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Security

Being an employee of a large evil corporation and a blogger is a life fraught with difficulties and pitfalls. Much like a man married to a rich yet insane widow with a more fulfilling mistress, one has to tread very carefully indeed. The consequences are excessive to say the least. Much like the aforementioned man, of course, one cannot simply give up the mistress, and in fact the longer one is married to the insane widow, the more one needs the attentions of the mistress. And so one continues to blog and to blog about work - to abruptly drop the uncomfortable metaphor.

Lately there's been a focus on "information security" at the office. In order to drive the point home the corporate thought police have put posters up all over the place, with a fellow in a cleanroom (or "bunny") suit with a sullen look in his eyes holding hands with a pre-pubescent girl in a white walled room. The girl has a strange smile on her face which contrasts with the threatening look in the man's barely visible face. The whole thing has the air of a child who has been or is about to be abducted and possibly molested. The large caption says "Who is Protecting [Faceless Corporation]?", but gives off the message, "Who is Protecting your Children from [Faceless Corporation]?"

aside: The reasonable desire for the protection of intellectual property is not something to be sneezed at. The mixed messages of the corporate propaganda machine are. What sort of message are we getting from our marketing team when they provide us with a pamphlet about our brand image and how we protect it, that contains images of outsiders in sensitive areas? What sort of messages are sent with pictures of small children watching wafers being handled manually by people in the wrong garb? When marketing can't stay on message then what can the rest of us do?

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