Valleywag
Last month we told you that Facebook employees can see your profile even if it is private. Now we hear that they are willing to share your private profile with your boss. All he has to do is ask. A poster on the AR-15 Forums, a firearms-enthusiast website, says her bosses asked Facebook for permission to see her profile — which is normally set to private for everyone but her friends — through something called Administrators Access. (That may be the same internal feature, also known as "super," we wrote about earlier.)
Facebook's privacy policy has this to say:
We may be required to disclose user information pursuant to lawful requests, such as subpoenas or court orders, or in compliance with applicable laws. We do not reveal information until we have a good faith belief that an information request by law enforcement or private litigants meets applicable legal standards. Additionally, we may share account or other information when we believe it is necessary to comply with law, to protect our interests or property, to prevent fraud or other illegal activity perpetrated through the Facebook service or using the Facebook name, or to prevent imminent bodily harm. This may include sharing information with other companies, lawyers, agents or government agencies.The poster had pictures of himself with his firearms — which, though legal and taken on the employee's own time, the company was concerned about. Perhaps Facebook was trying to "prevent imminent bodily harm?"
Think Facebook might be helping your employer out with a glimpse of your private profile? Drop us a line.
Comments
Oh brother. Here's an idea, don't put crap like that on the internet. Despite what one might think, nothing is private on the internet. If you don't want anyone to see you doing something, don't do it.
I don't agree with facebook giving up the info but lets not say the users are not without fault either.
@Solar
This doesn't say that the poster was harmed by the action, or that he/she was upset that the employer learned about the firearms--just that Facebook allowed the employer to circumvent their privacy controls. A lecture to the user isn't really called for. Facebook is a different story, however.
@solareclipse2: Posting pictures of yourself with your legal firearms does not, by any means, place you at fault for anything. It certainly doesn't excuse privacy violations such as this.
I think they crossed the line on this, but that is not to say there isn't a line.
if you have a concern about facebook giving away personal information, then you are obviously trying to hide something, and obviously that something shouldn't be on your facebook in the first place. Either accept the fact that on the internet, there are no rules, and play smart, or keep complaining because no one cares or is listening to you.
Oh and, to the guy who has pictures of himself with all his guns on his facebook profile: You are retarded. Like, seriously... Who cares about your guns anyways, thats not a good way to pick up chicks. Jesus.
Um...you put a picture of yourself online with a gun, and you're concerned about your employer seeing it? I would say that your employer has other things he might be worried about too, like perhaps the level of thought that goes into your decisions.
Anybody who regularly uses the internet shouldn't have these problems. As the Millenials know, Web 2.0 is completely transparent - anything you put out there is coming back to you.
I don't have a problem with Facebook sharing user data. If I don't want it out there, I don't put it on Facebook.
I do agree that there is no implication of privacy on the internet. However, that doesn't give places a free pass to distribute your info to whoever asks, especially when they have an option which let's you make your profile private. Certain places should be bound by ethical principles as well as legal ones. There should always be a 'show reasonable cause' policy at any of these places. If you can't get a court order, then your cause isn't good enough.
Thanks to our fabulous lawyers, today's companies are also so afraid of their own shadows when it comes to a potential liability. They're always in CYA mode (as perfectly illustrated by CHUFF80's comment). If this person is a gun enthusiast and wants to display their guns by posing in pictures with them, there's no problem with that nor should it be misconstrued by any company as an issue. What next? Will the company view the motorcycle enthusiast who poses with his motorcycle collection as being at an increased risk for an untimely death, thus preventing him from attaining any important position in the company?
Companies who actually pay people to troll the internet looking for dirt have way bigger problems than a gun enthusiast in their ranks.
This_Guy's response is the classic slacker response. Try thinking with the other brain and reading this:
[papers.ssrn.com]
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