That's insane, but what's an STL? Jargon, eh.
This makes no sense: "The editor claims he thought it was a student at the school, that's why he tracked the source of the blog comment." WHAT? Neither does "notifying the commenter's employer". If someone violates a Terms of Service rule, you notify the offender, normally, not their employer, or their principal.

So this case is obvious overreach. But OF COURSE, what you say on the web can have repercussions in your life. Cause it's all real life. Anyone who doesn't know that has been living in a cave, whether literal or figurative, for the past decade.

Here's the privacy policy:
http://www.stltoday.com/help/privacy-policy

My guess is that notification of the employer would be permitted under information disclosed to third parties for the purpose of "to protect against misuse or unauthorized use of our web sites," though that's a pretty lame excuse.

I notice also that under the "Terms of Service" users are prohibited, among other things, from "Includ[ing] any information that is false, misleading or inaccurate."
http://www.stltoday.com/help/user-agreement

Inaccurate information in a blog comment?! The horror! The horror!

In other words, I think the newpaper has "privacy policy" that they can drive a truck through, if they want to.

Overall, it sounds like a blog site that potential commenters would want to stay away from.

Here's the explanation from the newspaper "rat" himself:
http://www.stltoday.com/blogzone/the-editors-desk/the-editors-desk/2009/11/post-a-vulgar-comment-while-youre-at-work-lose-your-job/

Think that's bad? Did you see what they did to Kathy Griffin when she blurted out the word "pussy" at the Apollo Theater's "Family Day?". Whew. She can never go there again.

Think that's bad? Did you see what they did to Kathy Griffin when she blurted out the word "pussy" at the Apollo Theater's "Family Day?". Whew. She can never go there again.

Bill said - "But OF COURSE, what you say on the web can have repercussions in your life." Yup, that's why I have to be careful what I say cuz there's people here who know who I am! (Fortunately I don't have an employer to be informed ...)

STL means St. Louis...around here, people are having problems because racist comments are made on the STLtoday.com blog all the time, but no one tells the employers about this. I don't know why they didn't notify the user himself--they did delete this offending comment and he reposted using the same word again.

Yes, people can post anonymously, but I am sick of the rudeness of anon commenters. They attack people and it is a form of bullying. There is a case going on in Chicago where a woman's son was threatened.

http://archives.chicagotribune.com/2009/nov/09/news/chi-ap-il-postersidentity

The editors of STLtoday considered not allowing anon users but decided that since the Washington Post and others did, they were going to.

And people wonder why newspapers are going broke. Good riddance.

Been there.

That's why I use an alias. Our right to privacy and free speech is being infringed upon by big business not big brother. Orwell was right.

I think the business might have a marginal case if the person was publicly known to be their employee and their speaking out in such a way brought shame on them, but given that it's a private matter, a civil matter not a criminal matter, and done in a way that by definition could not bring discredit to the employer, it seems ridiculous. If the person posted from work, it might be a violation of terms of use of their internal computers, but in that case I would suggest the employee ask whether others at the same company are losing their jobs over using their work computer to browse or post to the web. All in all, I think this person has a rich set of opportunities for some very needed lawsuits. I would hope that ambitious attorneys looking to make a name for themselves would be lining up to take this case pro-bono. Of course, I still think it's well for people to be mindful of what they say, but that has nothing to do with these legal matters. There are any of a number of other reasons for being civil. And, finally, there's a question of whether this was even reasonably inappropriate. Didn't the guy mean cat food?

Pussy, pussy, pussy, pussy, pussy. Ok, let's see what happens. I will not go quietly.

Just seems insane to me.

it was out of line. by both the newspaper and the commenter. but why didnt the newspaper just delete it??? I guess they actually enjoy the role of CyberNaziEnforcers. does show a cultural difference between newspaper dinosaurs [slowly or quickly going extinct] and internet sites.

Having an alias won't protect you--the newspaper was able to track the man down using the IP address.

maybe the guy that got fired will get an OS account and add some zest to the proceedings. at least around here, there arent babysitting nannies... as far as I know... I guess some people have been bumped off OS for [x] reason where [x] is something other than spam, but its pretty unknown to me...

americans are very strange: someone called me a 'sick f*ck' the other day, and i couldn't f4nd it in my bulgarian to *ngl4sh dictionary. i assumed it was bulgarian, they use numbers for alphabet and an asterisk seems a reasonable extension...

What can you say, they are assholes and Justice will find them sooner or later. You know MMM, what goes 'round, comes 'round, it just takes time, sometimes. Mark these words, I predict a law suit and firing of those behind it

Professor, I am not sure if there will be a firing. The editor responsible is getting support from the newspaper. And the man resigned, didn't get fired, so I don't know what he could sue for.

this is true...

Interesting, but even though I'm not sure his comment was appropriate, I believe that this "haunted for the rest of your life" notion, is little steep. We have to remember that we must uphold the right to free speech even on internet/blogs etc... I think that as long as its relatively decent and doesn't slander anyone then...

Anything you upload or write on the web has the unintended potential to bite you in the ass.

Al --
Ч may look like 4, but l looks like 1. Pot calling the Kettle?