Blogging can be dangerous and disagreeable. Witness the fate of Joe Gordon who lost his job at Waterstone's in Edinburgh because his rant was found by his employers and he had criticised them from time to time. Other employees have suffered the same fate for bringing disrepute onto their firms-another is apparently living dangerously as he works for Morrisons and has been critical of the company; but has survived. I fear ifHuttonian was working for that organisation he would have been given his cards long ago-oh come back Safeways-all is forgiven.* Huttonian has himself had his problems locally and there have been threats of legal action from an aggrieved party in respect of the 'old' blog. Huttonian has no employer apart from his part time ' honorary ' (ie virtually unpaid) position at the University of Edinburgh. The position in law is somewhat unclear but there have been no successful legal actions against Bloggers to date but it is generally accepted that bloggers have the usual right of freedom of expression. Mr Gordon (according to an 'expert' quoted the Hereald) has a right under the European Convention of Human Rights ' to respect for the privacy of his private life and correspondence' But it is not clear how far, legally, a blogger can go in damaging his employers reputation and interests.
Caution seems to be called for. Moderation and dullness rule ok.
*
Indeed. Has Mr Fish good grounds for complaint? Worried Blog - ed
