Dan Geer Fired (was re: Technology Firm With Ties to Microsoft Fir

[Nomen Nescio]

The company I work for forbids its employees to discuss crypto issues
in public forums like this one.  That's why I only post anonymously.

They have several concerns.  One is the still-existent crypto export
regulations which could be construed to forbid technical discussions
of cryptography in public forums accessible to foreigners.  Another is
the danger that the employee might say something which could embarrass
the company, such as admitting problems in the company's products.
Employees may also find themselves talking to customers of the company
and say things different from what the sales representatives are telling
them, which leads to huge problems.

There are actually many valid reasons to keep employees from talking
publicly about technical issues in any field related to their employment.
Add to this the many political and legal issues that are specific to
cryptography and it is unsurprising that so many companies restrict what
their employees can say, as a condition of employment.

One thing I haven't heard in the Geer case is whether his employment
contract did have such limitations.  If not, he might conceivably have
grounds for a wrongful termination suit, although even then the company
could make a pretty good case that bad-mouthing one of the company's
biggest customers is valid grounds for dismissal.

It's also interesting that Geer claims in an interview [1] that he
approached nine differrent academic researchers who refused to sign on
to the report even though they agreed with its recommendations, because
they were afraid of losing funding.  I find this somewhat hard to believe,
first because I don't agree with the conclusions of the report (although
my analysis has been censored), and second because I don't think that
Microsoft controls that much academic research funding.  It's possible
that Geer is exaggerating or that the researchers were not completely
honest about the reasons for their lack of interest.

[1] http://www.eweek.com/article2/0,4149,1304620,00.asp