Social networking has exploded in recent years. Virtually everyone (even your employer) engages in some sort of social networking activity. Employers use social networking websites to learn more about their job applicants, employees, and the individuals who sue them. As social networking has increased so has the number of employees terminated for their social networking activities. Two employees sued their former employer in New Jersey federal court earlier this year after they were fired for their MySpace activities. Brian Pietrylo and Doreen Marino created a MySpace forum to vent, complain, and make fun of their employer and supervisors. Management learned about the forum and terminated Pietrylo’s and Marino’s employment for violating the company’s professionalism policy. The Pietrylo case raised the question of whether an employer can terminate an employee for private statements made on a social networking website. Unfortunately, the Pietrylo case did not answer that question, leaving employees to wonder what social networking activities can result in termination. While there is not much clarity in this area, you should be aware of the following if you engage in social networking activities: You should not say or do anything in your social networking activities that you do not want public. You must realize that nothing on the internet is private. That is true even if your profile is set to private. For instance, I worked on a case where the plaintiff told his Facebook friends to lie to the EEOC and say that he was terminated because of his race. The plaintiff’s page was set to private leading him to believe that his communications were private. They were not. The EEOC dismissed the case when it saw the plaintiff’s Facebook page. You should not say or do anything that you do not want to be publicly available, because your information or communications can be accessed by current or potential employers, coworkers, recruitment agencies, government and law enforcement agencies, among others. You should assume that your employer is monitoring your social networking activities. It would be extremely difficult (if not, impossible) for an employer to monitor the social networking activities of all its employees. However, operating under the assumption that your employer is monitoring your activities will help you to avoid behavior that could get you fired. That tip may have saved a National Suisse employee’s job. Earlier this year, a National Suisse employee told her manager that she had a migraine headache that prevented her from using her computer. National Suisse allowed the woman to take a sick day to recuperate. Once home, the woman logged on to Facebook. National Suisse terminated the employee claiming that her behavior destroyed its trust because her Facebook activity unequivocally showed that she could use a computer. You should not make any comments, post any pictures, or engage in behavior that you do not want known by your manager. You should monitor what people put on your social networking page and say about you on the internet. The internet’s lawlessness has caused some to equate it with the wild west. The internet is lawless. You may conduct yourself flawlessly on the internet and still be harmed by a comment someone else makes on your page or a picture of you someone else posts. A forklift driver was terminated when his managers saw a video on YouTube of his at-work forklift stunts which included performing burnouts, wheelies, and crashing into stacks of pipes. The video was not posted by the forklift driver. It was posted by a coworker who filmed the stunts and thought they were “cool.” You should conduct regular internet searches to see what information is available about you. You should have negative or derogatory information removed. You should not disclose confidential company information. Employers terminate employees who disclose confidential company information on social networking websites. Last month, Barneys’ café terminated an employee for tweeting that an actress skipped out on her check. The employee did not mention the restaurant’s name. The employee was never told that he could not tweet about customers, was not asked to stop tweeting about customers, and was not previously warned that tweeting about customers was unacceptable and could result in termination. None of that stopped Barneys from terminating the employee on his first offense. You should not disclose your company’s confidential, private, proprietary, or privileged information on your social networking website or otherwise. You should know your company’s policy on social networking. On September 23, 2009, the Society of Corporate Compliance and Ethics reported that “social media has caught many employers by surprise” and company policies have not yet caught up with the explosion of social media use by their employees. There are some companies that have social networking policies. If your company has such a policy, you should know what your company says about acceptable and unacceptable social networking behavior. The lack of a social networking policy does not prevent you from being disciplined or terminated. Many companies that do not have formal social networking policies are using more general company policies to discipline employees for social networking activities. Companies often rely on their Confidentiality policy, Inappropriate Conduct policy, and/or Anti-discrimination policy in addressing employee’s social networking activities. In fact, two Burger King executives were terminated for their blog comments. Burger King did not claim the executives violated a social networking policy; rather, Burger King claimed that the employees violated company guidelines that prohibit employees from speaking for the company outside of official corporate releases, guidelines against disclosing information about private negotiations, among other guidelines. You should be aware of any company policy that deals with conduct or the disclosure of information before engaging in social networking activities. You should research whether your State has an off-duty conduct law. Employees can be terminated for virtually any reason provided the reason is not discriminatory. That general rule is changing in some States. Some States have enacted laws which prohibit employers from disciplining or terminating employees for non-criminal, off-duty conduct. For instance, New York has a legal activities law that prohibits discrimination against job applicants and employees who engage in lawful activities during nonworking hours. For another instance, Colorado has a law that prohibits employers from terminating employees for lawful off-duty conduct. The off-duty conduct laws have not been tested by an employee who was terminated for social networking activities. However, those laws would seem to apply to social networking activities which for the most part are not criminal. An off-duty conduct law should severely restrict an employer’s ability to terminate employees for social networking activities. You should determine if your state has enacted laws which prohibit discipline or termination for non-criminal, off-duty conduct. Employees’ social networking activities are increasingly becoming the basis for discipline and termination. A recent survey found that 17% of large employers have disciplined employees for social networking activities and 8% of large employers have terminated employees for social networking activities. Those numbers will probably escalate in the future, especially given the growing popularity of social networking. So, you should continue to network on Facebook, MySpace, LinkedIn, and Twitter, but be careful because your social networking activities can result in discipline, up to and including your termination. Shalanda Ballard is an employment defense attorney who has defended employers in all facets of employment litigation. Ms. Ballard was named in the National Register’s Who’s Who and in Law & Politics Magazine as a Rising Star. She has spoken at continuing legal education conferences and employment law seminars.
