Does This Pass The Smell Test? CNN.CON Warns Against Free Speech

[Dinger]

This seems a lot like a warning to "watch what you say." It creeps me out:

http://www.cnn.com/2006/EDUCATION/08/02/colleges.online.warning.ap/index.html

" . . . Many colleges tell students they won't actively patrol online profiles to look for evidence of wrongdoing -- but they are obliged to respond to complaints (at Susquehanna, Tyree says, rival fraternities like to rat each other out by pointing out photos involving alcohol to administrators). . . . . . "


" . . . . . Police are increasingly monitoring the sites. And it's not hard for prospective employers to get a ".edu" e-mail address from an alumnus or an intern, and recruiters are increasingly trolling the Internet to scope out prospective hires. . . . "


" . . . . "They may be looking at these sites wondering if there's a personality fit with their company culture," said Tim Luzader, director of Purdue's center for career opportunities. A recent survey there found that a third of employers recruiting there ran job applicants' names through search engines, and 12 percent said they looked at social networking sites. . . "

[elehhhhna]

1. It sounds like a good "headsup" idea to some extent. :

Non-athletes at numerous schools from North Carolina State to Northern Kentucky have been busted for alcohol violations based on digital photographs. Students at Penn State were punished for rushing the field at a football game. A University of Oklahoma freshman's joke in Facebook about assassinating President Bush prompted a visit from the Secret Service.

[davidinalameda]

2. if I was hiring, I'd start by googling someone

if someone is stupid enough to put pictures of themselves up doing illegal or just plain stupid things on-line, then they should be ready to pay the price

why do you think that people post using handles and not their real names?

[rodeodance]

3. sometimes pics get on the net of people just celebrating a bit-acting

goofy and it gets taken out of context. this new mode of checking up on people is dangerous.

[pagerbear]

6. Not that different from more traditional ways of misinterpreting behavior

Just more widespread.

[Dinger]

4. I Agree

I sort reacted to it, I think, because it just gave me a bad feeling right away. I'd check out someone too. That's common sense for anyone being considered for a job, or whatever. But I thought, what if they figure out I'm "Dinger" on DU? I would not want my political beliefs and opinions to affect my job one way or another. One one hand, you would want to know as much as possible about the background of someone you are considering hiring, but one's private life should stay private. Just my two cents.

[davidinalameda]

15. I agree

one's private life should stay private but with the internet reaching however many millions and billions of people today, that picture of Person A flashing Person B is not private

[me b zola]

14. I don't get it

I was never fooled by anybody that I interviewed and then hired. I was able to glean from the interview process all of the charactoristics that were important to the job that I was hiring them for--except for once.

At that time I honnestly didn't know that there were religious fanatics that would actually prey upon people with disabilities. I was great at eliminating people who would financially, sexually, or physically prey on our clients, but I really didn't know that religious preditors were out there. I ended up hiring a young woman who felt as if it was her calling to convert one of our clients who was an athiest. Egads.

All that being said, good interviewing skills in conjunction with a normal background check will work far better than playing big-brother.

[johnaries]

5. Seems to me that it would be pretty easy for a student

just before graduation to go back and "clean up" his site and basically replace it with an "on-line resume".

[lectrobyte]

7. Not any creepier than someone losing their job over postings they

made here on DU, which really happened some time back. When I interview people, the first thing I do is google their name (or email address if I have that). So, people should be somewhat careful. Creepy, but that's where we are.

[Dinger]

8. Can You Give Any Hints About The Person Who Lost Their Job ?

No names needed, but it sure sounds interesting. I've never heard of that happening, but I imagine it is a possibility.

[Generic Other]

9. It happened during Reagan's funeral

He was a disc jockey in Alabama, I think. Posted the music he would have liked to play, and freepers outed his remarks to his station management.

Just like what totalitarianism smells like to me.

[OPERATIONMINDCRIME]

10. It Wasn't Because Of DU.

It was because of statements they made in some of their posts on DU that revealed their identity. I believe this is in reference to a radio dj or somethin that had a republican event or something like that and posted asking how could they be witty in specific music choice for the event. And don't quote me, I totally forget the real context, but it was somethin like that. It wasn't done in a mean manner or to be overly provocative to their employer, I guess the employer after getting wind of it just didn't want somebody who was going to undermine the employer's events. (once again, or somethin like that)

[Dinger]

11. My Mistake. I Didn't Think I'd Have Room . . . . . . .

to post " . . . . . because of posting something on DU . . . . . . . . . ."

I'll edit it yet, if I can.

[Generic Other]

12. Fucking Freeper lurkers exposed him for kicks

That is the real point to remember. Others have been similarly targtetted on DU. Will Pitt when he was a teacher had Freepers call his school.

This is a lot different than tattling on people for underage drinking. It's more like how we always perceived the commies to act--how the indoctrinated children would expose their parents to the state for having subversive thoughts. God, how pathetic to be surrounded by snitches, informants, narcs, scabs, goons, spies, and other such assorted lowlife.

Someday, we won't even be allowed to go on the internet anonymously. Probably we already aren't.

[OPERATIONMINDCRIME]

13. I Think It Was Disgraceful How Some Low Life Losers Have Nothing Better To

do than to be vindictive and hurtful.

I couldn't IMAGINE ever intentionally doing something to affect somebody's private life in such ways. I couldn't fucking imagine doing that.

Whoever took part in such petty crap should be ashamed of themselves and their existance. Dumb evil fuckers they are.

[lectrobyte]

16. Right. I was just trying to point out that you can't be too careful. The

guy posted enough info so that someone could go "real life" on him and it cost him his job.

[OPERATIONMINDCRIME]

17. That Is Scary Ain't It?

Sometimes I'm so ready to post something identifying, but then think "oh shit, what if some freepers would actually start stalking me and harrassing me", and then I avoid doing so. It's a shame we have to fear such stupidity and vindictive acts from people. Like I said, I couldn't even imagine doing that to somebody.