Devoted to Corporate Attorneys, Corporate Lawyers, and Corporate Counsel

On October 16, 2007, Salisbury University President Janet Dudley-Eshbach was found to have inappropriate photos on her Facebook page from a vacation to Mexico. News reports stated that some vacation photos Dudley-Eshbach posted to her profile included her swinging a stick at a man hugging her daughter with the caption that she had to "beat off the Mexicans because they were constantly flirting with my daughter." Dudley-Eshbach thought her page could be accessed only by family and friends, when it was actually open to the entire Facebook community in Salisbury, Maryland.

What policies should businesses have regarding services like Facebook? Is it legal for a business to take into consideration what a person does in his/her personal time when evaluating someone on his/her job?  Dudley-Eshbach could have put the photos in a photo album instead of online, and school would have never known. 

A person can maintain his/her image in social networks by only putting appropriate materials that market that person’s occupation, expertise.  People should be wary to know that what they put on the Internet may be seen by everyone.  Someone who writes a blog thinking that the journal only will be read by friends are mistaken.  People’s names are easily searched, with no privacy these days on birthdays or home addresses. 

It seems that technology has ruined everyone’s privacy.  New York is starting to put up cameras all over the city, on every cross walk.  People have camera phones to take photos wherever they go, with some men caught upskirting women on any street.  Any photo can be sent to another person’s cell within seconds, then uploaded onto the Internet. 

Where are the lines between professional and personal activity drawn?