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Are Your Kid s Internet Postings Landing You in Hot Water

portfolio.com — Wayne Watts, a vp at AT&T, was defending the company ’s practices to industry regulators who were examining the company’s takeover bid for BellSouth. His son Jared, meanwhile, from his job at Cingular Wireless (then an AT&T subsidiary blogged that mergers inconvenience customers, and called the company’s policies “abusive to the customer,”

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bamafun 54 days ago, made popular 53 days ago

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wushin, on 03/25/2008, -3/+100or Caroline Waxler, you dumb bitch, treat him like any other person with free speech in America and respond intelligently to their fears and/or accusations. You know treat him like I don't know... a human. Instead of a disobedient pet who pooped on the rug.
BESIDES the "child" in her example is 21.
Caroline Waxler - YOU FAIL
- john2782, on 03/25/2008, -2/+25No kidding.
  
  Isn't Jared right? HIs dad works for an asshole company...
- VitriolAndAngst, on 03/25/2008, -1/+19Honest child of a corporate yes-man -- who really should be embarrassed here? I'm sure the kid is more ashamed of his dad, and his dad has to kind of swallow his pride. I'd hate to be that man.
- jehan60188, on 03/25/2008, -1/+10Couldn't agee with you more wushin. Thumbs up
- n00854180t, on 03/25/2008, -1/+4Did you guys notice the article was advocating one should try and get your kid arrested in incidents like this? WTF, man, whoever (Caroline Waxler I guess) wrote this ***** is ***** retarded.
gcman94, on 03/25/2008, -10/+2Meh.
mrzack, on 03/25/2008, -3/+15This is Big Corporate Brother watching us...the conspiracy theorists were right.
- VitriolAndAngst, on 03/25/2008, -4/+4Like, how often have the Conspiracy Theorists actually been wrong? -- and I don't mean about Big Foot.
- JointVenture, on 03/25/2008, -5/+3You mean if I post something on the internet with my name on it someone might see it?
  
  OMFG, big brother you bastard.
- dulymachine, on 03/25/2008, -3/+1Excellent movie with Julia Roberts and Mel Gibson
  - DangerMouse9, on 03/25/2008, -1/+0If by excellent you mean retarded, then yes you are correct.
vanzan, on 03/25/2008, -14/+2Well,,, The Beatles are overrated anyway.
xsecretfiles, on 03/25/2008, -3/+18haha look at the kid on the picture, desperately trying to save the pr0n before is too late....
fogofeternity, on 03/25/2008, -0/+32If it's a genuine "child" or a family member who's using confidential information then sure, be concerned. Otheriwse, as wushin points out, we're talking about a 21 year old adult exercising his right to free speech - and as pointed out in the article, Watts dealt with exactly the right way by point out that he and he son are entitled to differences of opinion.
ProjectGSX, on 03/25/2008, -4/+14Hilarious! Call a lawyer and sue your child. Or just call their service provider and have the offending material removed.

Better yet, #7, Get a bat and beat your child senseless. Good job Portfolio!
- nomadxx7, on 03/25/2008, -0/+12Sorry but Caroline seems like she pulled her material from a corporate PR handbook.
  
