A Limit on Employer’s Invasion of Privacy

Facebook, and other social networking sites have long worried people over privacy of data. Most people in the United States accept that employers will search such sites for your name before offering you an interview. There have been numerous articles about keeping your data safe, but it often seems that people are better off not making a profile. However, you may find that data about yourself can be found and used without your knowledge. This is a legally and morally gray situation which informatics students will have to consider as they establish themselves.

One company in Texas has seen the legal writing on the wall, and opted to remove social networking sites from its screening process. Paul B. Murphy Jr, the CEO of Amegy Bank, has cited legal and efficiency concerns in his decision to remove social sites from the bank’s hiring process. I applaud the actions of this company, but we the people need to produce a definitive and functional answer to this quandary.

I believe it is unfair for employers to access data from social networking sites, especially when most users do not have the ability to control what others may have access to. This privacy concern is related to several deep flaws with the way that information is shared and owned in the United States. As a culture, we need to find solutions to these situations which are both ethical and functional.

http://www.amegybank.com/

http://www.cio.com/article/476195/How_to_Improve_Your_Facebook_Profile_Play_it_Smart_With_Friends_and_Potential_Employers

http://www.law.com/jsp/ihc/PubArticleFriendlyIHC.jsp?id=1202429840060

http://www.law.com/jsp/legaltechnology/pubArticleLT.jsp?id=1202428377614

Twitter and Facebook the new Google?

I found this article (http://bokardo.com/archives/google-erosion/) about the future of search and how Facebook and Twitter can potentially begin to erode Google’s aura of dominance. First off the author states that Google will not be beaten in the search arena, “They have the best, most capable search team on the planet. It is where most of their R&D goes, it’s where the best and brightest search wizards go, it is their bread & butter.” The author argues that Facebook and Twitter will slowly kill Google in different ways. He claims that the game going forward in search is live search, he believes that more people are going to use Twitter because that is where they start are spending most of their time online. Also the larger Twitter grows the more efficient it will be as a search platform because more people will be answering questions and communicating. Google’s real cash cow is there adsense program which the author believes will begin to lose market share to Facebook’s advertising program, which brings users highly targeted ads based on profile information and web surfing habits. Essentially the author claims that because of the enormous user engagement on both Facebook and Twitter, people will begin to use these tools as a way to find content that is more relevant to their lifestyles.
I am in agreement with the author about his assessment of the future of the online search and advertising industry. One point that he failed to bring up is that results on Google can be games easily by Search Engine Optimization and Google’s adsense program which allows websites to bid on certain keywords. I feel as though a lot of the time when I search on Google, I am sent to irrelevant or outdated websites. Yet when searching on Twitter I can find interesting up to date articles or opinions that have been posted by people I trust. As Twitter continues to see massive growth, its use as a search application will continue to improve. While I feel the author over exaggerated the strength of Facebook’s advertising I definitely see the potential that Facebook has as an advertising platform because of the ability to send highly targeted ads. But because Facebook still does not have a search model that can efficiently compete with Google, it will be nearly impossible to with Google in terms of advertising because search is an easier business to monetize.
This relates to informatics because it discusses solving the extremely complex problem of search. Living in the information age search is the most important feature of the entire internet because it helps users easily and efficiently find information. With an informatics degree you can learn how search algorithm works or how to solve problems in the field of search, possibly landing you jobs with companies such as Google, Twitter, or Facebook.

FB Virus

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/12/05/facebook-virus_n_148780.html

I found this article concerning a Facebook virus that has been going around recently. I received a link for the virus on my page so I began to get curious as to what it was all about and how dangerous it really is. To my surprise there were a lot of articles out there about this virus. If anyone has any similar security issues please post.

Facebook Connect officially open

Facebook finds yet another way to maximize their profit.  For those who do not know, Facebook Connect is a means to tie your login information to several other databases throughout the internet to allow multi-synced functionality.   They argue the increasing lack of personal privacy is easily outweighed by the added sense of community and  business profit.   On the plus side, programs like Skype will easily find great use of this feature.  On the negative, Facebook still has no security features for your private information, and with your accounts so easily linked and seen, you are practically begging for your information to become compromised.  Personally I use multiple accounts and passwords for anything I happen to be involved with, but take your chances if you like.

http://news.cnet.com/8301-17939_109-10113604-2.html?tag=newsLeadStoriesArea.1