ETHICS

Privacy Issue- IT Security Ethics

[Name of the Writyer]

Privacy Issue- IT Security Ethics

Introduction

Cyberspace has provided an enormous opportunity for people to meet each other and to share personal details. Private information that workers make public through such services as Facebook, MySpace, and numerous weblog providers is being utilized by a growing number of recruiters, potential employers and current employers who seek additional information regarding after-work behavior of employees (Roberts & Roach, 2009). In teaching HR at the university level, it has been observed that realism is essential to being prepared to be a competent practitioner (DeGroot, Stambaugh, & Owen, 2009; Rudin, Byrd, & Fleming, 2009). Additionally, some of the issues being faced are ahead of legal developments and may be ethically challenging. Online Social Networking Web Sites (OSNs) are growing at a staggering rate. Facebook added 50 million users in a 100 day period in 2009 (Smith, 2009). Facebook's registered users now number over 350 million, making it the leading online social networking site (Facebook Statistics, 2009). Their monthly viewers of 97 million have surpassed 2009's leader MySpace by more than 30 million viewers (eMarketer, 2009). Hi5 has 50 million monthly visitors. Internationally, Mixi in Tokyo has 19 million members and Maktoob, an Arabic OSN has 13 million users (Schonfeld, 2009). With such large numbers, it is clear that online social networking sites play prominent roles in people's everyday lives. The use of these sites extends beyond simply “befriending” people to extensive personal networks that seek information about employers, employees and job opportunities (Kiviat, 2009; Limbach, 2009).

Discussion

When individuals choose to use social networking sites for both personal and professional purposes, issues arise regarding the nature and amount of information shared. While some social networkers tightly control information about themselves, others provide full access to anyone on the internet. MySpace pages are open to the public with correspondence, photos, demographics profiles, sexual orientation, and smoking/drinking habits. A study of 200 Facebook profiles found that 53 percent included photos involving alcohol use and 50 percent posted revealing information. Easy access to “friends” groups is likely to allow profiles to be accessed by casual acquaintances, families and even prospective employers (Peluchette & Karl, 2010). Human resource management practices and policies have not kept pace with the rapid use and abuse of social networking websites used for job searches, background checks and employee surveillance. With unemployment rates in the United States hitting a 16-year high, employers are faced with a swell of job applicants and larger pool of qualified candidates vying for open positions (Scherzer, 2009). While employers may enjoy having access to a greater number of resumes, now more than ever they have stakeholder obligations to ensure that they are hiring the most qualified personnel and that they know exactly who they are hiring. Human resource professionals and business owners are turning to internet searches to find out more about potential employees - and finding more personal information than they should legally be knowledgeable of just by Googling their ...