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Labor & Employment Law

: Thoughts from a Management Lawyer

Employers aren't embracing social networks

By Michael Fitzgibbon

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That's according to a recent survey (an online poll conducted in February 2009 with 709 respondents) conducted by Sophos.

Among other findings, the survey revealed that "63 per cent of system administrators worry that employees share too much personal information via their social networking profiles, putting their corporate infrastructure - and the sensitive data stored on it - at risk." Concerns about productivity remain the major reason for controlling access to social networking sites (33%). In saying all of that:

"With social networking behaviour firmly ingrained in many employees' daily routines, Sophos experts predict that users will continue to share information inappropriately, putting their identities - and potentially the organisation they work for - at risk. Similarly, as long as users keep falling for social media scams, the fraudsters will continue to exploit social networks, commandeering identities to steal information and spread more attacks. However, banning social networking in the workplace outright may be a rash move - one that could cause more harm than good."

I spoke last week at the Osgoode Professional Development seminar Employment Law 2009 Proactively Managing Legal Risk in Challenging Times Employment Law about Effectively Managing the Use of Technology and Company Property where the issue of social networking sites was touched upon.

In some respects, I can understand the concern. I am reminded of a article I read several years ago where "70% of people would reveal their computer password in exchange for a bar of chocolate". But maybe things have changed since 2004 when that article was written? Well, yes, but concerns remain about the willingness of people to part with their information including passwords.

Full post as published by Thoughts from a Management Lawyer on May 03, 2009 (boomark / email).