  WENDY: "Joe, your child is saying our company sucks."
  JOE: "Well he's entitled to his opinion"
  WENDY: "I don't think so, Joe. I'd like you to call your service provider and tell them that your son is putting offensive material on the internet and tell them to remove it."
  JOE: "I'm sorry I can't do that."
  WENDY: "Well then talk to our corporate lawyer and have him go after your son."
  JOE: "Wendy, you fail at life"
- vertinox, on 03/25/2008, -4/+1If you would read the summary you would realize that his "child" works at cingular and complained about his fathers policies.
- stretch611, on 03/25/2008, -0/+5"3. Call Your Lawyer" -- I thought that was hilarious especially because the father's title was "senior vice president and associate general counsel." Wouldn't an associate general counsel be a lawyer?
csw1342, on 03/25/2008, -13/+1Well let me be the first asshole to say "XX# of diggs, why is this on the FP?"
- WhatInThe42o, on 03/25/2008, -0/+5Buried for being an asshole.
  - csw1342, on 03/25/2008, -0/+1I did that in protest of people constantly doing that instead of commenting on something pertinent to the article, but thanks for the compliment. I do not understand why they bitch about these things, as well as "Isn't this from last year?" I just found it amusing at the time.
sidwheat, on 03/25/2008, -0/+25This is ridiculous. So what if a family member has an opinion that is different to your own, I fail to see why that is any different to someone who isn't immediate family having a difference of opinion. If Jared has an opinion and choses to share it with the internet community, then he should have the freedom to do so. The issue should be whether his opinion is right or wrong, not whether his actions towards his father are right or wrong.
- stretch611, on 03/25/2008, -0/+3He blogged that "mergers inconvenience customers, and called the company’s (AT&T) policies “abusive to the customer,” “inappropriate,” and said they “violate [his] personal beliefs."
  Trust me his opinion was correct. I was working for AT&T at the same time this happen and I agree with his attitude towards mergers and AT&T's policies.
nomadxx7, on 03/25/2008, -0/+33So if your a child of a public figure you must be a puppet? I'm sorry but I don't agree at all with this article. It's like saying if you child goes online and touts his beliefs and it directly conflicts with the corporate mantra then you can do all in your power to remove the content. I'm sorry but wushin is right. It's freedom of speech. Sure it may be a PR nightmare because your kid is saying something directly opposite of what the father is saying. Well if I was the dad and the media asked me I'd have said well he's a grown up and that is his belief.
- dulymachine, on 03/25/2008, -0/+10NOOO, you must control your 21 year old man-child and remove the offensive content before he has a chance to hurt anyone else's feelings. Pweeese? It's for da chiwdwen.
- el_taco, on 03/25/2008, -3/+1If he's still living in the basement then it's a different story.
artliquide, on 03/25/2008, -0/+15If the kid was posting something inflammatory about his dad, that would be one thing, but posting his personal opinions, especially as an adult, should not reflect on his father. If I were in that situation, I would hope that I would defend my son's right to free speech.
- leopardflames, on 03/25/2008, -1/+1i agree with you. i sent this article to my mother because my younger sister had posted a blog about her when she was angry and said some rather nasty and untrue things about my mom. as a result other family members got involved and the whole situation was very messy.
  
  i think that opinions are a right to have. and likewise, my other sister purposely chose to like the cowboys only because my dad liked the redskins.
VitriolAndAngst, on 03/25/2008, -0/+15Lucky this kid is amongst the privileged class.
In the future, AT&T or just call them "MegaCom" will be making sure that these anti-corporate comments don't get heard. I've been with BellSouth for years -- because I had no choice in internet service provider unless I wanted to stay with a modem (doing web development). Then, I had to go with the Bundle of services -- because it was a lot cheaper than using more than one company. Now I have to go with AT&T because they swallowed BellSouth. Mainly because they helped spy on political opponents for the Bush administration, so that they could get Democrats and Republicans alike to go along with their Putsch (and you thought that Bush was a compelling speaker,... hardy, har, har).

I know that sounds like the rantings of a disenfranchised teenager, but no, I'm an average, middle aged, relatively successful person. I've lost what I believe in -- just like this kid.

See AT&T executives, there will be a price to pay. And you will see it in the eyes of your kids. And as the super elite roll up free speech and the banks move offshore and the mega-companies merge and raise prices, you will also have to hire thugs to protect you and your kids. The ones that have lost all respect for you because YOU never can tell the truth either.
- stretch611, on 03/25/2008, -0/+3I'm in the same situation as you are but I have taken the other route. I used to have Bellsouth DSL, but at the same time BS and AT&T merged, my DSL became unreliable and as a web developer I needed it so now I pay more for Comcast (uggh) cable service. I used to have Bellsouth Americast cable, but I upgraded to Dish Network. Currently my cell phone is Cingular(AT&T), but my contract just expired so I will be changing that soon (not because of any problem, but because I hate monopolies) more than likely to a carrier that is not one of the big 3 (AT&T/Verizon/Sprint) The one part of my business that AT&T my keep is my land line and that is only because I am not willing to take the VOIP plunge yet.
  I am willing to pay more to avoid monopolies. If there were more consumers doing this we would all have better choices.
  - VitriolAndAngst, on 03/25/2008, -0/+1There was a law passed -- or a ruling, in Georgia, that you could get DSL service without requiring a local phone service.
    BellSouth put the nix on that with a half-baked excuse (and I assume wads of cash), that it made of uneven pricing so it was unfair for consumers. What, I'm forced to save WADS of cash on VoIP rather than just a little cash -- oh the inequity!
    
