Privacy

The post from last week raised some interesting question regarding the employer monitoring of employee social media communications.  The takeaway – Do we need to rethink the sacrosanct division of our employment versus private lives? 

As social media use continues and increases, individuals are creating more and more online content. With more and more content out there, employers and potential employers can learn about the ongoing activities of their employees and job candidates. Before we even reach the issue of whether employer monitoring of prospective or current employees is proper, the first question is do we as a society need to accept the fact that by opting in to social media, we have essentially opted out some of our privacy rights?

As draconian as that may seem, the answer is yes.  Once we engage in these types of platforms, we are to some extent losing privacy rights, and what constitutes privacy has fundamentally changed. Employers, business associates, friends, and other voyeurs are going to look at this type of information and in many instances we want them to do so. Why else would we post?

It would seem likely that most people would accept the proposition that the use of social media leads to less privacy. After all, we literally let in some cases hundreds of our nearest and dearest friends view status updates, pictures, and information about our likes and dislikes.   But, how much is too much?  Where is the line?  There isn’t one yet.