British man sacked for having opinion

[Steve]

Opinions are dangerous in this country of free speech. Got any thoughts on intellectual property and copyright? You'd be best not the voice them if you work for certain companies, as poor Alex Hanff found out.

Alex Hanff was asked to appear on last Monday's Newsnight programme to talk about the recent Supreme Court decision against Grokster. Hanff, who is from Lancaster, was of interest to Newsnight because back in March he was sued for copyright infringement by Paramount, Twentieth Century Fox, Universal and Warner Brothers.

Hanff worked as a trainer and consultant for Aldcliffe Computer Systems, also based in Lancaster. He was given permission to leave work 45 minutes early to meet the Newsnight camera crew. He returned to work on Tuesday.

Hanff told the Reg: "At first everything was fine then at lunchtime the technical director came in and fired me. He told me it was because of my opinions and there was no right of appeal." Although Hanff had only been working at Aldcliffe Computer Systems for a week he said the full-time position was a dream job: "I turned down a higher-paid post because this was a career position and a fantastic opportunity."

Whoops! Read more, including a statement from the owners of Aldcliffe Computer Systems, over at The Register.

[unrealuniverse]

How could someone do this. free speech means you can say what you want as long as it doesn't harm others. From what i have read he hasn't gone against this "Law" and therefore has been unfairly dismissed.

Maybe they're wanting to steal some limelight off AMD and their court cases, who knows.

[iMc]

Originally Posted by unrealuniverse

free speech means you can say what you want as long as it doesn't harm others.

Thats the problem... big companies see it as harming their reputation, and subsequently their profits, when staff voice their opinions. They are not willing to take the risk of having someone with 'different' views onboard.

This case in particular is laughable.

[Lord Kordir]

I can understand the company's point of view but why did they encourage him (letting him leave early to go the interview) without voicing their concerns before hand? This strikes me as seriously unfair.

I'm sure he'll get another job soon though with a company that has a little more respect for it's staff.

[Logan[TeamX]]

PWNT.

That's just pathetic.

[Rave]

http://www.tribalgroup.co.uk/

http://www.tribalgroup.co.uk/contact_us/

If you want to express your own opinion.