On Privacy...

I'm a member of many groups and organizations in my community. In one or more of these organizations, I am responsible for hiring a number of individuals on a regular basis.

Most members of these communities use online social networking sites to stay in touch.

Social networking sites can be fun and productive - I use Twitter to post what I'm "up to" which merges into my Facebook status so all of my friends, colleagues and other organization members can find my location at a conference, see what I'm working on, know when I've posted new photos on Flickr or Picasa or if I'm just having a really interesting travel day. Those who read my blog enjoy run-on sentences with hyperlinks, too.

These sites are also pretty cool for locating long-lost high school friends and neighbors who have moved away.

Having just watched a "friend's" rather violent and trashy video post on one of these sites, I wonder whether it is my responsibility to act as a responsible employer and do something about it, especially because this individual is directly responsible for small children in a medical setting.

Let me be clear: This is not just a silly drinking video of individuals acting stupid (somehow, those can actually be funny). This is also not a video I was actively seeking - it was posted as a bulletin. Three times.

In the posted video, this individual (my "friend") is brutalizing another individual for "Talking Shit." At first I thought it was a nasty Jerry Springer clip, until I recognized the individual and realized that the video is quite a proud moment for this "friend," as it's been broadcast to me three times.

Do privacy laws apply? Some research indicates not. More research indicates so.

Two conflicting articles is enough for one night, plus, they're old, and so probably no longer good (I'm really missing my LexisNexis ID right now).

So, what if an individual invites me into his or her personal social networking space? Not just that, but broadcasts disturbing footage of clearly despicable behavior and actively encourages me to watch it...three times?

I suppose it would've been best to just not accept the "friend" invitation had I known how wretchedly this individual was likely to behave. Tonight, my immediate action was to delete this "friend" from the list of individuals who claim to know me. And I'll probably leave it at that, until the next hiring round, when I'll start lamenting again about this.

So, do I have a duty to address this in the employment arena? Would the law back me up if I tried? Is it ethical, even?

I suppose all I can do at this point is post a blog, and hope that others who are thinking about posting trashy videos of themselves think twice before broadcasting indecent material on these sites.

My real wish is that people cease engaging in disreputable activities, but truly, what you do in your personal life is your own private business. Kindly keep it that way, please, and out of my face.