one of the things i would like to focus on in this blog is the rise of people (namely employers) using social network pages (such as facebook) to gain information that they would otherwise probably not have access to. this has been a topic in the news lately.
check out http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=5&objectid=10477932 for a pretty interesting article in the nzherald archives: it makes a very valid point, saying that 'the cost to a person's future can be very high' if something a bit embarassing/risque/private they post on facebook is seen by their employer. from everything i have seen and heard about this subject, it seems like this is becoming a more common practice for employers - i wonder if figures actually support that, or if its all just hype and techno-fear? also mentioned in the article is the perceived practice of social networking sites of giving out information about their users to other brands and companies. surely this goes against ethics?
speaking of employers, this topic also raises the question of whether or not your employer should be able to monitor your emails. i took some time off from uni last year and worked for 6 months - the government-owned company i worked for had a message come up onscreen whenever you logged in each morning that said all website visits were monitored, however thinking about it now it was unclear whether or not workplace emails were monitored. while i think it is overstepping a boundary, i can certainly understand why a workplace would have a policy like that - especially if, like where i worked, information gleaned within the workplace was very confidential. other blogs have raised the point that maybe work email surveillance is ok, but personal email surveillance isn't, and i agree. however, in certain fields it would not surprise me if some employers did not.
in some ways, it could be argued that what people do in the privacy of their own home - and what they post online - is their business. on the other side, you could justify an employer looking at a potential employee's facebook page by saying that if you post something online you're inviting people to look at it, as the internet is a public domain. so the idea of online surveillance really is a contentious one, and a subject i am not sure i'm decided on.
1 comment:
Interesting...in regard to employers whom use online portals like facebook to look into their employees past or personal life is down right creepy!!
There was this episode on doctor Phil that amplified a group on Facebook called 30 reasons girl should call it a night - this group has pictures of drunk wasted girls having a good time. A possible employers was present as part of the panel and he stated that he wouldn't hire someone who would even consider posting disturbing pictures of them self on Facebook.
The way i look at it,is that we all do stupid things in our life, but why should we be judge by them in the future.
Post a Comment