<abstract xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"><p>The aim of this interdisciplinary paper is to study the social reality surrounding the data processing practices employers and employees engage in on social networking sites (SNS). Considering the lack of empirical studies, as well as the considerable uncertainty in the way personal data protection is implemented across the European Union (EU), the paper offers insights on the topic. Qualitative text analysis of semi-structured interviews with employers from the service sector (N=10) and the field of media and communication (N=15), as well as employers from organisations which had experienced various problems due to things their employees had posted on social media (N=14), and employees from the financial sector (N=15) were carried out to explore whether the data protection principles, which can be viewed as the most important guidelines for employers in the EU, are actually followed in their everyday SNS data processing practices. Even though the data protection principles emphasise the need for fair, purposeful, transparent, minimal and accurate processing of personal data, our interviews with employers and employees reveal that the actual SNS processing practices rarely live up to the standards. Our findings indicate that there is a growing mismatch between the social reality and legal requirements regarding data subjects.</p></abstract>

The aim of this interdisciplinary paper is to study the social reality surrounding the data processing practices employers and employees engage in on social networking sites (SNS). Considering the lack of empirical studies, as well as the considerable uncertainty in the way personal data protection is implemented across the European Union (EU), the paper offers insights on the topic. Qualitative text analysis of semi-structured interviews with employers from the service sector (N=10) and the field of media and communication (N=15), as well as employers from organisations which had experienced various problems due to things their employees had posted on social media (N=14), and employees from the financial sector (N=15) were carried out to explore whether the data protection principles, which can be viewed as the most important guidelines for employers in the EU, are actually followed in their everyday SNS data processing practices. Even though the data protection principles emphasise the need for fair, purposeful, transparent, minimal and accurate processing of personal data, our interviews with employers and employees reveal that the actual SNS processing practices rarely live up to the standards. Our findings indicate that there is a growing mismatch between the social reality and legal requirements regarding data subjects.

Employers as Nightmare Readers: An Analysis of Ethical and Legal Concerns Regarding Employer-Employee Practices on SNS

Baltic Journal of Law & Politics

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 3.0 License.

The aim of this interdisciplinary paper is to study the social reality surrounding the data processing practices employers and employees engage in on social...

Employers as Nightmare Readers: An Analysis of Ethical and Legal Concerns Regarding Employer-Employee Practices on SNS

Published Online: Mar 07, 2018

Page range: 76 - 106

Received: Aug 02, 2017

Accepted: Dec 12, 2017

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1515/bjlp-2017-0013

Keywords
Data processing, employers, employees, social media, data protection principles

© 2017 Seili Suder et al., published by De Gruyter Open

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 3.0 License.

Employers as Nightmare Readers: An Analysis of Ethical and Legal Concerns Regarding Employer-Employee Practices on SNS

Published Online: Mar 07, 2018

Page range: 76 - 106

Received: Aug 02, 2017

Accepted: Dec 12, 2017

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1515/bjlp-2017-0013

KeywordsData processing, employers, employees, social media, data protection principles

© 2017 Seili Suder et al., published by De Gruyter Open

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 3.0 License.

Keywords
Data processing, employers, employees, social media, data protection principles