    Good luck on your mix.
    I can have Local and unlimited long distance, 200 cable channels, DSL at 3 mb/s, and 1400 shared minutes with two phones for $200. Saving me about $100 a month. Can I do without local phone and still have DSL and keep more minutes on a cell? We'll see -- I doubt it. Or I can go a little light on the services for about $108 in a bundle.
    I'll admit that, all the telecommunications in my house are a lot of money each month -- but that's probably standard. We used to be ripped off $50 for every house by one central AT&T each month for land lines that our tax dollars basically bought. Now, we have more things we "need" over land lines that our tax money bought.
    
    I'd like to buck AT&T -- but I can't afford to. No other carrier can give me DSL and COX is another scum bag huge company I don't like. So, it's less expensive spying scum bag or more expensive scum bag. All other services are priced out of the competition, because they have to pay AT&T or Cox. Forget Dish for internet. Consumers may choose the monopoly or to pay more for a company that buys the monopoly's product at an inflated price (they overpay for the setup fees for sure). And they don't take fiber to the house -- they go to great lengths to slow it down to copper after miles of wonderful government fiber. I'm sure thats so that by throttling bandwidth to 1 10th of the developed nations (I no longer call America a developed country nor a Democracy), they don't have too much stuff to spy on for anti-corporate behavior.
    
    But, I'm already avoiding WalMart and those great savings. And I've got to find another bank besides Wachovia. Why don't they just save time and call it the Phone Company, the Bank Company, and the I'll pay what you Demand Drug Company? We already get our news from Moony owned UPI or the NeoCon owned alternative. Why not another Monopoly?
spikespikespike, on 03/25/2008, -1/+6So its an article based on a flimsy example where nothing bad ever happened? Man, I'm totally convinced!
chicofaraby, on 03/25/2008, -0/+38The author of this article seems to be an idiot. A 21 year old man doesn't need his parents permission to post his opinion. The fact that his father was a VP at AT&T leads me to believe the 21 year old had enough information about the subject to make a valid point. If AT&T holds the young man's opinion against his father, that pretty much confirms the young man's point that AT&T is a bunch of assholes.

America's culture of corporate worship needs serious reformation.
orangetiki, on 03/25/2008, -0/+8I say this is a ploy for lawyers to get more work.
- stretch611, on 03/25/2008, -0/+3That reminds me of an old joke...
  If a town has a single lawyer, the lawyer will end up going broke. But if a town has two lawyers, both will end up rich.
  Lawyers rarely need more work.
plhearn, on 03/25/2008, -1/+5reminds me of this email to the guy at newgrounds.com

From: Dave McFarland (dhmcfarland@home.com)
Subject: your stupid game

you little dick your games suck the only thing you do is click and you see a bunch of crap,you should make it a little harder and more fun.

From: Dave McFarland (dhmcfarland@home.com)
Subject: An apology

Tom:

An apology to you is in top order.

I received your reply to an e-mail message that was sent to you not by me, but by my step-son. You may not remember, but he claimed your game was not difficult and he used very crude language in doing so.

As a result, he has lost his internet privileges for one month, along with other discipline.

Please accept my apology for the very crude remark he e-mail to you. Unfortunately for him, he will learn the hard way how to conduct himself behind the computer.

