In the wake of the controversy surrounding the Troll Tracker blog, which was managed anonymously by a Cisco Systems patent attorney who recently was unmasked, I found the Sun Microsystems Corporate Blog Policy. What I like about it is that it provides information to help staff make decisions as professionals. It even encourages good technical blogging practices. At the same time, it does not suggest a blog free-for-all for employees, just that they understand what the impact of a blog can be for Sun’s customers, staff, and shareholders:
Advice: By speaking directly to the world, without benefit of management approval, we are accepting higher risks in the interest of higher rewards. We don’t want to micro-manage, but here is some advice.
In my opinion the blog policy itself brands Sun as an employer of choice in promoting innovation of ideas in its industry. I think this is a policy that would promote safe and productive blogging in the health care industry as well.