网络时代：8小时后有“言论自由”？

“You are a son of *****… Your mother was a female pig!” a female realtor typed in a Wechat group, directed at a male group member.

她对一名和她并不熟识的群友的攻击更为不齿：“你老婆是人尽可夫的婊子……你理该得到这种报应。”

“Your wife is a ***** who has slept around… You deserve no better woman as you are such an ***hole,” she attacked another who barely knew her.

《大中报》此前曾报道过该名女性房地产经纪人的所作所为，她因被微信群的其他成员指称为支持其政治争论的论据而捏造事实，此后她便对其他群组成员发起了辱骂攻势。

According to a previous Chinese News report, this female realtor hurled insults at other group members on Wechat after she was alleged by other group members for fabricating facts to support her arguments over a political controversy.

实际上，该名女群员的污言秽语只是互联网世界的冰山一角，随着摄像头和微信群等相关技术不断发展，一些人的无礼举动得以在整个社会中迅速传播。

In fact, her degrading comments are just the tip of the iceberg in the internet world, as the technology – including video cameras and Wechat rooms— have allowed disrespectful behavior to spread through our society.

这些言论随即震惊了整个微信群。群组成员简直不敢相信这些污言秽语竟会出自一个从事专业工作，且其社交技能对其职业生涯成功至关重要的职业女性之口。出于抗议，一些人立即退出了微信群，还有一些遭到攻击的群员则要求她立即道歉。

Her comments immediately shocked the entire group. They could hardly believe that these comments were from a woman who holds a professional job and whose social skills play a large role in the success of her career. In protest, some quickly left the chat room, whereas those being attacked demanded an immediate apology from her.

但她非但没有道歉，反而继续其网上攻击行为，直到有一名群员在谷歌上搜索到她的联系信息，并威胁称要联系她的上司。

But instead of expressing regrets, she continued with her onslaught, until a group member Googled her contact information and threatened to approach her employer.

该名在群里自称是一家知名房地产公司经纪人的女群员可能以为在她的私人时间里完全有权自由发表言论，无论这些言语有多粗鲁无礼。她可能从未想到其行为可能会被报告给其雇主，而更糟糕的是，她还有可能因此被公司炒鱿鱼。

This woman who identifies herself in Wechat group as a realtor with a prominent real estate company might have assumed that on her own time, she was entitled to make any comments she wanted – regardless of how derogatory or disrespectful they were. And she may have never realized that she faced risks of being reported to her employer, and worse – being expelled from the company.

虽然长期以来人们一直都认为员工下班后的行为并不会成为解雇的理由，但是日益普及的社交媒体却彻底改变了游戏规则。发帖者的粗言秽语和评论即使被删除，也仍然会成为其难以磨灭的电子足迹，并会影响其声誉。尽管该名女群员是在班后发表上述言论，但它们仍有可能迅速曝光，并导致其公司的公关部门以及其法律部门采取措施。

While it has long been expected that employees’ behavior outside of the office are not grounds for termination, the rise of social media has dramatically changed the game. Your derogatory verbal slurs and comments, even after being deleted, can still become part of your digital footprint and smear your legacy. Despite the fact that her comments were made off the clock, they could be quickly exposed to the public, becoming as much a problem for companies’ public-relations teams as it is for their legal teams.

一周之前，在一段显示两名男子对CityNews女记者口出秽语的视频迅速传播后，Hydro One的一名职员因此丢掉了饭碗。据媒体报道称，当这名女记者在多伦多FC足球赛场外进行实况报导时，该名男子突然打断她并对着摄像机狂喊污言秽语。

Just a week ago, a Hydro One employee lost his job after a video showing two men making sexual slurs to a CityNews reporter went viral. According to media reports, a man interrupted a TV reporter doing a live hit at a Toronto FC game and made extremely obscene comments to the camera.

当女记者因此提出质问时，该名男子非但不思悔改，反而继续口出脏话。

When confronted by the reporter, the man made offered no regret, instead continued to make disrespectful and degrading comments.

在事发后，该名男子立即被网络侦探确认身份，被爆其是曾跻身今年阳光名单(年薪过10万)的Hydro One工程师Shawn Simoes。面对公众以及包括韦恩省长在内的数名政客的强烈反应，Hydro One被迫解雇Simoes。

The man was quickly identified by Internet sleuths as Shawn Simoes, a Hydro One Engineer who made it onto the Sunshine List (with salary over $100,000) this year. Facing a huge wave of backlash from the public and several politicians including Kathleen Wynne, Hydro One was forced to fire Simoes.

Hydro One发言人Daffyd Roderick在一份声明中称：“Hydro One已经采取措施解雇违反公司行为准则的员工，尊重他人是本公司的基本行为准则和价值观，我们致力于打造一个对任何形式的歧视或骚扰都是零容忍的工作环境。”

“Hydro One is taking steps to terminate the employee for violating our Code of Conduct,” Hydro One spokesman Daffyd Roderick said in a statement. “Respect for all people is ingrained in the code and our values. We are committed to a work environment where discrimination or harassment of any type is met with zero tolerance.”

上述那名女性房地产经纪人的无礼言论可能也会遭到其雇主的零容忍。在一名群组成员最终联系其雇主后，对方承诺会对此事进行调查。

The disrespectful comments from the female realtor might also be met with zero tolerance from her employer. One member eventually decided to contact her employer. The company has promised to begin an investigation into the matter.

劳工法律事务所Rudner MacDonald LLP的合伙人拉德纳表示，在过去，只有当员工的班后行为直接损害到雇佣关系或是对其雇主产生某些影响时，他们才有可能因此受到处罚。

In the past, employees could be punished for behavior outside the office only if it directly hurt an employment relationship or impacted their employer in some way, according to Stuart Rudner, a partner at the employment law firm Rudner MacDonald LLP.

拉德纳称：“如果他们有可能被爆出工作单位，就会对雇主产生影响，从而会招致处罚。”

“If it’s possible to identify where they work, it can impact the employer and therefore lead to discipline,” Mr. Rudner said.

科技是一把双刃剑。虽然科技为污言秽语打开了泄洪闸，但同时也将不良行为置于公众的持续监督之下。在社交媒体主宰的当今社会中，隐姓埋名的幻想只不过是自欺欺人罢了。

Technology is a double-edged sword. While it has opened a flood gate of rude remarks and insulting slurs, it has also put bad behavior constantly under public scrutiny. Assumption of anonymity doesn’t’t exist in today’s social media world.

编注：本文曾在2015年5月《大中报》上发表。

Note: The story was published in Chinese News in May, 2015.