According to the 2006 Workplace E-Mail, Instant Messaging & Blogging Survey from the American Management Association (AMA) and the ePolicy Institute, 28% of companies have terminated employees for misuse of e-mail or instant messaging. The increasing popularity of 'blogging', short for web logging (posting an online chronicle) has also made its way into the workplace. Two percent of employers responding to the survey have terminated employees for violating corporate blogging policies, including for content posted by employees on their personal blogs outside of the company's network. Despite the risks associated with blogging, including disclosure of company proprietary information, defamation and copyright infringement, only 7% of those companies responding to the survey had policies covering employee blogging.

For more information about legislation or litigation involving technology, intellectual property protection of information technology assets or any other Information Technology law issue, contact your Miller Canfield attorney or Kathy Ossian, Leader of our Information Technology Team, via e-mail (ossian@millercanfield.com) or phone (313/496-7644). This message is for general information only and should not be used as a basis for specific action without obtaining further legal advice.