With the
combined help of the Maryland State Legislators, The American Civil Liberties
Union (ACLU) and Maryland
Department of Public Safety and Correctional Services employee Robert Collins,
the state of Maryland passed the nation’s first bill banning employers from
asking their employees and applicants for social media passwords. Six other
states have begun to follow this standard of ethics, proposing similar bills
that prohibit employers from accessing private social networking accounts.
Employers Crossing the Boundary of Ethics in order to Further Evaluate
Their Employees
When it comes to defining ethics, we tend to all agree on general
topics such as stealing and lying, but there are more complex ideas which have
been brought into topic as a result of our late technological advancements. In the past, when we heard the phrase “right
to privacy” the thoughts provoked mainly dealt with homes and mail and other
tangible properties. In today’s
day and age, we are forced to protect digital property such as emails and
online profiles. Unfortunately,
the enforcer of ethical issues is the law and they are often given very
difficult issues such as the meaning of public record and public information. The argument is often made that if you
do not have privacy settings on these online profiles, there are no illegalities
to be argued when an employer accesses your accounts. It is only when they force someone to give up their accounts
due to privacy settings that the line of ethics has been breached.
137 million Facebook users, the vast majority do utilize privacy
settings, many of which still claim to have faced privacy issues, one of whom
was Robert Collins. When Collins’
employer demanded he give up his account passwords in order to pass a
reinstatement interview, Collins felt “violated”. Leaving their employee with the choice of his privacy or his
livelihood, the Maryland Department of Public Safety and Correctional Services
not only violated the privacy of Collins, but also his friends, family, and
anyone else who could be accessed from the account, crossing an ethical
boundary of a right to privacy. As
a result, Collins notified the ACLU, and with the help of state legislators a
bill was passed which deems it illegal for employers to require personal social
networking accounts.
Its ironic really, that we claim our social media privacy is lacking
yet we constantly update our personal “statuses” for the world to see. And perhaps this fine line of ethical
privacies that we claim to be violated is
being violated, but we are not helping our own cause. According to consumer reports “almost 13 million Facebook users said they had never set, or didn’t
know about Facebook’s privacy tools. “ How can Americans expect their employers
to not check out their Facebook or Twitter pages if they allow for anyone with
Internet access to do so?
There are Additional Methods to Protect Your Social Networking Accounts From
Unwanted Eyes
In an interview with CNN,
computer expert Peter Vogel explained that when Facebook makes updates to its
Privacy settings, which it often does, they tend to receive a negative response
from consumers. However, Vogel claims that the majority of consumers choose to
never read Facebook’s privacy policies.
This consumer ignorance is responsible for many of the controversial privacy
issues, including employer invasiveness.
How can we make the argument that we our rights out being violated if we
accept the terms and conditions of a networking website without even glancing
at them? In addition to reading
the privacy settings, which these networks provide, there are other ways to
ensure your online image is the one that you would want employers to see. According to Forbes Magazine, Googling
oneself may be a good start.
Completing a background check of yourself beforehand will make you aware
of all possible issues. According
to Forbes magazine, Facebook has
made recent changes to its privacy settings, making it easier to find people
you are searching for. Make sure
you do not have any unwanted pictures of yourself as well as any other aspects
of your profile that may be considered unprofessional.
Ethical Standards Pose Controversy
It is clear that these issues are beginning to be solved but there are
simply too many complications to set a standard. We must take on our responsibility and protect ourselves and
our digital information. “After all, your online privacy should be up to you,
not the state you live in or your employer.” - American Civil Liberties Union
