Dear Rahimi:

This is a wonderful question. The main question these days particularly in the US is---what is private & confidential???---regardless of the current laws on the books! Social media has primarily changed/changing employer-employee relationships including data privacy laws, anti-discrimination laws, and background checking of applicants. With the rise of BiG Data---monitoring employee's usage of social media, dismissals (Russell & Stutz, 2014) because of improper usage of social media, and the duty of confidentiality---all these issues are again changing and will continue to change on how we live, work and play!

Case in point: The court case Holmes v. Petrovich Dev. Co. LLC, (CA Court of Appeals, 2011) wherein it was held that e-mail messages sent by a California employee to her personal attorney on a company computer were not confidential communications and therefore not protected by the attorney-client privilege. Petrovich Development Co. LLC employee sued the company for charges that included sexual harassment and wrongful termination. The employee corresponded with her attorney regarding potential litigation using a company-issued computer!

Also it is being encouraged for employers to add social media policy (Jacoby, 2015) to employee handbook. The factors that the policy should address are mentioned are---disclosure of confidential information, illegal online activity, and criticism of supervisors, clients, or co-workers. The reasons for the need to adopt the policy are---loyalty, public image, and clarity!

Final point: most of us have 'given away' our private and confidential information to social media sites 'almost for free' without perhaps thinking of any potential future ramifications---legal and or otherwise!  No wonder, facebook has over a billion people on its servers and many other social media sites have millions of people on their servers!  And now we expect IT, Encryptions, Employers and Govt to protect our private and confidential information! 

So, as we look ahead---5-10 years from now---one wonders---what would be considered private and confidential??? and who will protect such private and confidential information??? I believe both employers and Govt (including social media sites) have a huge responsibility to protect their customers/employees/citizens from any harm.

• Jacoby, M. (2015). Add social media policy to employee handbook. HR Specialist: Compensation & Benefits, 10(1), 5.
• Russell, R., & Stutz, M. (2014). SOCIAL MEDIA: WHAT EMPLOYERS NEED TO KNOW. Journal Of Internet Law, 17(8), 3-6.
• California Court of Appeal Rules That Employers May Access Employee E-Mail on Company Computer, Including E-Mail to an Employee's Personal Attorney. (2011). Venulex Legal Summaries, 1-2.

Hope this helps! 

Dear Tausif, Paul & others...your thoughts?

Nadeem

As I ponder your question, a few thoughts of my own come to mind: 1) Is there a particular reason why social media sites SHOULD support companies in their efforts to regulate employees' disclosure of confidential information? Would this occur as a symbolic effort of a cooperative business practice, or is it in the interest of the social media site to protect disclosure of confidential information? I personally think it is the latter, especially in terms of pecuniary responsibilities if found liable. Also, in terms of intention to use or user satisfaction of the social media site, sites which have had a reputation of having lower security encryption standards, and have been found to not protect PII of citizens will in fact have lower adoption to use, which means loss of revenues.    

Dear Rahimi:

This is a wonderful question. The main question these days particularly in the US is---what is private & confidential???---regardless of the current laws on the books! Social media has primarily changed/changing employer-employee relationships including data privacy laws, anti-discrimination laws, and background checking of applicants. With the rise of BiG Data---monitoring employee's usage of social media, dismissals (Russell & Stutz, 2014) because of improper usage of social media, and the duty of confidentiality---all these issues are again changing and will continue to change on how we live, work and play!

Case in point: The court case Holmes v. Petrovich Dev. Co. LLC, (CA Court of Appeals, 2011) wherein it was held that e-mail messages sent by a California employee to her personal attorney on a company computer were not confidential communications and therefore not protected by the attorney-client privilege. Petrovich Development Co. LLC employee sued the company for charges that included sexual harassment and wrongful termination. The employee corresponded with her attorney regarding potential litigation using a company-issued computer!

Also it is being encouraged for employers to add social media policy (Jacoby, 2015) to employee handbook. The factors that the policy should address are mentioned are---disclosure of confidential information, illegal online activity, and criticism of supervisors, clients, or co-workers. The reasons for the need to adopt the policy are---loyalty, public image, and clarity!

Final point: most of us have 'given away' our private and confidential information to social media sites 'almost for free' without perhaps thinking of any potential future ramifications---legal and or otherwise!  No wonder, facebook has over a billion people on its servers and many other social media sites have millions of people on their servers!  And now we expect IT, Encryptions, Employers and Govt to protect our private and confidential information! 

So, as we look ahead---5-10 years from now---one wonders---what would be considered private and confidential??? and who will protect such private and confidential information??? I believe both employers and Govt (including social media sites) have a huge responsibility to protect their customers/employees/citizens from any harm.

• Jacoby, M. (2015). Add social media policy to employee handbook. HR Specialist: Compensation & Benefits, 10(1), 5.
• Russell, R., & Stutz, M. (2014). SOCIAL MEDIA: WHAT EMPLOYERS NEED TO KNOW. Journal Of Internet Law, 17(8), 3-6.
• California Court of Appeal Rules That Employers May Access Employee E-Mail on Company Computer, Including E-Mail to an Employee's Personal Attorney. (2011). Venulex Legal Summaries, 1-2.

Hope this helps! 

Dear Tausif, Paul & others...your thoughts?

Nadeem

Dear Professor Nadeem ,

Thanks for profound enlightening analysis , impressive indeed .

Dear Nadeem,

When Google started message-wide searches and we agreed to their terms without thinking, the fate of privacy in electronic media was already more or less sealed.

Some privacy for certain things and not the other is merely part of the process leading to none in the hands of sufficiently motivated. I am not referring to those who steal information, I mean through perfectly legal means that can always be contrived by throwing enough resources at it who deem it to be necessary for them to know. 

Dear Tausif,

'necessary for them to know...indeed.  At the same time, i think we as citizens and customers are also in the state of complete denial that for few dollars/gifts have given away our precious 'private/confidential' information to these new era of social media sites.  We do not want to take any responsibility on our part and expecting everyone else to protect our private/confidential information! Although they should protect and do no harm, but its really  amazing to see how we're walking away from our own accountability/responsibility!  

Dear Nadeem,

Two of the defining traits of contemporary men are greed and laziness. Put them together and a sufficiently motivated person or a group can just about achieve anything by tapping into these traits.

If it weren't for these two traits, NAFTA, Walmart (principles of their business) etc would not have been possible without some serious modifications.

It may seem like a defeatist attitude but as far as the privacy issue is concerned, there really isn't any issue; the story is already over, the public has none of it. 

I recall an interesting money making strategy related to privacy about which I read recently; evidently, for an additional ~$70-100/month AT&T would suppress your browser viewing history from prying eyes of others. I imagine that the government and their own marketing staff would be excluded from this limitation.