A Chill For Online Media: Corporations Ban Employees From Blogs, Podcasts and Forums

I got an interesting email from a friend, which has echoed a situation that many are starting to share - and we need to be aware of it as a media creation community.

More and more companies are dealing with forums, blogs, social media and podcasts by banning people's participation completely - their reasoning being that employees may say something damaging or secret.

In fact, they're banning participation or even attendance at recorded events because of that fear. I also wonder if those same people are banned from calling in to radio shows.

I'm not a lawyer, but this, in my opinion, is a clear violation of first amendment rights.

These people who work for these companies not allowed to speak or attend, period, without it being approved by the company, on anything? What if it's an event on greek mythology - and you're a real estate broker? What about church?

Many, many churches record and podcast their broadcasts. Guess you can't go to service. What if you want to speak at your local school board meeting? Forget about it, it's being recorded for TV.

Again, there is no trust by employers - and so why should employers expect any trust or loyalty back? I think this economy shows we're all free agents - and companies that block free speech are going to suffer long-term. The best and brightest won't accept this - or will temporarily until their next job a year from now.