Suing workers for allegedly disclosing company secrets via the Internet.

A lawsuit brought by defense contractor Raytheon Corp. is raising questions about the wisdom of chatting about one_s employer online. The corporation is suing 21 people for allegedly disclosing company secrets via the Internet. Raytheon officials believe the online chatters work for the company, and have asked Yahoo! Inc. to identify the real names behind the electronic handles. Yahoo! runs the offending chat group, but isn_t eager to unmask its clientele. A spokeswoman for Santa Clara, Calif.-based Yahoo!, said the company will comply with a subpoena if one is issued, but otherwise won_t disclose a user_s identification. The case underscores a difficulty with Internet chat groups, which encourage the kinds of conversations that might otherwise take place after work in a bar. The electronic message boards create an illusion of privacy that can embolden people to broadcast their thoughts all over the world. That_s exactly what Raytheon wants to keep its employees from doing -- at least when it comes to information about the company. The messages revealed what Raytheon -- a $19.5 billion company with 100,000 employees -- claims are company secrets, mostly about manpower projections and financial issues. In the complaint filed in Middlesex Superior Court in Cambridge last month, Raytheon_s lawyers claimed the workers violated their employment agreements by disclosing confidential information. But much of the information revealed was either speculative, inaccurate or already public.