"The trouble started with a Google search."

I am an Operations Manager for United Airlines. Last Monday, September 8th I arrived to work and was immediately surrounded by employees asking, "Is United going bankrupt again?" My heart sank to the bottom of my stomach and remained there until later in the afternoon. It was several hours before United Airlines released a press statement and confirmed that the company was NOT entering bankruptcy and that any stories regarding the company filing for Chapter 11 protection were false. In the mean time, we at United watched as our UAL stock (which most employees own) plummeted.

The article http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/26608735/#storyContinued exemplifies the "double edged sword" created when organizations use IT to change processes and create a competitive advantage as discussed in our first class meeting. Last Monday, a employee at investment newsletter Income Securities Advisors Inc. in Miam, Fla., entered the words "bankruptcy" and "2008" in a Google search. The result of the search was an article from 2002 detailing United Airlines entering bankruptcy. The article the staffer read referred to United Airlines filing for bankruptcy on Monday morning. The employee thought the article was current and assumed the "Monday" referred to the current day. In reality, United Airlines filed for bankruptcy on Monday, December 9th 2002. The President of the company stated that there was no date on the article and there was simply the mention of the weekday "Monday."

At 10:43Am the employee posted a summary of the story (originally from the Sun Sentinel) on the financial service site Bloomberg. United (UAL) stock dropped minutes after the story was posted before trading was halted less then a half hour later! Perhaps the most frustrating part of the entire story, however, is the total and complete lack of accountability surrounding the posting of the false information. The President of the financial services company Richard Lehmann stated, "his firm did nothing wrong in posting its summary of the Chicago Tribune story. The story that we put up was a very accurate translation of the story that appeared in the Chicago Tribune. The only thing was, it was five years ago."

I am in total and complete disbelief that the President of the company is taking no accountability. He goes on to say, "We've been doing this for going on 10 years, and this kind of thing has never happened before, so I don't think this calls for any change in procedure." It is a sad commentary of how little accountability there is in corporate America's CEOs and Company's Presidents. In age of instant information exchange, does it seem odd to anyone else that he calls the article from five years ago "a very accurate translation of the story that appeared in the Chicago Tribune?" Perhaps if he had stood amongst my employees that morning and saw the fear and trepidation in their eyes that they were loosing their jobs his response would not be so cavalier.

I can not speak to the financial implications the article had on our corporation. I can speak to the aforementioned effect the article had on my employees. In my opinion, the Income Securities Advisors Inc. should change "their use of IT" and publish current and relevant financial news. Bloomberg stated, "We do not edit third-party websites or other new organization content. Rather, in addition to our proprietary content and news, we provide information from various sources that Bloomberg users can view." Bloomberg should hire people to edit contributions to their financial information service. Investors count on them for timely, accurate and complete information. Not news from 5 years ago.

The bottom line is that the sharing and posting of digital information can be harmful not only for corporations but to employees as well. Investment information companies should be held liable for posting false information or misleading people. I do not think the Income Securities Advisors Inc. were malicious in their intent, just sloppy and careless in their posting of the story on the financial service Bloomberg. Digital information sharing can be an amazing tool to give people information and to help them make informed investment decisions. It can also be a double edged sword.