Employee social-media privacy at risk
If an employee has multiple personal social-media accounts, does his or her employer have a right to monitor the accounts? Can an employee even be required to divulge the accounts' passwords? While both questions are being hotly debated right now, a recent vote by the U.S. House of Representatives suggests that the latter could become a reality quite soon.
In April, Colorado congressman Ed Perlmutter proposed an amendment to the Cyber Intelligence Sharing and Protection Act (CISPA) that would ban workplaces from requiring prospective employees to give up their social media passwords, according to WebProNews. The provision was voted down 224-189 with a Republican majority, the source reported.
"People have an expectation of privacy when using social media like Facebook and Twitter," said Perlmutter. "Employers essentially can act as imposters and assume the identity of an employee...That's simply a step too far."
On top of this risk to employee privacy, securities regulators are now fighting to allow companies - primarily financial firms - to monitor employees' personal Facebook and Twitter accounts, as reported by the Wall Street Journal. They worry that the rapid speed of financial communication on social networks could pose a threat of Ponzi schemes and other frauds.
So when it comes to employee tracking, how far is too far?
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