The World Beyond BetterMost > Anything Goes
Internet privacy concerns (was: online reputation and real life reputation)
nakymaton:
Anyone who's known me for long knows that I'm paranoid about my internet life bleeding into my real life. I don't want casual RL acquaintances to be able to google my name and read all my online conversations. I don't want internet acquaintances to know who I am in real life.
Our internet past does not go away, and employers can find out a lot of things about us if they search hard enough. (One in four employers apparently uses search engines to screen employees. :o ) There was a story on NPR this morning about start-up companies that, for a fee, will help you clean up your internet record: http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=6462504.
It sounds complicated. Perhaps it is better to avoid being indiscreet.
Lynne:
This is interesting, Mel, and certainly food for thought...
Just for kicks, I googled all versions of my full name. The only applicable link that was returned was related to a paper I co-authored once - http://www.spie.org/web/abstracts/ircdrom.pdf.
Perhaps more disturbing is the number of hits returned that were not me, including obituary noticies, arrest records, myspace pages, etc.
But when I googled 'Lynne Brokeback' I hit on a link leading me straight to www.bettermost.net/forum, where - you are correct - anybody at all could read everything I've posted publicly here. I would assume hacker skills would be required to get into emails and PMs.
It certainly seems an invasion of personal privacy, particularly in the case of an employer. It strikes me as a form of discrimination to base a hiring decision on a candidate's activities outside the workplace - civic/social involvement, political views, sexual orientation, as well as any ubiquitous indiscreet pics that might surface. But of course none of these are spelled out (yet) as being illegal.
Furthermore, an employer could easily learn answers to questions that are definitely off-limit in a job interview (age, marital status, religion, etc..). This would clearly be illegal, but how would one go about proving that it had occurred?
One thing is certain - technology is advancing so rapidly in every area (medicine, biotech, high-tech, etc..) that the legal system doesn't have much hope of keeping up.
-Lynne
delalluvia:
--- Quote from: Lynne on November 15, 2006, 02:42:06 pm ---This is interesting, Mel, and certainly food for thought...
Just for kicks, I googled all versions of my full name. The only applicable link that was returned was related to a paper I co-authored once - http://www.spie.org/web/abstracts/ircdrom.pdf.
Perhaps more disturbing is the number of hits returned that were not me, including obituary noticies, arrest records, myspace pages, etc.
But when I googled 'Lynne Brokeback' I hit on a link leading me straight to www.bettermost.net/forum, where - you are correct - anybody at all could read everything I've posted publicly here. I would assume hacker skills would be required to get into emails and PMs.
It certainly seems an invasion of personal privacy, particularly in the case of an employer. It strikes me as a form of discrimination to base a hiring decision on a candidate's activities outside the workplace - civic/social involvement, political views, sexual orientation, as well as any ubiquitous indiscreet pics that might surface. But of course none of these are spelled out (yet) as being illegal.
Furthermore, an employer could easily learn answers to questions that are definitely off-limit in a job interview (age, marital status, religion, etc..). This would clearly be illegal, but how would one go about proving that it had occurred?
One thing is certain - technology is advancing so rapidly in every area (medicine, biotech, high-tech, etc..) that the legal system doesn't have much hope of keeping up.
-Lynne
--- End quote ---
YOW! :o :o :o
That was not good to read! I instantly went and googled myself. Luckily, I always use a pseudonym on the net except when I have no choice not to. Nothing came up with my name. Whew!!
RouxB:
That's pretty disturbing. Lynne, when Phil is back and up to speed, you might want to share this with him as this subject came up before and I'm thinking he said that our B'most info should not show up in a search. Looks like that isn't true.
O0
Lynne:
--- Quote from: RouxB on November 15, 2006, 11:00:55 pm ---That's pretty disturbing. Lynne, when Phil is back and up to speed, you might want to share this with him as this subject came up before and I'm thinking he said that our B'most info should not show up in a search. Looks like that isn't true.
O0
--- End quote ---
Yes, we'll need to show this to Phillip. I thought maybe that because I'm a moderator, my name shows up along with the Movie Resources forum heading. But I just googled 'RouxB Brokeback' and the second hit was the recent posts display.
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