Murder suspect’s postings lead to online surveillance issues
Posted Jun 25, 2012 6:26 am.
This article is more than 5 years old.
Should our employers be more aware of our online postings?
That question is being posed, in light of what appeared on the Facebook page of Travis Baumgartner, the man charged in the murders of three armed security guards in Edmonton.
The entry reads: I wonder if I’d make the six o’clock news if I just started poping (sic) people off.
Internet privacy expert Richard Rosenberg says shifting through everyone’s comments would be a logistical nightmare.
“Facebook alone has nearly a billion people who post,” he says. “How would you do it? What’s the way you would do that? Who’s going to read hours of posting?”
He adds that people tend to be full of bravado on social networking sites.
“Clearly in most cases, what people are saying they don’t mean. They are just trying to show off. They’re trying to show ‘what a cool person I am, and look at the things I can say. Aren’t you interested in what I say and what I do?'”
A recent survey shows employers are definitely interested in monitoring what workers are saying online, to make sure trade secrets aren’t being given away and that employees are not slandering the company.
