Blogging at work?

I kept an online journal from 2000-02, well before the blog
explosion, before the empire. Now, getting back to posting online this
year has been a challenge. Sure, I have work projects sitting next to
me, e-mail requests blinking in — but I’d rather write and
philosophize. I still get my work done efficiently every day, so it
works out for me.

Currently, the form I signed for my company says that the employee
is allowed to peruse the Internet or send personal messages, but it
should be kept to a minimum, and "not interfere with any company
affairs." It’s an honor system of sorts, but every one of us knows we
take advantage of it so we can do our daily communications and (for you
angry bloggers out there) circumvent our stress.

Eventually though, I wonder to what degree companies will do away
with this honor system. That a security guard server will survey every
time Mark updates his blog or visits a site that can’t possibly have
anything to do with company business, and hit me with an automated
e-mail that docks me a twenty-spot for all unauthorized activity.

There seems to be a degree of emphasis on the distinction between a company’s general acceptable use policy regarding access to the Web and policies dealing specifically with blogging.  Some bloggers raise the defence to allegations of abuse of company resources that their employers don’t have a specific blogging policy.  While that may be a valid defence in some instances, I really have my doubts that it would be valid generally speaking.  Bear in mind that blogging is an activity conducted on the Web.  As such it may well fall within your employer’s acceptable use policy.