Monday, February 14, 2011

Privacy notes: Facebook Filtering Settled. And where do you expect privacy?

Privacy notes: 
-
By Selby Evans (Thinkerer Melville)
-
Settlement Reached in Employee Firing Over Facebook Commentary
-
The employee made unfavorable comments about her supervisor on Facebook.  The company fired her.
In the settlement, the company agreed to revise its employee handbook so the rules don't restrict employees from discussing their wages, hours and working conditions with co-workers and others while not at work. The settlement also prevents the company from disciplining or discharging employees for engaging in such discussions outside the workplace.  In regard to the particular employee, the allegations involving her discharge were resolved in a private and separate agreement with the company.
-
At least those protected by NRLB may survive when an employer does not like what it finds then saying.  Actually, I favor the view that this is a free speech issue, not really about privacy.  There is certainly no expectation of privacy in the case of a posting in Facebook.  
-
Apparently such a favorable outcome is not to be had in the case of Second Life.  Cummere Mayo describes considerable opposition to the action by Linden Lab of putting Second Life profiles on the web.
-
-
Cummere insists that the arrangement should have been opt-in.  I agree with that view, although I always assume, when I fill out a profile, that I am filling out publishable information.  
-
I must disagree with Cummere on one point:
-
" Inworldz and Opensim have much more stringent privacy policies with better enforcement."
-
Maybe they do now, but that is just for now.  There is no assurance that such policies and practices will continue.  Indeed, if people are dismayed to find that information they thought the were giving in private has now been made public by Linden Lab, they should take this as a lesson.

Don't give out information under the assumption that it will be kept private merely because some entity promises to keep it private.  Unless there are significant legal consequences to the failure to safeguard that information, assume that the information you are giving out is public. 
========================

No comments: