Monday, May 21

MySpace Led to Job Loss

Dear Diary,

I am working on Privacy Issues with my Emerging Leader team and we are presenting a poster at ALA's Annual Conference next month. So I have been getting lots of information about MySpace and Facebook. Some students were outraged when Facebook added a Newsfeed to notify your friends of all of your activities on your account. I just think it is a nuance.

I've heard all the horror stories of potential employers hiring students as moles to befriend unsuspecting job applicants in MySpace or Facebook and gather clandestine information that may be used against them during the interview process. I think about things I did in college out at clubs and would not want that to be used against me when looking for a job.

But after reading about this one girl who lost out on a job because of her MySpace photos, I can empathize with employers worried when laws are broken such as under-age drinking. People sent me this article because the pictures were of her as a "DRUNKEN PIRATE" and she wanted to be a TEACHER....remind you of someone? Not the drunken part, the pirate - teacher part.

The article is on the Smoking Gun, titled College Sued Over "Drunken Pirate" Sanctions.