Dear friends, Thanks for your overwhelming appreciation for my blog(analystpal.com), starting 2009 my blog has received over hundred thousand hits and has been nominated for all categories for 2009 Social Security Awards. I am sincerely grateful to all my readers, subscribers, frequent visitors and to all the emails and comments by fellow bloggers of Security Bloggers Network, who inspired my curiosity and hunger for sharing more and more knowledge with the world. One aspect of the insane world of Information security was that of curious programmers and code breakers divided by guilt and pleasure of ethical and unethical, backed by organizations that were, are and will be above the philosophy of ethics. Continuing the insanity, we now have entered into a new era. Just few minutes of research on internet will land you to pages that disclose the future of world with Mind control technologies like Psychotronic weapons using light, sound and laser that are capable of making a human being behave like robot, all that is need is just their DNA information. News all over internet, about such technologies been embedded in various satellites by several countries proves that world war 3 can be fought and won without even a trace on planet earth Another perception that suggest a evolution era is that of Remote viewing (RV) by means of paranormal and extra-sensory perception, that has became so famous that internet is flooded with training centers and institutes offering training on astral traveling, astral sex and remote viewing by activating Pineal gland (discovered in 1990’s also known as third eye as per ancient Indian myths). Recently, millions of dollars have been funded on research of such powers used by ancient Indian seers and astrologers, now proposed for using them in concept of spying and surveillance. On my career path, I have also evolved ! Lately, I have completed my studies in Business strategies from England (UK) and will be transforming my future career from information security analyst to business strategist and business analyst. Analystpal.com from now on will no longer be posting information related to IT security topics but rather will be evolving to business analysis and potential businesses in various sectors. Best Regards, Analyst Pal Business strategies and Analyst You may also like this No Related Post
As the popularity of social media networking grows, so do the dangers and consequences. Recently I learned of a very interesting story about a frequent “Tweeter” who had his house subsequently burglarized after a revealing post. The man announced on the social networking service Twitter that he was going to be away from home for a period of time because he was going on vacation. His “Finally going on vacation!” post didn’t just excite him. His Twitter account was configured to also do a status update on his Facebook, which has no shortage of community members willing to share virtually everything about themselves. It hasn’t been proven that there’s a connection between the information he shared with potentially tens of thousands of people. It could be a random event that coincidentally lined up with his updated status on those two popular social networking websites. However, the point wasn’t lost on me that many burglars will stop at nothing to burglarize homes. I have no doubt there are professional burglars taking advantage of naïve people at some of the world’s most popular – and populated – social networking services. In the physical world, there are many things you can do to protect your home against would-be burglars. One of those things is to not advertise that you’re away on vacation. Stop mail and newspaper deliveries while you’re gone. Hire a house sitter if you can. A trusted neighbor or family member will ensure your home looks occupied while away. If you’re going to be gone for an extended period, arrange to have your yard work taken care of in the summer, and snow removal in the winter. These are all things that you can do, or have done for you while you’re away, to make a potential burglar think twice about burglarizing your home. In the online world there are also things you can do to protect you and your family against a variety of potential harm or damage. Keeping a tight rein on your private and personal information is rule number one. The more you divulge about yourself, particularly when the potential for easy access by strangers is higher, as it is on social networking websites like Twitter, Facebook, MySpace, Digg, and a host of others, the better the odds are that you will eventually be targeted for a scam or real world burglar attempt. Teach your kids to not divulge any personal information to strangers on the internet, and to never give out information like family schedules, planned trips or vacations, addresses, phone numbers, places of employment, and information about the physical makeup of the family residence. Children must be taught to never divulge anything about the consumer electronics equipment and other valuable family possessions under any circumstance. This is the information skilled burglars and con artists use to create a profile of a potential victim. An ADT monitored alarm can help protect your home whether you’re there or not. Security experts and ADT representatives want you and your family to be safe in your home, online, and all the times in between. Start taking home security seriously, and burglars will skip your house, opting for an easier target.
