDNet Asia. "This is no different in terms of [how employees are expected to handle] e-mail, phone calls, blogging and public speaking."

"Second, try to imagine your blog on the front page of the newspaper� If you are comfortable about putting what you wrote as front page news, then your blog is probably fine," he said. "Another good test is to imagine your boss or CEO reading the blog."

Company bloggers have the responsibility to avoid breaking any of a country's laws, he noted. "It's a basic requirement of employment that employees follow the law. Blogging is no different here."