Background check company will store your social networking slipups for 7 years

Background check company will store your social networking slipups for 7 years

news.yahoo.com

In a world where potential employers will almost certainly toss your name into a search engine before considering you for a job, we should all be very careful about what we put online. However, sometimes we slip up, leaving a nasty smear on an otherwise pristine social networking persona. Now, thanks to a ruling by the FTC, background checking services can store those unfortunate moments for up to 7 years after you've deleted them from the web.
A company called Social Intelligence — which provides background checks for companies during the hiring process — recently drew ire from would-be

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This is crazy.

Hope none of you stated something idiotic or out of anger on a message board somewhere...because now it can be used against you...even after you have deleted it.

So before you update your Facebook or Twitter status, remember that the information you put forth can come back to haunt you, years after you've wiped your web slate clean.

If employers can use this information...just imagine the other ways someone could be destroyed publicly with this information. Most of us have stated something stupid on the internet at one time or another....whether we meant it at the time or it was taken out of context.

news.yahoo.com

I hope that somebody challenges this in court and wins. I think a good basis to challenge it would be that it will allow employers direct access to information otherwise illegal for them to consider when making an employment decision, such as marital status or religion. It lends too much to discriminatory practices to be allowed to stand.

I'm all about privacy and such but if you don't know how to properly protect your facebook account and if you post a bunch of careless stuff on twitter than you kind of earned it..

This is similar to being in public and getting your photo taken, if you go outside in public space and do something stupid, it's going to haunt you.. photos, stories... whatever.. when you're in public you are public domain .. Same for the web.. if you don't protect your posts then you've made them public record for the most part..

If you take my photo while I'm walking down the street I can't ask you to delete it..

The only real chance this would have at being defeated is the aspect that they are profiting off of your data..

reply to post by gnosticquasar

I hope that somebody challenges this in court and wins. I think a good basis to challenge it would be that it will allow employers direct access to information otherwise illegal for them to consider when making an employment decision, such as marital status or religion. It lends too much to discriminatory practices to be allowed to stand.

I don't think it will be stopped...corporations have been getting their way if it benefits them. I've written many things on the internet over the years and with it many opinions have changed. I haven't the slightest idea however all the things I've put on the internet.

For instance, if someone were constantly talking about raising taxes on corporations or billionaires on facebook, that info can now be used against you. Really anything...it goes far beyond just racial, religious, etc discrimination.

Whats the saying?

Nothing ever really get's deleted off the internet.

I agree this could and should be legally challenged.

reply to post by miniatus

The only real chance this would have at being defeated is the aspect that they are profiting off of your data..

Right, but there should still be a limit on what they can access. Former employers, educational history, references, etc is all fine....but digging out a comment from 5 years ago that may or may not even mean anything is going way too far. You can set your privacy settings to the strongest possible, yet facebook likes to occasionally reset them without you knowing.

If one company has all of this information, it doesn't mean that they will only sell it to employers. This info could easily be passed around and sold off to blackmail people.

As other posted stated, I'd like to see someone fight this...don't think it's winnable though.

That is why I ATS is not a social networking site. They may check places like myspace and facebook where I have stuff, but I hardly every go on FB and I also disabled my facial recognition settings on FB.

Myself, I mostly use FB to share pictures with my family whom all live far away and never get to see my kid. Every once in awhile i might share a news article or a video, give my opinion on it but that's all....but I see people write very inflammatory things on FB nearly everyday.

Whether it's slamming their ex's, complaining about work, racial discrimination, gay discrimination, F-bombs galore, bullying, slander, etc...the list literally goes on and on....all things that could easily destroy someone's reputation.

This is dangerous territory IMO.

I don't think any "company" should be able to build a database like this...but then again....isn't that what FB is doing itself?

I think it may be time for me to retire from facebook and wait 7 years for it to actually clear. Cripes...it's like a damn credit report!!!

reply to post by David9176


This is why I only have like 90 people on FB, and I am barely on there. I spend approximately a 25:1 ratio of ATS:FB time. The only times I may post something on there is when I was with my girlfriend. No nasty things, just nice things, wonderful, I do not let people put negative things on my account for fear that someone may seem them. I also only allow friends to see my account so no one who is foreign can see my stuff.

Routine background checks for employment typically consist of credit checks, maybe criminal record and former employment, no? All legitimate information. But social networking information, especially dated information that has been deleted? Unbelievable...

This ticks me off about this ruling and this should never have been allowed. It IS like a credit report, soon we will all have and be judged on our cyber-ratings...

Originally posted by David9176

Cripes...it's like a damn credit report!!!

I swear, every time a new piece of information comes out about social networking and/or internet activity/profiling I get closer and closer to renewing an old friendship with the library ...

Make sure ONLY your friends can see your stuff:

www.doityourself.com...

www.hercampus.com...

"privacy"
That word is losing all it meaning. It will some day be removed for the dictionary.

reply to post by LadySkadi

This ticks me off about this ruling and this should never have been allowed. It IS like a credit report, soon we will all have and be judged on our cyber-ratings...

I wonder if they'll index us in groups based on things we've stated so that way we can easily be pooled out of ...or found...in any search.

Forget racial profiling....this is web profiling. I wonder which category(ies) I will be in??

World is going to hell. Hell, they don't need the patriot act...they can just use this company and it's all legal.

you know, no one is forcing you to post your real life with your real name all over the intertubes.

just sayin

While i say some unaware kids will have to change their names some more aware ones can use this to their advantage, considering future employers will eventually scouts.
But ultimately the best way to avoid all this is by going out and play.

reply to post by David9176


Here's the truth.

Most people don't produce derogatory material on the internet that can be easily traced back to their identity-- at least not for companies like the one you site. (Government and criminal endeavors, notwithstanding.) So, how big of a deal is this really?

This is no worse than an employer checking references.... At least I control what I do.

reply to post by incrediblelousminds

you know, no one is forcing you to post your real life with your real name all over the intertubes. just sayin

Agreed...but does that make it right? An employer should have some boundaries on what information they can get on you shouldn't they?

reply to post by David9176

Originally posted by David9176
An employer should have some boundaries on what information they can get on you shouldn't they?

Not really, if you make it public.

As an employer, I should have the right to assess your reputation and public behavior, as well as what you say about yourself.

reply to post by loam

Not really, if you make it public.

As an employer, I should have the right to assess your reputation and public behavior, as well as what you say about yourself.

Well I simply disagree with you...which is fine.

When people use facebook, most posting on it don't think of it as public...at least I haven't....as many set everything to private anyway. Usually it's just friends sharing information. Myself, I don't get in long drawn out conversations on it...mostly just use it to share pictures. I've seen many people put all of their problems on FB....many not realizing how foolish they can look....and possibly not realizing the consequences.

There is a line that should not be crossed....and this is one of them IMO. Do you believe the government has a right to know this much information about you?