PRIVACY ON THE INTERNET?

Yet more proof that there’s no privacy on the internet. And loose lips can sink a reputation … and a career. Note these examples.

Andrew Marshall, a senior Reuters editor based in Singapore, was punished for a stupid remark he made in a company messaging/chat room. Apropos of the Fukushima disaster and rising radiation levels in Japan, he asked a bald colleague in Japan: “Is your hair starting to fall out?” His remark was overheard by 25 to 30 people in the Reuters messaging chat room that was created specifically for Reuters journalists involved in the Japan disaster story. He got a serious dressing down. According to The Baron, Marshall was told his comment was “both insensitive and inappropriate.” He responded: “I consider the penalty to be excessive and inappropriate.”

In a related story, Reuters fired a bureau chief named David Fox over a crude remark he made in an Internet chat room. As far as I can tell, no one knows what that remark was.