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Ethics and social networks

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LAN_403

Conundrum

Mon Oct 15 2012, 09:06PM

Registered Member #96 Joined: Thu Feb 09 2006, 05:37PM
Location: CI, Earth
Posts: 4061

OK, here's an interesting concept.

If employers often research online to see how a given applicant interacts with other people on say, Facebook..
Would for example having many contacts although one or two may be not particularly nice (ie extreme political views)
look better than having few contacts?

The latter would suggest that the applicant was either (a) covering up something, or (b) being selective about who
they talk to online, the issue here is guilt by association.

Same with circumstantial evidence, such as "similar looking" posts under a different name but that cannot be traced directly
back to an individual like an email address can be.
Would an employer using a piece of software able to decode context, grammar etc and having found posts on another forum suggesting political views that were incompatible with the company ethics be legally allowed to refuse employment on those grounds?

It does raise an interesting ethical issue of whether writing a book, posting a blog or posting to a forum such as 4HV counts as "publication" and therefore can be used against or in fact for a given candidate.

A lot of data can be gathered legally by "extended background checks" in this way, many IT workers started out as hackers and mended their ways yet if this information was made public it might affect their employment.
Discuss.
-A

Sulaiman

Mon Oct 15 2012, 11:25PM

Registered Member #162 Joined: Mon Feb 13 2006, 10:25AM
Location: United Kingdom
Posts: 3140

You have the right to remain silent.
Anything you say or do can and will be held against you ......

... 'Think before you type'

You are responsible for anything that you make public,
and in practice what you think is private, is not
unless you are rich/powerful.
sad, but true.

Ben Solon

Tue Oct 16 2012, 01:54AM

Registered Member #3900 Joined: Thu May 19 2011, 08:28PM
Location:
Posts: 600

Conundrum wrote ...

The latter would suggest that the applicant was either (a) covering up something, or (b) being selective about who
they talk to online, the issue here is guilt by association.

I disagree. I have a Facebook, I use it. I have few "contacts". I only "friend" those i know directly and I don't link, like, share, post much of anything. It's not a matter of guilt or hiding something, I just believe that not everybody needs to know everything about me just by scrolling though my profile. Those who should know are the ones who talk to me face to face and can have a conversation with me.

"Hey, have you ever heard of these 'tesla coil' things? I hear you're big into EE."
"Yea! I've built plenty of them. I enjoy the duel resonant variety. It's a hobby of mine"

As opposed to somebody seeing that I "like" the group drsstc(which by the way is one of the few things I do have liked)

Conundrum

Tue Oct 16 2012, 08:33AM

Registered Member #96 Joined: Thu Feb 09 2006, 05:37PM
Location: CI, Earth
Posts: 4061

There is now a dangerous trend of people *not* using social networks by choice being viewed as extremists or otherwise hiding something.

This also extends to for example mobile phones, I know of at least one person here who was refused an interview and later it turned out that they has listed a landline on their CV only which was a "red flag" to that particular employers's HR department.

Another "trick" of employers is to rely on third hand information such as from school friends of the applicant. Needless to say this is a very unreliable source but does act as a blunt instrument to weed out people who may or may not be unstable or have deep seated issues yet have all the relevant qualifications.

Carbon_Rod

Tue Oct 16 2012, 09:13AM

Registered Member #65 Joined: Thu Feb 09 2006, 06:43AM
Location:
Posts: 1155

Actually, most people who understand these systems avoid narcissistic monologs, and this lack of silliness typically annoys micro-managers.
LinkedIn also actively mines information about you from what people say about your background. However, that's nothing compared to Google which is almost impossible to avoid.

Somebody should write a transparent GPG keyring stenography plugin for face-book content.
Place to get started... Remember to randomize the sequence of chained symmetric encryption based on a hash of a pre-shared key, time, user ids, and a nounce captcha.

Think of it like a high latency stateless VPN protocol that only your group shares.
Let me know when the FB ban hammer falls... =P

Steve Conner

Tue Oct 16 2012, 09:42AM

Registered Member #30 Joined: Fri Feb 03 2006, 10:52AM
Location: Glasgow, Scotland
Posts: 6706

I once saw one of my fellow designers at work searching for information on some power electronics problem. He found what he was looking for in some of my old posts on 4hv.

Dr. Slack

Tue Oct 16 2012, 04:00PM

Registered Member #72 Joined: Thu Feb 09 2006, 08:29AM
Location: UK St. Albans
Posts: 1659

Carbon_Rod wrote ...

...
Somebody should write a transparent GPG keyring stenography plugin for face-book content.
Place to get started... Remember to randomize the sequence of chained symmetric encryption based on a hash of a pre-shared key, time, user ids, and a nounce captcha.

you do mean steganography, don't you?

Carbon_Rod

Wed Oct 17 2012, 03:39AM

Registered Member #65 Joined: Thu Feb 09 2006, 06:43AM
Location:
Posts: 1155

@Dr. Slack
Nope, just simplified local polymorphic key management service similar to a URL shortener like bitly.com

A random non-sequential string is less memorable, easier to track and statistically profile.

Think of this classic unencrypted text compression method:

Ben Solon

Wed Oct 17 2012, 03:06PM

Registered Member #3900 Joined: Thu May 19 2011, 08:28PM
Location:
Posts: 600

Steve Conner wrote ...

I once saw one of my fellow designers at work searching for information on some power electronics problem. He found what he was looking for in some of my old posts on 4hv.

And this is why I love 4hv

tobias

Mon Oct 22 2012, 04:17AM

Registered Member #1956 Joined: Wed Feb 04 2009, 01:22PM
Location: Jersey City
Posts: 172

Why to worry so much about employers? If they do not want to hire you they will find an excuse, or just say no. If they really want to hire you they will either not look and close their eyes or find a good excuse to justify your online sins =D
At the end is all about the money and way less about what you think anyways.

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