Employee Postings on Social Websites - Case Study Example

The purpose of the paper is to analyze the use of social network derived information by corporations in order to determine if human rights violations are occurring and establish parameters on what constitute proper social network content and what type of behavior that is prohibitive. The history of the freedom of speech dates back to Socrates’ era about 400 years Before Christ (BC). In 1789 the Declaration of the Rights of Man in France created the fundamental rights of freedom of speech; two years later the United States freedom of speech became the first amendment of the Bill of Rights which includes four dimensions: religion, speech, press, and right to assemble (Smith).

Another fundamental right is the right to privacy. The fourth amendment of the Bill of Rights provides the right to privacy. These fundamental rights of humans mentioned are lenient and give employers certain privileges to perform background checks. The standard protocol for background checks are driver’s license record, criminal record history, credit check, reference check from past employers. Social networks sites two decades ago did not exist. In the 1990’s when the boom started they became popular.

In the 21st century they have become a global phenomenon. The employers are not supposed to eavesdrop on the material being posted in these sites since the conversations and postings are for friends to read and enjoy, not for employers to use to discriminate against employees. This century has changed humanity a lot. People are living in the broadband age where information moves rapidly across the internet. There are hundreds of millions of people participating in these social network sites. MySpace has a population of 269,973,296 a figure that is approximately 30 million less that the population of the United States (Myspace).

If an employer stalks the behavior of a member in the MySpace community is the same things as if an employer stalked a US Citizen across the streets of