TechCrunch Intern Fired For Receiving Macbook Air For Blog Post

by Blair Hickman | 4:06 pm, February 5th, 2010

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This week, TechCrunch suspended Daniel Brusilovsky, an intern in the throes of his Senior year of high school, for requesting a Macbook Air in exchange for writing a post about a start-up. When a further investigation revealed that Brusilovsky had received under-the-table compensation–including another computer–for previous posts, they fired him.

The intern in question is an Internet prodigy who had been with TechCrunch since August 2008. According to his blog, he has allies such as Robert Scoble and has spoken at conferences around the world, like BizTech Day, the International Consumer Electronics Show, MacWorld 2010 and Under 21 – Digital Natives in Rome. He also started the Teens in Tech Network.

But despite Brusilovsky’s Internet prowess, he’s can’t yet legally drink, smoke cigarettes, rent a car, purchase pornography or be sued. That’s right, Brusilovsky is under 18. As a result, TechCrunch only revealed his identity after Brusilovsky addressed the issue on his personal blog:

“In some way or another, a line was crossed that should have never been,” Brusilovsky writes. “At this time, I do not want to go into details, but I will publicly say that I am truly sorry to my family, friends, TechCrunch, and especially the tech community…This is the first day of the next learning stage for me. Yes, I am young, but from here, I can only learn more.”

Clearly, Brusilovsky’s experience precedes his maturity, as it would for anyone so young. However, as the blogosphere grows, and old-school publications like this one have trouble adapting, youth will increasingly become the content creators. They either don’t need to produce such high-profile pieces, or they need a journalism boot camp.

However, this also highlights the broader issue of freelancer and intern compensation. Check out this August 2008 post from TechCrunch’s blog:

“Summer is a great time at TechCrunch – a flood of smart, enthusiastic and, best of all, cheap labor flows into our office (my house in Atherton), and stuff just starts getting done. And since my house is overrun with these bright and cheery young faces who are just so ridiculously enthusiastic about everything, I bail for most of the summer to the San Juan Islands in Washington.”

If the interns’ value-add is so high that Arrington can skip down to the San Juan Islands, then perhaps they should be paid more. Or at least allowed to accept compensation with full disclosure.

The same goes for print publications, as most recently highlighted by The New York Times contentiously strict freelancer policies. Publications can’t afford full-time staff. Freelancers can’t afford to live on meager wages. So if the Times can adapt their paper to the iPad, then they should also be able to adapt their policies to an increasingly freelance-driven workplace.