They are not the first. Just the first to get coverage. It's always who you know - never forget that.

It's not McCarthyism. It's an inquisition. The old compact with corporations was almost feudal loyalty - you support the company, they support you. In the 1980s that changed and corporate morale went into the gutter. The corporations turned to culture. In reality corporate culture is more like a cult. Google set up to their culture to appeal to people who want to make a difference in the world. One of their cult's tenants is that they are the good guys, righting old wrongs. Google image searches for american inventors, etc. Hiring someone who acted contrary to the culture is like appointing a catholic priest that worships a pagan idol to a devout dioceses. The faithful call out to their high priests for justice. Issues like this represent very real threats to corporations. Without their faith, employees are only their to cash a check and have zero loyalty to the organization. An org who hires top talent like google starts having retention problems and they lose some of their edge.

Transient anonymity brings out the worst in everyone Mr. Anonymous Coward.

I've been in and around tech a really long time. The sad fact is 95% of employees are easily replaceable. 80% are outright disposable with minimal hassle. If these employees were indispensable they wouldn't have been separated. Those 5% at the top were going to get poached regardless of this. Either by other companies, or by starting their own endeavors. The rest delude themselves into thinking they have security for *reasons*. Because the thought that they could have their livelihood severed within thirty minutes for no reason at all is pretty terrifying. This will have zero consequences for Arenanet. Most of their customers won't even be aware of this. Employees get fired in every sector every day for the contents of their social media. Who you hire reflects on you as a business. What you say on social media reflects on you as a person. I don't feel bad for Jessica Price in the slightest. I do feel bad for Fries. I read his deleted tweets and his sin was trying to explain her behavior and head off a social media lynch mob. He didn't deserve to take a pitchfork over it. I believe he was fired because he was a man who violated the social media policy at the same time and the same way as the woman they were firing. If they were worried about further bad press or lawsuit they had to let him go.

This one is easy, easy, easy to kill. Your headers to the webserver are a copyrighted creative work if you customize them at all. Verizon is creating an unlicensed derivative work. Any legal eagles willing to run with this?