The Digital To Be or Not To Be: Privacy of Employees and the Use of Online Social Networks in the Recruitment Process

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 all the
use of online social networks led to the user to have 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 social networks 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 workers' privacy and putting new
questions to Labour Law, not only during the execution of the
labor contract, but also previously in the hiring process and in
the ending of the same.
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. In 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.