5 ms·

This may not be a good thing. Always remember that social media is used by industry as a means of carrying out background checks. What's this? One of our job ap

This may not be a good thing. Always remember that social media is used by industry as a means of carrying out background checks. What's this? One of our job applicants has a poor mental health rating? Let's pick the other one instead.

deathhand 10y ago
Anonymity for free expression is the only solution to prevent any of these social 'big data' problems. Tieing real ID to human data is not just bad for people. It is bad for business. Ad tech relies on a user base that doesn't filter themselves or find means to circumvent tracking.
- tormeh 10y ago
  De-anonymization is relatively easy. The only real solution is for users to not use online services. It's sad, but it's just how it is now.
  - ue_ 10y ago
    This is why ephemeral identities and vanishing content shines; for example, on 4chan your post is only online for a few weeks maximum (as it's stored in a board's particular archive after it gets pushed off the end of the board). Only 4chan knows what your IP is. Archive websites collect posts from 4chan but can't see your IP. So eventually, if you make a post with the name "Anonymous" on 4chan, the only record of your post will be on an archive website where they don't have your IP (so they can't semi-uniquely identify you) and your name is "Anonymous". That's virtually untraceable except with prior knowledge of posting habits (time of day and what board) and text analysis (which has shown to be quite effective in revealing authors behind pseudonyms). When someone only has the content of your post, where you posted it, and at what time (the minimum amount of information 4chan lets you submit), we can express ourselves but quite effectively avoid employer snooping or otherwise.
sneak 10y ago
...which is the right of the employer. They are free to discriminate based on social media contents, shirt color, or any other non-protected criteria they choose. Too many misspellings or rageful comments on social media would be a clear NO HIRE signal for me. Why shouldn't they be?
- sevenless 10y ago
  What about the knock-on effects of everyone doing that: a society where it's common knowledge that the 'wrong kind' of public speech can make you unemployable? Isn't that kind of totalitarian?
  - jpttsn 10y ago
    It isn't totalitarian.
    - sevenless 10y ago
      There are countries where there may not be legally enforced death penalties for Islamic blasphemy, but defaming the prophet Muhammed will surely get you murdered by an enraged mob. I don't think this distinction makes a lot of difference to the blasphemers. A society so averse to dissenting speech that it bears comparison with totalitarianism doesn't have to be state-enforced. The internet seems to do a good job of amplifying outrage and enabling witch hunts.
  - lgieron 10y ago
    I think we're already there - stand on a corner of your street and yell ALL BUSINESS IS EVIL!! and you're pretty much unemployable in nearby businesses. Do it publicly and under your own name on the internet and you're unemployable globally by businesses who bother to check. And why would they hire you? You consider them evil after all.
    - deleted 10y ago
      [deleted]
    - 10y ago

deathhand 10y ago

Anonymity for free expression is the only solution to prevent any of these social 'big data' problems. Tieing real ID to human data is not just bad for people. It is bad for business. Ad tech relies on a user base that doesn't filter themselves or find means to circumvent tracking.

tormeh 10y ago
De-anonymization is relatively easy. The only real solution is for users to not use online services. It's sad, but it's just how it is now.
- ue_ 10y ago
  This is why ephemeral identities and vanishing content shines; for example, on 4chan your post is only online for a few weeks maximum (as it's stored in a board's particular archive after it gets pushed off the end of the board). Only 4chan knows what your IP is. Archive websites collect posts from 4chan but can't see your IP. So eventually, if you make a post with the name "Anonymous" on 4chan, the only record of your post will be on an archive website where they don't have your IP (so they can't semi-uniquely identify you) and your name is "Anonymous". That's virtually untraceable except with prior knowledge of posting habits (time of day and what board) and text analysis (which has shown to be quite effective in revealing authors behind pseudonyms). When someone only has the content of your post, where you posted it, and at what time (the minimum amount of information 4chan lets you submit), we can express ourselves but quite effectively avoid employer snooping or otherwise.

sneak 10y ago

...which is the right of the employer. They are free to discriminate based on social media contents, shirt color, or any other non-protected criteria they choose. Too many misspellings or rageful comments on social media would be a clear NO HIRE signal for me. Why shouldn't they be?

sevenless 10y ago
What about the knock-on effects of everyone doing that: a society where it's common knowledge that the 'wrong kind' of public speech can make you unemployable? Isn't that kind of totalitarian?
- jpttsn 10y ago
  It isn't totalitarian.
  - sevenless 10y ago
    There are countries where there may not be legally enforced death penalties for Islamic blasphemy, but defaming the prophet Muhammed will surely get you murdered by an enraged mob. I don't think this distinction makes a lot of difference to the blasphemers. A society so averse to dissenting speech that it bears comparison with totalitarianism doesn't have to be state-enforced. The internet seems to do a good job of amplifying outrage and enabling witch hunts.
- lgieron 10y ago
  I think we're already there - stand on a corner of your street and yell ALL BUSINESS IS EVIL!! and you're pretty much unemployable in nearby businesses. Do it publicly and under your own name on the internet and you're unemployable globally by businesses who bother to check. And why would they hire you? You consider them evil after all.
  - deleted 10y ago
    [deleted]
  - 10y ago