[What this article doesn't say is that anonymity is, in the U.S., constitutionally protected, and is becoming increasingly technologically-protected. Anonymity does without a doubt allow people to libel and antagonize their co-workers, but it also has many benefits, and restricting it by law would have profound negative consequences. --Declan] ******** http://www.nytimes.com/2001/04/29/technology/29HARA.html April 29, 2001 By the Water Cooler in Cyberspace, the Talk Turns Ugly By REED ABELSON ... Thousands of message boards for individual companies have emerged over the last few years, creating a window on what some employees feel but never say publicly. Often the view through this window is rather ugly. On message boards for particular companies on third-party Web sites like Yahoo and Vault, some employees are anonymously expressing thoughts they would not dare say out loud. They are freely showing their prejudices or denouncing other employees by name, sometimes accusing them of incompetence or misconduct or recounting salacious rumors about their sex lives. ... Sometimes employees or managers at a company are attacked in vicious detail. In recent months, for example, a Yahoo message board on Startec Global Communications in Potomac, Md., has been the site of a pointed discussion by people who claim to be employees or former employees. The company, which went public in 1997, has struggled over the last year as its stock has plummeted from $15 to under 50 cents. ... Disgruntled employees and former employees are increasingly using the Internet to harass colleagues, executives or the company itself, according to Ms. Aftab, who is also the executive director of CyberAngels .org, a not-for-profit group that helps individuals attacked this way. ... ------------------------------------------------------------------------- POLITECH -- Declan McCullagh's politics and technology mailing list You may redistribute this message freely if it remains intact. To subscribe, visit http://www.politechbot.com/info/subscribe.html This message is archived at http://www.politechbot.com/ -------------------------------------------------------------------------
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