Facebook and employment interviews

by DaCheech 38 Replies latest jw friends

• 

  darthfader

  Interesting progression here:

  • Lie detector tests - I was subject to this back in the 80's
  • Drug tests - I have been tested since the early 90's
  • Credit Checks - I have been subjected to this since 2002
  • Social Impact Assessments (AKA, the Facebook/ Blogger / online media scan) - I have been asked this several times and refused each time.

  I understand why companies want to ask these questions, I don't believe that any of these are appropriate to subject employees to. I think that if someone applies for a "high risk" job handling money or something else of value, there should be an independent "certification/bonding" process in place to assist in vetting prospective employees. Your employer (even the tight lipped HR department) should have Absolutely no rights to any personal information about you except for possibly you bank routing number for direct deposit of you paycheck.

  DF...
• 

  JeffT

  There are a number of jobs where use of drugs is a direct safety/PR issue. If you drive a company vehicle, work with the public, children in particular, run machinery, etc they have a right to know that you're thinking clearly. When I was in rehab there was a butcher who had been sent there by is union because of his drinking. Running those bone saws while drunk is not a good plan.

  For accountants and the like, there personal financial status is a good indicator of possible trouble.

  Personally I think the solution to the facebook issue is to watch what you put on it. There was a flap recently here when our newly crowned Miss Seattle was caught tweeting about how much she dislikes the city.
• 

  Yan Bibiyan

  Um screw FB, won't find me there.

  In addition of having all your stuff out there, there is much deeper data minig possible, where your browsing trends (and locations you did it from), your behavior or reaction to ceratin news and a host of other parameters are meticulously logged. Without your knowledge or even idea for what they may be used one day.

  And while most people can innocently raise some virtual animal stock, the implications of their interaction with "friends" are way more valuable than the few dollars people spend on being the perfect useless farmer.

  Just saying...
• 

  sammielee24

  Within 20 years it won't matter if you are on a social media site or not. We are moving toward a cashless society all over the world. That means that every bank account, every location, every item you purchase - it will all be there for someone to find. You will leave a trail from morning to night. Some European countries are already on the fast track to being cashless - and as they remove coin machines from buses and subways for example, someone will know what time you were travelling and where you got off. Your browsing trends won't matter because that card swipe for the lettuce will be logged into the store database and it will know you eat salad. The government will quite possibly take taxes not off your check, but from your bank account directly so you can't escape your taxes due. Insurance companies are already pushing installation of GPS tracking devices and phone apps that send data directly to them and base your rates on the data.

  FB is just a little cog in the wheel...within twenty years we will have raised a generation of young people who have no concept of privacy or right to privacy....sammies
• 

  Yan Bibiyan

  True, Sammie, but for the time being I am not willing to just hand it over. And for what? For the privilege of paying real money, so my virtual salad can grow?
• 

  DaCheech

  years ago here in Jersey, the IRS went out on a spree to get the restaurants and pizzerias for tax evasion.

  most of these guys were putting alot of sales under the table, and paying 1/2 their staff under the table.

  The IRS put a requisition from all their suppliers on goods ordered. they used a formula and figured out what they should have made.

  guess what? they got busted for alot of $$$$.

  I have been made aware that my merchant services (amex, chase, mc, visa) will report to the goverrnent all their payout to me.

  they are getting ready to use computer analisys to catch tax evaders.

  to a point, I applaud them! there are still alot of industries transferring cash through hands without paying taxes.......... there are also alot of under the table employees being paid!
• 

  DaCheech

  I think from now on, I'm gonna post pictures only on FB for family use.

  90% of the "friends" will be cleaned out!
• 

  Yan Bibiyan

  Sammie, also, the mere mechanics of a purchase or whereabouts are so far trackable and "useful" to interested parties that offer services. That's not news.

  What the conventional data collection - through methods of payment and goods purchased - lacks is the behavioral element. I am talking about reactions to certain news, situations, restrictions, liberties, etc which are readily available by the fingerprints of your interaction with your "friends".

  This is what concerns me the most. The fact that at a point someone can buy the data of how, for example, the 25-35 year olds react to the increase of taxes, how long they keep the upheavel alive and what kind of "new cool video" yanks their alarming attention to a real issue in a different irrelevant direction.

  This is just one very rough and basic example of a sinister use of data, collected while you thought you were simply feeding your virtual cows...

  So let me repeat - screw FB.
• 

  sammielee24

  I'm not a big fan of cashless or any sort of swipe mining information but I realize that in the end, we can fight, but ultimately we will end up with little real privacy. For those of us old enough to remember a time when there were no camera's at every stop light, or a time when you paid cash for your groceries and nobody asked for your awards card, a time when people weren't suspicious if you put a dollar bill on the counter for your coffee...it is a time that generations won't know or understand.

  Just look at how far we have pushed forward with Orwellian ideas.

  I don't use all the little social media sites or play the virtual games that are out there, but I do read news sites and so I'm well aware that even that innocent action is being monitored. Not like the old days when you bought a paper and sat in the privacy of your kitchen and read the news without anyone filing the data of what paper I was reading or where I bought it or what time I picked it up.

  The government already sells social security numbers, driver license numbers and all other information they want. It's out there.

  We are watched continually. Our bank accounts are observed, we can't move freely with cash in our pocket, we are to be scrutinized for terror activity if we pay cash at Starbucks or for a hotel room, or for our food. Some countries to avoid tax issues and corruption are abolishing all cash for goods under $1,000...the list goes on. People need to be as careful as they can, don't give out passwords...but don't be paranoid...be smart and realize that you are alive today and with that life we are facing new challenges and new issues...think positive. sammies