Like Myspace, Friendster is another popular social networking website founded by Jonathan Abrams in Mountain View, California. The techniques, on which this privately-owned social networking site is based, are mainly Circle of Friends and Web of Friends. Using those techniques, individuals are joined in a network of virtual communities. As per the latest record, the network has 50 million registered users. Friendster has a traditional Chinese site too, existing as a part of the main Friendster URL. The users of Friendster can also have video pages in their profiles from various sources like YouTube, Grouper, Sharkle, and many other video sites. The site is backed by Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, Benchmark Capital, DAG Ventures and individual investors. The main aim of Friendster is to help the users to keep in touch with old friends while getting new friends of same wavelength. People of the age of 18 and above choose to register with Friendster to get in touch with friends, family, school, groups, activities and interests. Friendster is popular because it delivers a clean, user-friendly and interactive environment where users can easily connect with anyone around the world. There are websites where one can find several customized Friendster layouts and Friendster background that he or she can use in his or her own profile. Along with these, Friendster also offers customization layout and background for the users that make the site more attractive to the users as well as the viewers. Friendster also boasts of a growing portfolio of patents granted to the company on social networking. Friendster was awarded with a patent in 2006 based on its 16th June 2003 application of a method and apparatus of calculating and displaying on social network. The system that is effective in the network is a combination of Circle of Friends and Web of Contacts. It collects descriptive data about several individuals and also points out other persons with whom they share personal relationships. The descriptive data and the relationship data are integrated and processed to reveal the series of social relationships with which any two individuals within a social network is connected. The users can even see the pathway that connects two individuals. A user can also determine the optimal relationship path with which he/she reaches the desired individual. There is also a communication tool with which a person in the system is introduced and can have direct communication. Friendster is considered to be one of the top online social networks and was, in fact, the most popular of its kind for quite sometimes; until the market was divided after the arrival of Myspace and it overtook Friendster as far as page viewing is concerned. Recently, the social networking websites have been facing competitions from some other networks of its kind like Windows Live Spaces, Yahoo! 360, and Facebook and newer sites like hi5. Google offered $30,000,000 to buy out Friendster in 2003, but the authorities turned down the offer. Associated Press claims that the rejection is often considered as one of the biggest blunders in the Silicon Valley.
The advent of numerous social networking sites have set a trend in the virtual society which is so prevalent in today day and age. You will hardly find anyone in your office who does not have an account with one of the several social networking sites. The most popular among them being Orkut, MySpace, Tagged, Facebook and Twitter. Given the fact that most of the profiles are publicly accessible its no wonder that a lot of cyber crimes and abuse is happening via these networks. It great to network with so many people while sitting in the comfort of your home or office but its equally important to be savvy about it. There have been numerous accounts of abuse on networking sites mostly with respect to girls. You can network a lot more safely if you follow a few golden rules. Avoid Posting Pics This has to be most important measure you would need to take as a girl to protect the misuse of your pics. Usually the profile pic in MySpace or Orkut cannot be misused much due to the size restriction, but ensure that you don’t post any close up pics on your profile. It is almost mindless to post personal pics for public access. There have been several incidents of misuse reported to the cyber crime departments in various states. The offenders are usually teens of enjoy morphing pics to give it a sexual overture. The last thing you would want is your dad calling you up to inform you that some colleagues in his office saw your nude pic on a profile, it is the easiest thing in the world to morph pics. It is difficult to track the offender in most cases. You can obviously get the pics removed by placing a complaint with the site maintenance group but the damage would already have been done. You can post your pics for private viewing entailing your close friends or relative to view it. Avoid Personal Information I am surprised at the number of profiles which carry information about their mobile numbers and the company they work for. This is ridiculous because you are making yourself vulnerable to any misuse of this information. In fact the last thing you want is to put your company information on your profile. If someone from your company like your manager gets to see your profile and saw how blatantly you had displayed the company name for everyone to view while maintaining a shoddy list of comments, you can get fired. People might even start contacting you to get a job in your company. Never display any personal information on public websites, that’s just common sense. Clear Unwanted Comments Just like you clear unwanted mails from your mail account you should follow the practice of clearing unwanted comments from your Myspace or Orkut account. In fact you should take care to delete personal comments from your profile or hide them. Personal information available via accessing your comments can in many cases be a free ticket to abuse. There are several graphical myspace comments available which can give your profile a jazzy look, but personal information contained in any of these comments can be problem something as simple as your birthday date. Don’t Talk To Strangers Your mom always used to tell you this and it is just as applicable to the virtual world as it is to the real world. Never make friends with stranger who approach you without any reference. Social networking is about building your network with a sense of security derived from the fact that any new people you make friends with is already a friend of your friend, that’s the beauty of it. So unless you are sure of the reference don’t add people to your friends list and worse don’t end up sharing information with them. This applies more to girls since most of the abuse is usually targeted towards them. From The Author: I hope these tips would help you network safely. If you are interested in downloading free graphical myspace comments you can visit orangiz.com. This article is can be reprinted as long as the links are maintained active.