Dave McFarland

Apology accepted... But I have been scarred for life!

http://www.newgrounds.com/lit/hate_assassin.html
veriix, on 03/25/2008, -0/+6"In the digital age, your kids can embarrass you in more ways than one."
Yeah, because before the digital age there was only one way to embarrass ol' dad.
cronian, on 03/25/2008, -0/+6Coming up next, "How to Sue Your Kids for Releasing Your Company's Trade Secrets". 1) Suing your kids can be sensitive to your families relationships 2) Find a lawyer sensitive to these issues 3) We offer counseling as part of the package
way2muchsense, on 03/25/2008, -2/+7And then AT&T did indeed eat Cingular Wireless, and proved the kid's point. I would never have chosen AT&T; I know already that they suck, and this is why I was with Cingular in the first place. I now use Verizon, because they suck less, not necessarily because they're any good.
This was the second time this has happened to me. Our cable company, good old mediocre Adelphia Cable, got eaten by Time/Warner, which really, really, really sucks the big one. I now have DirecTV, because they suck a lot less (I still can't get locals - thanks, Rupert).
DaXueSheng, on 03/25/2008, -0/+10Let's give a shout out to all of our parents who are smart enough to know how to separate family from work. Evidently, the shmoozes that believe in this tripe of an article have chosen to adopt an either/or approach when it comes to dealing with their kids and their salaries. Not since The Simpsons have I seen someone seriously suggest that you hire a lawyer in order to deal with your kids.
-----------------------------------------------------------
Marge: So Lisa, how was your day?
Lawyer: You don't have to answer that!
mrno, on 03/25/2008, -2/+3I think this blogger is forgetting this is internet. Most intelligent human beings who are exposed to the net for few years don't take blogger's information in a serious manner. They don't have the journalists credentials. Many of them disappear if something bad happens and come back with a new identity. Since so many bloggers got paid by so many corporation to spread their viral marketing, I think people double check their facts now. I read blogger's information as an opinion article.
Shakermaker, on 03/25/2008, -0/+12"His 21-year-old son Jared, meanwhile, from his job at a Cingular Wireless store (then an AT&T subsidiary and since renamed), blogged that mergers inconvenience customers, and called the company’s policies “abusive to the customer,” “inappropriate,” and said they “violate [his] personal beliefs.”

This isn't your 13 year old child posting a party invite on a myspace page....author is an ignorant *****.
wexmajor, on 03/25/2008, -1/+7What a terrible article, but it deserves to be dug to showcase the disgusting and oppressive attitude of corporate life.
smackthenun, on 03/25/2008, -0/+6worthless article...i'm sure many of us are worried about our children's free thinking getting in the way of corporate mergers. ***** YOU BITCH for big business examples.
joevill, on 03/25/2008, -4/+2Interesting argument...

*note to self*
Do not have children!
zankster, on 03/25/2008, -0/+5This is stupid. Of course the kid has his own right to say what he wants. The time the father, who in this case is running another company or running a section of a company, should get involved is if something illegal went on. If the kid used insider information obtained from his father, then yes, do something about it. But the kid is working at a different company and is obviously educated enough to write about his perception of business practices. If another company is scared off by what this kid wrote, then they are being mismanaged.
- stretch611, on 03/25/2008, -1/+2Actually the kid (if you consider a 21 year old a kid) was working for Cingular which was a part of AT&T at the time.
Bilabrin, on 03/25/2008, -1/+4Uh.....This guy's kid couldv'e set himself on fire and ran streaking across the superbowl half-time show and he wouldn't have been able to stop this merger. This is business not a political campaign.

I can tell you from first person experience that,yes, the merger was abusive to customer needs and the executives absolutely know that and do not care. There is a certain amount they can get away with and still keep you as a customer. They have vast experieince discovering where that line is exactly and how close they can get to it. You, however, are a noob and can be controlled according to neat formulas created by advanced market data.
jerrycan, on 03/25/2008, -3/+1Kid is lucky he didn't mess with the Xbox...
stonklit, on 03/25/2008, -1/+4Actions of children are 100% independent of their parents.

For example, you raise a kid just fine and he steals something. They usually try to put ***** on the parents for that. Everyone here was probably raised fine and did incredibly stupid illegal ***** growing up. Is that your parents' fault? Nah.

