Is it ethical or legal for employers to look at your facebook or myspace?

I actually haven't. But some people who need a job or who didn't understand their rights have been exploited that way. I have to say again EXPLOITED. And it's ILLEGAL to do what employers have been doing.

 

What exactly is illegal?

 

As an employee, I'm glad to hear this.

 

Asking or demanding social network access of employees and potential hires. So if you know of anybody who has done this...they broke the law. It's just a matter of if the courts will let people go back in time and sue but current situations will be. But just understand...it was WRONG. I think that's what's hard for people to understand because they don't really have the ability to have had integrity even if they were nice people.

 

Talk to an attorney before you make a citizen's arrest. I'm not an attorney, either, but asking someone for access to their Facebook isn't illegal. It's also not illegal for a prospective employer to ask you to sign a waiver so they can have access to your criminal history and credit history. It's also not illegal for a prospective employer to ask for references from past employment.

 

Asking for access to social network is. No they won't go to jail, but they are liable. WHich means lawsuit.

 

I believe that you are mistaken. I've never heard of any law against an employer asking a potential hire for their fb password. Got link?

 

No employer should have the right to have access to your FB account. What you post on it has nothing to do with whether or not you can do the job you have applied for.

 

Exactly. And they don't either.

 

I can think of many jobs in which your reputation and public statements are a factor in whether you can do a job or not. A spokesperson is just one example.

A potential employer doesn't have a right to your accounts if you don't give him that right. But he certainly may ask for access to what you're posting online. Your response might be a consideration in whether he's willing to hire you. My suggestion: either don't post dumb stuff online or be smart enough to have two accounts.

 

http://www.facebook.com/l.php?u=htt...FQjCNHkGFyjbKZMNa2epd59dnOWzASUww&h=1AQFt7aTT

Hope this clarifies for the so called experts who have posted. It's federal law to protect people rights on social media.

 

From what I can tell. Most employes who are fired for something on facebook are usually fired because they slander their boss. A women was fired from a local company where I live because she was posting lies about her boss. These lies made it harder to run the company and her boss fired her and threatened to sue her for libel if she did not make a public apology and recant everything that was said. She tried to sue for wrong termination and was told that the boss had every right to fire her over it, and the WT lawsuit made the boss go ahead and file the libel lawsuit, and she lost.

 

She shouldn't have. The law states that people don't have to even post truthful things about their employers. Not that I agree with it, but it's the law. Their had to be more to it. Because that by itself wouldn't hold up. I'm sharing because people need to be aware of what's going on in modern times. The internet is a tricky thing to understand for a lot of people.

 

You can set your Facebook to public or private, and I've been thinking about setting mine to private for this reason. Here's the thing I have real issue with: some employers have required employees give them access to view their Facebook, usually as a part of the hiring process. I can't see the legality of it, but I know it happens. That'd be like saying, "bring us the contents of your mailbox and let us see it." Its private.

 

Making public statements about someone that are false in an attempt to harm their character is against the law, It's called slander when spoken, and when in text, libel. She was fired because the lies did harm to her boss's ability to run his company, and were lies about the company itself in some cases.

 

Doesn't matter. And it should have been apealed. Unless it was years ago before they updated the laws.

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http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=facebook%20lawsuit&source=web&cd=1&cad=rja&sqi=2&ved=0CC8QqQIwAA&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.redandblack.com%2Fugalife%2Fuga-student-seeks-million-in-facebook-photo-lawsuit%2Farticle_4268e86c-dbb8-11e2-83cf-001a4bcf6878.html&ei=D-vGUZKXJYLw8QSQpYFY&usg=AFQjCNGsO9qXz7s_QYssPbPgeBWdsSSPKA

Prime example.

 

It does not matter if the laws were updated. Out state's supreme court ruled that public postings on the internet are subject to the same laws against slander as is everyone else. And a company is allowed to fire over slander here.

 

If you have proof of that post the link.

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But you can't because it's not true. Proof please.

 

I can't seem to find a link to it, but I know for a fact that posts on the internet are subject to defamtion laws in Indiana. But you have to have suffered some type of financial loss. That is why the woman's boss was able to fire her. She was posting fake reviews about his company, claiming to be a customer, and claiming that he had cheated her, in adition to posting lies on facebook. He lost several customers and financial backers over it, and when he found out it was her, he fired her and file a defamation of character lawsuit when she refused to make a apology and sign a paper acknowledging that all of her statements were lies. He also had her black listed in the field that she worked in, it was a IT company, making sure that other companies knew what she had done.

 

Then theres mo proof to what you say. You just can't say things around here. I showed proof so that's that. They can't do it. Have a great day.

 

If you are dumb enough to post pictures of yourself wasted or saying inappropriate things you deserve to get fired or not hired in the first place. Companies can get a lot of flack for what their dumb employees do in their off time. I don't fault them for being careful.

 

yeh its hilarious watching families come to blows over the net putting everything in their lives in the public arena.

there is no expectation of privacy one public boards, emails and normal intercourse sure, but not facebook and the like.

So does that mean we can shut down the nsa and save a few bucks?

 

It's the law. Not saying I agree with it but it is the law. That's the point I'm sharing with everyone. It's interesting that a lot of people don't understand. Thus, lawsuits are piling up. And people and companys are getting on their record that they violated federal law. People need to be careful and understand when they are in the wrong.

 

I havent really taken a serious look at this, do you have a post showing what exactly the law is that you are talking about?

 

What law are you referring to? An employer can make a contract with an employee that stipulates that they must not engage in certain types of behavior regardless of whether they are on the clock. You most certainly can get fired by a company if your behavior hurts their image. People resign from the government all the time for things they do in their private lives.