Busted and Outed. Facebook the new HR.

Thanks to Dave to sending me this link of a widely circulated photograph. It only goes to show that “privacy” is a relative term….sure, most of us have pictures and information that a stranger can’t directly access, but our friends are our enemies in the on-line social networks. General rule of thumb, if anyone can see it everyone will (same goes to the hot cheerleading coach being fired after posing nude with a 15 year old student….the uncensored photo, of course, is widely available if you google it).

Here is the story, that I read from Your Privacy Is An Illusion. Kevin, who was interning at Anglo Irish Bank’s North American division, e-mailed his manager saying that he had a family emergency in New York that required him to miss a day of work. One of Kevin’s facebook “friends” pulled up his facebook account and saw the above photo from a Halloween party that Kevin had attended. Once found, his boss had sent him an e-mail with the photo attached and BCCed it to the entire office. The e-mail exchange is below, as found on the web.

Note: I’m glad that the parties I went to in Worcester (where this event took place) didn’t involve guys dressed up as ferries.