Over at Webraw, Eric raises the issue of censorship. Specifically, "How much longer until >>YOUR EMPLOYER<< shuts down your blog like http://www.denishorgan.com?"

Eric's comments are worrysome... not only because he highlights a threat to freedom of thought and expression, but also because in his effort to comply with the desires of his own employer, he has effectively given away essential rights and freedoms. What possible right does an employer have to curtail a personal creative work that's done on personal time?

Events like the closing of Denis Horgan's site seem to be more common these days. We see legal fights over the employer's desire to control their employees versus the right to freedom of expression. More and more, corporations are taking the legal postion that employees are chattel: the activities and ideas of employees fall under the control and ownership of the employer. This is very wrong.

An example is the case in which DSC Communications fired an employee because the employee wouldn't surrender an idea that he had (link). This idea was unrelated to his job, concieved on his personal time, and wasn't written down.

With the popularization of blogs, it's more important than ever to draw a defining line between one's work life and personal life. It's a frightening prospect to imagine a world in which thoughts and opinions may only come from corporate HQ. The right to freedom of expression means having protection from those who seek to silence you, to control you, and essentially to own you.