Humans make their own conscious choices.
Daiken, on 03/25/2008, -2/+3Sigh, how did this even get to the front page. Everyone clearly agrees the author of the article is a moron. How can you ask to have someone's comments/posts to be removed because you don't agree with them? It doesn't matter if they're your child. You don't have absolute control over them, especially at the age of 21.
- Jlaugh, on 03/25/2008, -0/+1That whole article is just creepy. Although if the kid works for the same company he shouldn't bite the hand that feeds him, but that's his burden to bear not his parents.
LogicBomB, on 03/25/2008, -1/+4I'm a Liberal. The rest of my immidiate family is very, very anti-liberal. I guess that means I should just shut up and be a conservative as to not cause a fuss? ***** that.
kilgoron, on 03/25/2008, -0/+1All of these digg comments restores my faith in the Digg community and my fellow Americans as a whole being that all of you agreed that this corporate ***** is ridiculous and that AT&T needs to pull the plug on themselves for suggesting that a persons opinion in a country of free speech somehow threatens a multi billion dollar company.
baskin, on 03/25/2008, -0/+0interesting. so from the moment they are born, until they turn 18, children lose their right to free speech?
Masticity, on 03/25/2008, -2/+0Yeah thats awesome.
"Hey idiot. I'm paying the ***** bills around here! You cant tell the world that I beat you and sexually assaulted your sister. I'm trying to run a goddamn company!"
atarijedi, on 03/25/2008, -2/+0Here's an idea, dont give your children any reason to blog negatively about your company. dur!
IPublius, on 03/25/2008, -1/+2"But Giuliani addressed it directly at a town hall meeting in New Hampshire, and after that, didn’t let it become a further distraction. Strategically speaking, the isolated incident is unlikely to affect the former mayor’s bid for president."

No, but failing to win a single state sure did.
maskedm564, on 03/25/2008, -0/+1And you know what!?!? Jared is right on the money. My company in all its wisdom decided to get an at&t account and purchased lots of Treos. This was right around the time of the at&t and cingular merger. Supporting those treos through at&t during the merger was an absolute nightmare. Their customer support was god awful. At one point it took me almost 2 months to get a phone number ported from sprint to att. 2 months!!!

And to add insult to injury once the merger was done and it was the "new" at&t. Suddenly the "old" at&t treos were no longer supported. The sim cards would suddenly just not work for any data and when you called to get a new one you were told that they were no longer shipped and we had to order a a new device and sim! What *****! I currently have a box FULL of "old" at&t treos that are now for the most part worthless.

We now use Verizon and haven't looked back.
MrESaulved, on 03/25/2008, -0/+1Who the hell are all you idiots pimping Verizon with the same writing style and irrelevant tales of "mergers" and corporate history?
VitriolAndAngst, on 03/25/2008, -0/+1What happens when a company gets so large that you cannot work for anyone else? Say that AT&T becomes THE communications company again. Really, they are, but we have regional monopolies -- not real competition, just you have ONE company in the Southeast. So, if this kid is a telecom expert, his opinion now can get him blacklisted and he will either have to move across the country (good luck with the new monopoly and the same practices) or retrain from another career.

So, you are free to speak, except where you are an expert and making a living. So much for whistle-blowers if we have any more of these huge monopolies.
shinigami052, on 03/25/2008, -0/+1So basically this article is telling you to treat your child as some sort of criminal or enemy to which ever company you work for.

Great just what we need--more parents NOT teaching, learning and listening from their children. If your child posts something contradictory to what your job is doing (as in the AT&T example) why don't you talk to him/her and listen to what they have to say instead of trying to play dictator and quash their opinions.

oh and:
@ 3. Call Your Lawyer:
Your child should not have any information that could jeopardizes the goings on of your company. If you're important enough to know important stuff that most likely means you've signed an NDA which means if your child knows something, you've broken the NDA and you've got more problems then simply cleaning up their mess.
freqhz, on 03/25/2008, -0/+0at least there is one honest person in the family !!!
PantherX, on 03/25/2008, -0/+2Inaccurate. Title should be "How to be a complete douche." or perhaps "How to make sure your kids hate you and rightfully so."
Rapter09, on 03/27/2008, -0/+1Dugg for how absolutely ridicuous the article's premise is.
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Are Your Kid s Internet Postings Landing You in Hot Water

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