An article by Michael Orey in the March 29-30 2008 issue of the Australian Financial Review weekend edition, page 33, relates the sad story of a blogger and his blog, Patent Troll Tracker.
Patent trolls, in case you didn't know (I didn't) is "a derogatory term used to decribe businesses that make money by purchasing patents and then suing big companies for infringement."
The blogger described himself as a patent lawyer gathering info about patent litigation, but revealed no more about himself. His blog gained a reputation as a good source of information.
When unmasked, it turned out that he works for Cisco Systems, a company that doesn't like patent trolls. So his viewpoint was in line with company policy though Cisco did not sanction the blog, but now both he and his employer (he still works for Cisco) are on the receiving end of defamation law suits.
The moral of the story is - if blogging about company business, anonymity can lead to trouble.
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