Monster on the Loose

When I wrote about the private being invaded by the public I never imagined that the very next day I'd read this in The Boston Globe: "In their efforts to vet applicants, some companies and government agencies are going beyond merely glancing at a person's networking profiles and instead asking to log in as the user to have a look around."

Imagine going to a job interview and being asked for your Facebook name and password. This is truly invasive. Whether this is legal is another question.

The article did mention that "when the ACLU complained about the practice "—being employed by the Maryland Department of Public Safety "the agency amended its policy, asking instead for job applicants to log in during interviews."

Either way whatever you write, wherever you go, you're never far from scrutiny if you're writing on Facebook or Twitter or whatever other social networks lurk in cyberspace.

I don't have a Facebook presence, but I do have a Twitter account which I rarely use. Will someone find it objectionable to know that someone in Russia puts Chekov quotations on his Twitter account and I get his Tweets?

It's invasive and frightening—

Perhaps someday we'll have an agency devoted to culling through Blogs searching for unacceptable material. And who will define what is verboten?

Hannah Arendt said, There are no dangerous thoughts; thinking itself is dangerous.

In this new world where privacy is being eroded— be careful of your words—in cyberspace.