I find this passage to be hugely important in helping me make decisions in my life, particularly regarding issues of ownership and control.  It also would seem to be a sage reminder for even the non-theist, and for anyone overly fixated on their 'rights'.  

The Associated Press has just published some guidelines for their employees to follow in regards to their online social networking presences.  (http://www.wired.com/images_blogs/threatlevel/2009/06/apsocialnetworkingpolicy.pdf)  The policy indicates that even employee's personal web pages or social networking pages are subject to the Associated Press' (AP) policy.  Their employee's online presence is not solely the employee's any longer.  The AP is seeking to assert a level of control about how employees utilize social networking sites, as well as how the comport themselves as representatives of the AP.

I'm sure there's going to be a lot of squawking about this.  It's - to my knowledge - the most comprehensive such regulation on permitted employee usage of social networking sites.   But I can't see as how the squawking is going to change much.  This is the reality of our new over-connected age - the idea that we can compartmentalize and cordone off each section of our life (personal, public, business, entertainment, etc.) is rapidly being shown for the falsehood it's really always been.  What we do in one aspect of our lives can affect all of our life, and to pretend otherwise would seem to be a recipe for disaster.  Additionally, our employers should rightly have a say in how we conduct ourselves 'off the clock'.  Much as it used to be, nobody is ever truly off the clock.  Once upon a time it was because people lived in small, tightly knit communities where everyone knew everyone.  Now it's because practically anything someone places online is stored in perpetuity, and we aren't always sure by whom and for what ends.

In some professions, this has always been understood to be the case.  Clergy, for example, are held to very high standards of personal behavior, and it isn't  very effective to argue that because you were 'off the clock', those standards shouldn't apply.  In professions such as these, it's understood that we're never really off the clock.  The AP is asserting that this is even more so - for even more professions - now.  Their standards are not just for reporters, but for any AP employee.  Whether you're working in the mailroom or submitting stories on the wire, the same standards apply to everyone, at all times.  

Reminds me of another cherished verse - There is nothing new under the sun. - Ecclesiastes 1:9