BUSTED!
When I came in from lunch, Adam told me to re-sign my internship and confidentiality agreement again because they had disappeared. I didn't think twice about it, although I did read over the confidentiality component again to make sure my other blog did not infringe any of the stipulations.
I don't know if it was just a coincidence because Adam certainly hasn't said anything, but later in the day, the general manager asked me to step aside with him for a chat. Not knowing what it was about, I brought my notebook and pen. It turned out that the legal department of the agency had just initiated a web-wide scan of the Internet, which included blogs, and they came across a very interesting, insightful and brilliantly written blog about being an unpaid intern at "this agency". (Now I'm even afraid to write the name in my own blog! I will NOT however start going back and editing out past references because that's just too much work, and I honestly doubt I've said anything so incriminating.)
Anyway, so he explains to me about how the agency is a public company and that they have to protect their business and their clients, and I felt so foolish! He was super nice (he always is), but all I wanted to do was crawl into a hole and quit the advertising industry forever. I wondered how many people knew and what they thought. Most of all, I wondered if they went to see the blog?!
I'm not completely stupid, of course it crossed my mind that including the name of the agency and its clients in the blog was risky. But having a background in law and having read the confidentiality agreement (EVERYONE should read ANYTHING they sign their name to), I knew that I was free to write about anything that is public knowledge. My agency and who their clients are is public knowledge. As long as I didn't write about any of the creative or projects or ideas they've been working on, I thought it'd be ok. I was very careful that I stuck to writing about my feelings and opinions about what I did rather than what it was that I've been doing itself.
Even still, I knew the risk was there. But what I wanted was the KEYWORDS. I wanted to have the agency name and the clients in my blog because I thought that they might help drive more traffic into the site. Unlike this blog where it's completely personal, The Bottom Rung is a blog that could help other kids in this industry. I'm proud that I created it and I created with the best intentions.
The giant hand of Big Brother doesn't scare me, though. I've already taken the agency name and the clients out of the blog, and the worst that could happen is that I lose my internship. That would indeed be devestating, but I don't think it will come to that. I had written only good things about my agency, about the creativity and the atmosphere. But like all big corporations, they're afraid of the voice of the little people. Supressing the ones closest to them is about as much control they can get in this world wide web of ours.
On the bright side, the traffic to my site is up to 25 and half of them came from my company!
I don't know if it was just a coincidence because Adam certainly hasn't said anything, but later in the day, the general manager asked me to step aside with him for a chat. Not knowing what it was about, I brought my notebook and pen. It turned out that the legal department of the agency had just initiated a web-wide scan of the Internet, which included blogs, and they came across a very interesting, insightful and brilliantly written blog about being an unpaid intern at "this agency". (Now I'm even afraid to write the name in my own blog! I will NOT however start going back and editing out past references because that's just too much work, and I honestly doubt I've said anything so incriminating.)
Anyway, so he explains to me about how the agency is a public company and that they have to protect their business and their clients, and I felt so foolish! He was super nice (he always is), but all I wanted to do was crawl into a hole and quit the advertising industry forever. I wondered how many people knew and what they thought. Most of all, I wondered if they went to see the blog?!
I'm not completely stupid, of course it crossed my mind that including the name of the agency and its clients in the blog was risky. But having a background in law and having read the confidentiality agreement (EVERYONE should read ANYTHING they sign their name to), I knew that I was free to write about anything that is public knowledge. My agency and who their clients are is public knowledge. As long as I didn't write about any of the creative or projects or ideas they've been working on, I thought it'd be ok. I was very careful that I stuck to writing about my feelings and opinions about what I did rather than what it was that I've been doing itself.
Even still, I knew the risk was there. But what I wanted was the KEYWORDS. I wanted to have the agency name and the clients in my blog because I thought that they might help drive more traffic into the site. Unlike this blog where it's completely personal, The Bottom Rung is a blog that could help other kids in this industry. I'm proud that I created it and I created with the best intentions.
The giant hand of Big Brother doesn't scare me, though. I've already taken the agency name and the clients out of the blog, and the worst that could happen is that I lose my internship. That would indeed be devestating, but I don't think it will come to that. I had written only good things about my agency, about the creativity and the atmosphere. But like all big corporations, they're afraid of the voice of the little people. Supressing the ones closest to them is about as much control they can get in this world wide web of ours.
On the bright side, the traffic to my site is up to 25 and half of them came from my company!
posted by min_o at
2:05 PM
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