Diamonds The Internet is Forever

Apparently, the National Labor Relations Board (USA, not Canada – I have no idea if Canada has an equivalent) has declared that firing a person due to comments they made on Facebook is an illegal act. Specifically, they determined that conversations with fellow employees regarding work situations and pay is protected and therefore posting comments on Facebook that are of a work-related nature that may be read and commented on by other employees is protected as well. To quote the New York Times who quoted the NLRB’s general counsel:

Lafe Solomon, the board’s acting general counsel, said, “This is a fairly straightforward case under the National Labor Relations Act — whether it takes place on Facebook or at the water cooler, it was employees talking jointly about working conditions, in this case about their supervisor, and they have a right to do that.”

There is an important piece of information that Mr. Solomon has missed. When you put something on the internet, it’s never between you and other employees, but instead is potentially with every single person who is currently using or may eventually use the internet. It's naive to believe anything else.

Think about that for a moment. According to Internet World Stats there are nearly 2 billion people using the internet. That’s a potential audience of 2 billion people. Now, I know that 2 billion people will not go look at a Facebook page where someone says bad things about their boss. What I am saying is that if 2 billion people wanted to see it, they could. Kinda makes the 2-3 people around the water cooler seem insignificant, doesn’t it? And while many times facebook statuses (statusi) are for friends only, do we really need to talk about the security of a site like facebook?

Without having to go as far as 2 billion, let’s just talk about the fact that the New York Times is running a story on the situation. I- and you, since you’re reading this- now know that one Dawnmarie Souza, who worked for American Medical Response of Connecticut made disparaging remarks about her boss, including referring to him as a psychiatric patient. I’m not one of Ms Souza’s friends on facebook, but I now know the basics of what happened. More importantly, I don’t have all the facts, but that doesn’t stop me from making an opinion regarding Ms Souza or her former employers.

It's not just the 2 billion people currently using the internet. I said everyone who has or may eventually use the internet. Five times as many people are using the new as just 10 years ago. How many people will be online in the next ten years? How about ten years after that?

If I’m standing on a hill with three of my co-workers and start shouting about how I hate my boss and that he’s an awful person and my boss is walking past, do you think I’m going to keep my job? Probably not, but this example is lacking. Even if we covered that hill with people, my message can only go so far and unless someone is videotaping (not unlikely in this time period) my yell and posting it onto the internet, I’m only likely to reach a couple hundred people and it will only last as long as I choose to scream. Afterwards, I might even feel bad and wish I hadn’t done it, but that’s okay because it was only a one-time thing.

We don’t have any of those considerations when we post on the internet. Like diamonds, the internet is forever. Remember the giant pink bunny that a bunch of artists built that can be seen from space? No? Well, go look it up – it was made 5 years ago. How about the Taco Bell commercials with the Chihuahua? They are there too. It’s all here – and most of it in full color and often accompanied by video.

This doesn’t even have to be about a specific instance or a specific social media site. Everything you do, say or post is saved forever. Don’t think that just because a government organization says that the internet is an extension of our freedom of speech we can say what we want. I’ll leave you with one last thought about it. The government may come back and say that American Medical Response of Connecticut was wrong in firing Ms Souza. They may make them pay her restitution. They could, though unlikely, demand that they give her job back to her. No matter what may happen, Ms Souza will eventually have to find a new job. What’s that potential employer going to find when he looks up her name on the internet?

Check out where I originally found the story - Mashable.com is a great resource for all things Social Media.