There is a belief that people think they are anonymous on the internet. This is fueled by people thinking the internet is vast and huge, and they are a small player on the internet. Further, the belief is backed up by the thought that only the people they want to see their information have access or would seek out that information.

The belief that you can hide on the internet  is a myth.  There are too many players who can contribute to the knowledge that can be found on the internet. You, your friends, your enemies, your family members, the organizations you associate with have the ability to contribute and put information about you out on the internet. Yet people still behave as if they are invisible on the internet. People will post “funny” write-ups about themselves for the people in their social circles. Yet they do not realize that everything that is posted with their name on it can easily be associated with them.

 

It’s like the person who picks their nose while driving in their car down the road.  Sure it’s a disgusting habit, but people do it in their car because they feel as if they have anonymity. They think no one is looking, never mind the fact, that all of their actions are on public display and people are looking.

Almost all news articles which cite stories of people being fired from stuff found on MySpace or Facebook contain the sentiment, “I didn’t think anyone reads my blog” or “Why would people care what I have to say” or “It was just a joke”.  The fact is, that many people , including your employer, care what you have to say.

Just ask David Noordewier. He was fired from Wal-mart for integrity issues for writing the following on his MySpace page, “Drop a bomb on all the Walmarts, trailer parks, ghettos, monster truck shows, and retarded fake “pro wrestling” events, and the average I.Q. score would probably double.”

Funny, maybe, maybe not.

It depends on whether or not you believe the stereotype that all people who shop at Wal-Mart, live in the ghettos and trailer parks or attend truck shows have low IQ. It was enough for his employer to feel like they could fire him for cause.  After all, why would Wal-Mart want to offend its’ customer base.

Where David, and most people like him went wrong was making the joke in the first place. Secondly, in today’s world David made a mistake by assuming that he had the anonymity or the deniability he needed to make statements like that. Had David made the comment to a coworker in passing, it likely would not been enough to fire him since it would be David’s word against his co-workers word. Unfortunately for him,  he recorded his thought on his MySpace page which was easily reproduced by Wal-Mart.

He failed to realize that when you associate yourself with a comment that can be reproduced it is difficult to argue against it. There should be no doubt in your mind that your employer, people you work with, and  people who know you are turning to the internet to find information about you and those around you. Sure they might not tell you they’ve been snooping in your business. Societal norms prevent people from telling you that they have been poking around in your personal lives, but rest assured you’ve been searched for more than once.   This prying leads us to a place where privacy and separation between all aspects of our lives no longer exist.

Yet, the internet provides information about you and those around you all of the time to people willing to look for it.   And the sad part is, the skill level required to find this information decreases daily.  Furthermore, there are more things available to find as more content is published about you. 

Better yet, the tools to find the information are being refined, and in most cases, improved. 

 

In the case Devon Bourgeois was an employee of Farmboy, Inc., a grocery store chain in Canada.  Devon, along with 186 of his “friends”  subscribed to a group on Facebook  dedicated as a gathering place for current and past of the grocery store employees. When one of his “friends”, brought the postings of Devon to the attention of management of Farmboy, Devon was promptly fired.  Never mind the fact that Devon had been given several raises and a promotion in the few years he had been with the company. 

What Devon wrote online isn’t important and neither is why the company fired him. What is important is Devon thought he had anonymity because you had to subscribe to these groups and that a person couldn’t find this information by using a search engine. Unfortunately, for Devon and anyone else on the internet when you interact with other people you do not have the ability to remain anonymous on the internet.

It would be one thing if you were the only person who would put information about you on the internet.  It that case, it might actually be possible to keep yourself anonymous on the internet.  However, you aren’t the only player when it comes to keeping information about you off of the internet.

People and organizations that are associated with you somehow can write all about you and post it on their website at anytime.  Depending on what is put out about you on the internet has the ability to hurt and harm you.

With every new post on a blog or on a post on a Facebook or MySpace page, information about you on the internet has the potential to grow. 

The days of avoiding the internet are rapidly decreasing.  You seemingly won’t be able to hide.

Call WhooRu today to see how we can help you fully. 1-877-2WhooRu or ( 877-294-6678 ).
Join the discussion in the WhooRu community for further discussion.
As always, be careful out there,

Aaron Francesconi
CEO and Founder of WhooRu

 

Walmart Worker Fired For Posting Joke On MySpace
http://consumerist.com/consumer/spying/walmart-worker-fired-for-posting-joke-on-myspace-264863.php

CANOE — CNEWS – Canada: Workers fired over Internet postings http://cnews.canoe.ca/CNEWS/Canada/2007/01/17/3394584-sun.html