The digital to be or not to be : privacy of employees and the use of online socialnetworks in hiring decisions

Abstract

The world in general and Labour Law specifically has been suffering in the last years countless changes related with the enormous increase and development of the use of new information and communication technology in the Labour relationship. The use of new technologies of the Web 2.0, and most of ali the use of online social networks led to the user to h ave a positive and active attitude interacting with others, abolishing the notions of time and space, and changed the Labour landscape. The internet and the e-mail, the use of online socialnetworks like Facebook or Twitter, Orkut, Friendster, or Linkedin, the blogs, the forums, turned the control of the employer to a more and more present and intrusive one, affecting the wm·kers' privacy and putting new questions to Labour Law, not only during thc exccution of the labor contract, but also previously in the hiring process and in the ending of the sarne. However, the workers don't leave behind their rights as persons (and certainly not their right to privacy and data protection) when they celebrate a labor contract. ln fact, they have a founded and legitimate expectation of a certain degree of privacy in the workplace, even when they are applying for a job.