by Daniel Bentley

Created on: October 28, 2008   Last Updated: November 18, 2011

I don't believe that it would be fair for employers to use Myspace as a medium of character judgement or much less grounds for termination. Myspace is a virtual hangout where users should feel confident that they can let loose their feelings and have good 'ol fashioned play time away from work and maybe even their home life if it is within reasonable moderation.

I may not be the person whom my Myspace indicates I am for instance. Sometimes I like to pretend that I am a middle-aged man named Guy born in the fictitious ferbie farming village of Myncolale, Oregon. Why do I do this? Why does it matter? If I wish to experience the socialization of a sociopath, then isn't it safer from behind a computer network where no one gets hurt? Putting that aside, I only become Guy in the summertime for a few weeks. It filters out the friends who aren't necessary to my ego-survival-ism because they aren't accepting enough of my quirks and it embarrasses them.

Getting back to the relevance of this issue, I don't want my higher-ups to know that I listen to Cradle of Filth or that I sometimes have a potty mouth. It is the clashing of worlds. My boss who thinks that I am a well primped word conservative good guy finds that I am trailer material. It wouldn't be good for my job if it were grounds of character judgment and it shouldn't be.

The sanctity of virtual identity should be revered as a glove for frustration and is at risk of exposure from organizations who would like to mediate anything and everything tangible. The majority of everyone who believes otherwise would probably change their minds if internet police sat in on their Yahoo conversations to make sure they weren't being nasty with their children they may only be able to contact via messenger or some other internet source because of custody issues or legalities. They might change their minds if they fell into the temptation of looking at porn and a pop up window with a message from their pastor appeared in the middle of the media player.

Myspace is only a percentile of the web that is already too full of mediators looking for certain words or phrases to trigger IP tapping. Myspace already has a team of engineers who mediate and ensure the fair treatment of everyone using it, including minors so that nudity in pictures is not allowed. There is no need for any outside involvement in the filtering of Myspace profiles or any other form of supervision because Tom has already taken care of that.

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