Posted on 06/26/2011 8:15:24 PM PDT by ruralvoter
The Federal Trade Commission has approved a controversial firm which scours social media sites to check on job applicants.
It means anything you've ever said in public on sites including Facebook, Twitter and even Craigslist could be seen by your would-be employer.
The Washington-based commission has ruled the firm, Social Intelligence Corporation, complies with the Fair Credit Reporting Act - even though it keeps the results of its searches on file for seven years.
(Excerpt) Read more at dailymail.co.uk ...
I’m continually amazed at the things some of my Facebook aquaintances say on that site. One of them liked to post about his drinking binges (he was under 21 at the time). Another continually trashes her ex-husband—I think she will live to regret that when he gets fed up and takes her to court to modify custody/child support of their son. You can learn a lot about a person on Facebook, much of it info that person didn’t consciously intend to convey.
Haha! Worst fb posting I saw was this woman announce she had STD’s and wanted prayers!
“How do they track our freerepublic posts?”
I don’t know, but my boss knows everything I have ever posted.
Of course...I am my “boss” ;-)
My last three bosses were so inept, the businesses are no longer in business. Attractive men in expensive business suits does not equate to competence (nor does how long the company has been in business or how well known is the company name).
Oh shoot! My brother’s middle name is Wayne and I have two people in my family with the middle name Earl.
Oh, oh. My boss is an extreme Democrat.
Hope he doesn’t find the posts here where I said that Obama is a colossal twit who should be impeached, that Jimmy Carter is basically a traitor and that Democrats in general tend to be be liars and sex maniacs.
That Florence Henderson is shameless.
I would suggest posting on the interwebs is more like sending a letter to the editor.
If you don't want it to be public, you shouldn't publish it.
Email communication, in theory, is private, but a public post? Not so much.
Uh, just in case, I want to state that everything I have ever said on FR is just a joke, boss.
I hate working for other people...they’re usually there by default. Yes, I agree with you. I can’t wait to fire idiots, not be hired by them. Better yet, not even hire them.
But I doubt they can find anything without a first and last name, much less connect the different emails to anything.
And I really love my boss' wife.
Oh, wait ...
And I really love my boss' wife.
Oh, wait ...
Additionally, it is possible to register on FB as "12345_frobozz" but then will your friends go to the same great length to hide themselves? If not, they will tell the whole world who you are. If you want privacy you should have no FB account, and preferrably no friends who know your real name.
Accounts on Web sites like FR are not a big concern. FR doesn't ask the contact information, and it doesn't insist on usernames being real. About 100% of usernames here have no connection to a name, let alone an actual person. To be double-sure you shouldn't reuse the usernames between sites. Then it becomes extremely difficult (and probably not worth of trying) to match posters here and elsewhere to real persons.
An executive summary therefore is simple. If you have a Twitterbook account, delete it. You will be better off without it. You still can talk to your friends, but you don't have to do it by sending them an equivalent of notarized depositions so that the whole world knows about them and can store them forever at uncountably low cost. Just call your friends, or meet them, or send them an email if all else fails. Emails are still private, though Google works hard to change that.
If someone believes that I'm too afraid of computers, I'm working with them since 1980's and I only know too well how dangerous they can be when programmed by people who are determined to spy on you. Computers are good, but as most tools they must be used with care. The generation of twitterers just hasn't realized it yet.
giotto posted on Sunday, June 26, 2011 10:51:37 PM: “For as long as I’ve been on the web, I have always operated on the assumption that any and everything I put on the internet can and will be seen by anyone in the universe.”
And that is a very important piece of advice to remember.
I periodically Google myself just to see what's out there. I probably shouldn't have been surprised to find the earliest reference was from the 1970s, prior to the creation of the modern internet. I've been able to find things by family members dating back to the 1960s that I have absolutely no doubt they never had a reason to believe would go public, but which have been made public by mandates that government records be released.
Even old stuff from BBS systems sometimes gets archived and shows up on the internet, not to mention college publications, old newspapers, and other books and magazines getting digitized.
If you don't want everyone to be able to read what you say, don't say it, and **DEFINITELY** don't write it.
There was a time when there was a division between work and your life.
I am old enough to recall the phrase...”leave it at the door.”
I have a big issue with employers scouring the social sites to control their employee. And that is exactly what it is...control.
On the clock behavior ....is the employer’s realm.
Off the clock behavior....none of their darn business.
This is a form of the new fascism in case you have not realized it yet. You will think, speak, and act accordingly or you won’t be employed.
"Never write if you can speak; never speak if you can nod; never nod if you can wink,"
“Social Intelligence Corporation”
It should get interesting when this company is linked to 5 million porn sites, and it’s battling 100,000 abuse of server complaints every day. The dopes are also hanging a huge sign that says, “Hackers Welcome!” Can’t wait to see the CEO as a member of the KKK.
Profit, if it makes any, will be spent on mountains of security and legal costs. Talk about stupid...
Listen to the point ~ it's not where the words are stated ~ (public or private) nor what the occasion was ~ (email or letter), it's WHO uttered the words.
You can be PROSECUTED for certain words (uttering threats, or intimidation, or fraud, or deception, or lies in court) because those words are your words.
Current copyright law gives you ownership of them ~ and if you weren't "selling them" that doesn't mean some yahoo can just come along and "sell them". This company proposes to just take your words and sell them to somebody else.
They are using an entirely different piece of law to justify publishing your letter.
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