Is there really such a thing as Internet privacy?
I recently read an article about two New Jersey restaurant employees who created a forum on MySpace and trashed their company, customers and supervisors. They invited other coworkers (who used personal computers/email addresses) to join the forum. Well, you can guess what happened next – the employer discovered the forum.
Although it is not yet clear how the employer found out about the forum, MySpace is a password-protected site. Someone provided the employer access to the negative content.
The identified employees were ultimately fired. Is this fair? If an employee is not at work and is using their personal property to conduct this activity does a company have the right to take disciplinary action against them? The employees are making the case that their managers illegally accessed their online communications. A federal court will now decide who was in the right.
The Electronic Communications Privacy Act of 1986 (ECPA), commonly known as the “wiretap law,” allows employers to monitor employee conversations if the monitoring occurs in the ordinary course of business or with the employees’ implied consent. Some states also protect employees for their “off-duty” behaviors, but statutes specifically for instances related to social networking or blogging are not on the books yet.
With this particular case, the federal court will soon decide:
- Are negative Internet postings about employers by employees grounds for discipline or termination?
- Do password-only postings have special privacy protections that preclude any type of discipline by employers?
- Can employers establish policies about employee expression and attitude that extend to Web postings?
No matter what the court decides employers are going to have a difficult time controlling the Internet content posted by employees. Once something is posted it’s viral – spreading like wildfire, especially when it is something that’s potentially controversial.
My advice is to frequently monitor the Internet to see what is being said about your particular company. Warren Buffet once said it takes twenty years to build a reputation and five minutes to ruin it. Make that one minute on the Internet.
We’ll continue to follow this landmark court case and keep you updated on the outcome.
Author Bio:
Theresa Hastings is a superhuman online researcher and a dedicated departmental organizer. An expert gatherer of gossip, Theresa, who is a member of the National Guard, frequently breaks up squabbles between office mates. Though she has been with us for more than 12 years, Theresa has yet to use her M-16 on anyone.
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