不要隨便寫公司的東西. 這個人沒事在微軟 shipping-and-receiving facility 照 Power Mac G5 的照片. 微軟以洩露公司機密為由, 把他給解雇了. 這樣就上了報紙的頭條… Microsoft fires worker over weblog Michael Hanscom began keeping an online journal, commonly known as a weblog, several years ago. He started his job as a contract worker in Microsoft’s print shop last year. Last week, he mixed the two. This week, he’s looking for a new job, after becoming an unwilling case study in the fine line walked by corporate employees who write about work in their personal weblogs. It all started when Hanscom noticed something interesting on the loading dock on his way into work a week ago — three pallets of shiny new Apple Power Mac G5 computers, clearly destined for somewhere on the company’s Redmond campus. The scene wasn’t entirely surprising. Although the companies are in many ways rivals, Microsoft makes software for the Mac operating system, and Microsoft makes no secret of the fact that it tests competing technologies, including the Linux operating system. But Hanscom, a 30-year-old Seattle resident who has his own Power Mac G5 at home, found the arrival of the computers interesting enough to stop and snap a photo. Later, after getting home from work, he posted it to his weblog, under the words, “It looks like somebody over in Microsoft land is getting some new toys.” Under the photo, he explained that he had come across the computers at Microsoft’s shipping-and-receiving facility, which he identified as being in the same building as the print shop where he worked. He was careful, he says, not to photograph anything around the computers that would have indicated the location. On Monday, when Hanscom came into work, his manager asked him about the post and informed him that he was being let go. Hanscom says he took from the conversation that the post was considered a security risk because a careful reader could decipher from his description the location of the shipping-and-receiving department. According to Hanscom, he offered to take the post down, but he was told that wouldn’t prevent the company from letting him go. “I would have much rather have done that than have lost my paycheck,” he said yesterday. As the weblogging phenomenon has taken off, there have been isolated incidents around the country in which companies fired employees for posting in their personal weblogs work-related material that executives consider compromising or inappropriate. But Hanscom appears to be the first person let go for that reason from Microsoft, where an ever increasing number of employee webloggers regularly post work-related material. Microsoft spokeswoman Stacy Drake declined to comment specifically about Hanscom’s situation, citing a policy against discussing personnel matters. “However, we do recognize that weblogging is a legitimate form of communication,” Drake said. “As you know, a number of Microsoft employees have weblogs, and we respect and support their decision to do so, as long as they abide by our confidentiality agreements — which would apply to any form of external communication.” Hanscom isn’t sure, but he doesn’t think his firing had anything to do with the fact that the computers he photographed were Macs. He says he understands if Microsoft might have been concerned about the security implications of his posting, but he wishes the company would have figured out a way to correct the problem without firing him. He doesn’t recall signing any confidentiality agreement when he was hired. A long-term temporary worker, his job at the company was through an employment agency. Rebecca Blood, author of “The Weblog Handbook,” agreed that Microsoft could have resolved the situation better, at least based on the available information about what happened. “If Microsoft is genuinely concerned about the physical security of their campus, this wouldn’t have been a good way to handle that,” she said. “Firing people who inadvertently break a rule doesn’t prevent other people from breaking it again.” Hanscom, meanwhile, has become a minicelebrity after technology sites, including the popular Slashdot, picked up his Monday weblog post describing his firing. He has gotten calls from representatives of news organizations, and he woke up yesterday to more than 250 e-mails from people offering comments about the situation. “I couldn’t believe that it was getting that much attention,” Hanscom said, explaining that his weblog is usually read mostly by people close to him. “I never expected it to go beyond family and friends.” On the Web: www.michaelhanscom.com/eclecticism