SNS and the law

The internet raises tons of questions about privacy rights, and keeping personal information private. when Google really took off employers began googling potential employees. Now that everyone has social network site profile pages, employers are accessing MySpace and Facebook profiles while screening applicants for positions. law professors are beginning to write on the ramifications of this type of applicant screening. unfortunately their position is not very hopeful for all us social network site users, and bloggers. it all comes down to an individuals' (because they will not make mass claims for all users) perception of their own right to privacy when using these sites. in f2f situations, if i tell 1 person a big dark secret and a week later the news is running my terrible story, i can sue, i had a reasonable expectation that my secret would be kept. if i post that secret to my facebook page, and only 5 people have access to that part of my facebook page because i've done a stupendous job with all my security settings, i'm covered. if i thought i set my security settings, but now everyone knows my secret, i have no rights. so the law can't necessarily protect the users of these sites when it comes to privacy. but, the sites protect the user from employers in a way. the popular SNS require log in, and if you create a log in you must confirm you won't violate the terms of use, which prohibit misuse of the pages. if a particular person has privacy settings, and a potential employer finds a way around those privacy setting, the employer is violating terms of use of the website. of course proving any of this in a court of law has not happened yet, and will be incredibly difficult. so remember kids, what you put out there stays out there forever, for everyone, and so far the law isn't planning on protecting us.