[LINK] Social Media History Becomes a New Job Hurdle (NY Times)

[Ash Nallawalla]

Extract:

"July 20, 2011
Social Media History Becomes a New Job Hurdle
By JENNIFER PRESTON

Companies have long used criminal background checks, credit reports and even
searches on Google and LinkedIn to probe the previous lives of prospective
employees. Now, some companies are requiring job candidates to also pass a
social media background check.

A year-old start-up, Social Intelligence, scrapes the Internet for
everything prospective employees may have said or done online in the past
seven years.

Then it assembles a dossier with examples of professional honors and
charitable work, along with negative information that meets specific
criteria: online evidence of racist remarks; references to drugs; sexually
explicit photos, text messages or videos; flagrant displays of weapons or
bombs and clearly identifiable violent activity. "

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/07/21/technology/social-media-history-becomes-a-
new-job-hurdle.html?_r=1 (needs free login)

Linkers,

Note "requiring". Does this happen over here?

For people with semi-common human or screen names, e.g. a few instances on
the web but not unique, this poses a risk of being misidentified. 

Ash