Legal Implications in IT, Research Paper Example

The Ethical and Legal Dilemma Surrounding Social Media in the Workplace

Should Social Media Be Allowed in the Workplace?

Hardly a corner of our world has not been impacted by the phenomenon of the Internet and its social media. The question of whether social media usage should be allowed in the workplace is explored here. The current state of computer legislation and case law in terms of their impact on IT professionals and accepted practices in IT are analyzed, legislation and case law related to privacy concerns examined, and findings drawn on legislation and case law have affected social media usage in the workplace. Finally, conclusions about the future of privacy and ethics and predictions about future effect of legislation and case law on social media usage in the workplace are formulated.

To better understand the situation, the current state of computer legislation and case law in terms of their impact on IT professionals is analyzed. Some employers use social media sites to conduct informal background checks on employees (Clark & Roberts, 2010). Sociologists believe such scrutiny can be harmful to society (Clark & Roberts, 2010). The transparency with which others can peer into the private lives of individuals can have far reaching, damaging consequences for civil rights (Clark & Roberts, 2010). A concern for ethical and legal implications of the usage of the tools of business becomes one of the primary concerns of network, database, and website administrators. Without clear legal and ethical guidelines upon which to base standards of behavior, it becomes nearly impossible to publicly determine what is and what is not acceptable behavior with respect to social media and personal privacy (Clark & Roberts, 2010). Prevention of abuse of company resources and the protection of human resource rights create a tightrope upon which the administrator must tread.

The current state of computer legislation and case law in terms of their impact on accepted practices in IT are analyzed in order to explore the dynamic. The indefinite preservation of information on social media sites has inundated evidentiary practices with all sort of torrid information about individuals (Strutin, 2011). Much of the concern with respect to social media in the legal realm means is about personal privacy and rules governing the unauthorized surveillance of citizens (Strutin, 2011). As such, jurists and ethicists alike scramble to offer some viable solution to what seems to be a dilemma about individual liberty versus public protection (Strutin, 2011). One of the problems associated with this endeavor is that of no predecessor (Strutin, 2011). There are to precedents upon which to base opinion (Strutin, 2011). Thus, much of the thinking is based upon experience with older technology (Strutin, 2011). Much of the underlying case law may be reviewed in terms of the limits of The First Amendment Right to free speech. The response of many administrators has been to simply limit the Internet usage in the workplace. Via network software settings, they just turn-off access to any site they deem believe could result in controversial usage. Part of the problem is that social networking sites add a dimension to business communications heretofore unrealized. It has become such a widely implemented business to that most administrators cannot justify the completely limiting its usage just because of a risk of misuse.

Legislation and case law related to privacy concerns are enumerated here. Early on, it becomes clear that an administrator who depends to heavily upon legal opinion to govern the nuances of his trade might well as be an attorney himself. The sheer volume of law related to the subject of social media usage in the workplace makes an exhaustive effort to delineate every detail, well, exhausting. There are so many opinions in so many cases that it becomes nearly impractical to attempt.

The following are just a few examples. In Garcetti v. Ceballos (2006), The United States Supreme Court (USC) decided that communications that are made on company time are not protected under The First Amendment. In Hill v. City of Chicago, judiciaries decided that when an employee complains about a public matter with respect to conditions of employment, communication is protected under The First Amendment (2010). Furthermore, in Juzwiak v. Doe, a court reasoned that people who to publish damaging commentary on others anonymously are not necessarily protected by either privacy or free speech (2010). This sentiment is echoed in many cases where courts have issued subpoenas on various online organizations such as Yahoo! And Google to disclose the identity of an inflammatory poster. These cases sufficiently express the basic issues involved in the discussion, but there are literally hundreds more.

Findings drawn from this study should affect social media usage in the workplace. Some attempts at legislation restricting usage of social media websites have been shot down by USC as unconstitutional such as the Communications Decency Act (Reno v. ACLU, 1997). Again, the administrator is left to his own wits for the most part. Without clear legislation and overwhelming legal opinions, common sense must ultimately prevail in day to day operations of business.

Predictions about these issues are formulated in anticipation of future developments. What must happen (and it is happening to some extent) is that administrators and users alike must take steps to more effectively manage usage based upon at least some shared sensibility. A rudimentary list of rules might be helpful, but what could happen is that the information management itself could be brought to bear on the legalities to help sort them out. There are already huge databases of case laws out there like in Lexus Nexus, but one of the drawbacks of our legal system is its sheer unpredictability. There are so many opinions that any decision becomes somehow “wrong” based on the findings of some other decision. It would be a painstaking expense to try to gather all of the available opinions, sort, and tally them to make some statistical sense relevant to nearly any question. What we have here is an opportunity to augment our legal process with better information management techniques. For example, say an attorney is researching a legal question, as a professional courtesy, he could post a brief his question and findings on the Web such that multiple datasets (case law here) addressing would be cross-referenced. In the future, other attorneys with similar questions would save time from having to complete the same procedure over. In a sense, it would be social media helping the legal system clear up question not only about social media but also other legal concerns. In the end, would have an ever growing repository of correlations, and if a jurist disagreed with a finding he could simply post a dissenting opinion and supporting evidence. To avoid this endeavor becoming a long, drawn out We-based mirror of the judiciary itself, rigorous systems analysis and design would have to define requirements such that the notation would be standardized.

The question of whether social media usage should be allowed in the workplace has been explored here. The current state of computer legislation and case law in terms of their impact on IT professionals and accepted practices in IT have been analyzed, legislation and case law related to privacy concerns examined, and findings drawn on how legislation and case law have affected social media usage in the workplace. Finally, conclusions about the future of privacy and ethics and predictions of future effects of these areas of legislation and case law on social media usage in the workplace have been formulated. What seems to be happening is that technology is moving us faster than we can collectively think. Much of what occurs with respect to social media usage in the workplace will be decided nationally at the level of the USC, but the legal system itself is too bulky and wieldy to sufficiently address many of these issues in a timely matter. It effectually forces IT professionals into forensic role in their respective organizations.

References

Strutin, K. (2011). Social Media and the Vanishing Points of Ethical and Constitutional Boundaries. Pace Law Review, 31(1): 228-292.

Clark, L. A. & Roberts, S. J. (2010). Employer’s Use of Social Networking Sites: A Socially Irresponsible Practice. Journal of Business Ethics, 95:507–525.

Garcetti v. Ceballos, 126 S. Ct. 1951 (2006).

Hill v. City of Chicago, 2010 WL 3735723 (N.D. Ill. 2010).

Juzwiak v. Doe, 2 A.3d 428 (N.J. Superior Ct., App. Div. 2010).

Reno v. ACLU, 117 S. Ct. 2329 (1997).