is it ethical for potential employers and adoption agencies to review facebook pages of applicants?

[Fearlessairplane896]

working on a paper and wanted a few opinions. do you think its ok for the adoption agency and employer to check the facebook page of the applicant as part of the background check?

[whisperingpleasure365]

Of course. Nothing you put on the internet is private. What better way to find out the REAL background of your client, than to view their Facebook without their knowledge? If you really want something to be private, put it in a diary. Otherwise, anyone could view any of your content. It's completely ethical - your potential employee might seem innocent in the interview, but may actually do drugs, post inappropriate photos of themselves, use foul language, talk bad about the job (employees have been fired for posting how much they hate their jobs), etc.

College admissions officers use Facebook and Myspace to search their potential students to make sure they're not admitting idiots into their schools. Like I said, it's not your private Facebook profile. That little sliver of the internet isn't yours. Privacy does not exist on the internet, and for good reason.

[Joseph]

Anyone has the right to check any publicly available information available on a job applicant. If you don't want the information known don't put it out there. Even with facebook people may not understand the intricacies of their privacy settings. Someone who consistently uses foul language on facebook can easily be black marked by future employers. Be careful what you say and how you say it.

[Ann]

Hi, Is it ethical? No. Is it done on a daily basis? Yes. Unfortunately we live in a world where our private information is available instantly. This is an excellent reason to teach all internet users to limit what they make available online (and withhold information +/or pictures that would make a potential employer or adoption agency leary).