How Private Are Your Searches?

I believe that employers should not invaid privacy of their workers ever. If employers think their employees are up to no good or not a work sites, then they should put up a block. Someone spying on internet searches could keep people safer, but when does it become too much an invasion of privacy. When is it not ok, where is the line? I currently have not had an experience with this but I assume when I eneter the working world I will encounter something of this nature, in which I am not loking forward too.

I actually did a study on something similar to this topic for a communications class.  A group including myself investigated if preparing for a career affects what college students post on their social media platforms.  The ending result was kind of a big "duh" of: yes.  From changing their last name to deleting embarrassing/questionable photos, it seems as even doing these minor changes only hide so much.  In my opinion, it shouldn't be about "hiding" information, but more about making the right decisions for yourself and your career path.

I do believe employers have a right to see the information that is aleady public of potential employees, but the Catalano story was on the extreme side.  If someone was planning a terrible act similar to what he was questioned for, I'm not sure that they would be googling it.  I believe there is a difference between being caucious and being paranoid, so to me, it falls on the invasion of privacy side.  I think other steps should have been taken before contacting any federal interrigation groups within that company.

After reading the article, I thought to myself, wow this is absolute madness. The first thing I did was put myself in that families shoes. I could not imagine a joint terrorism task force showing up at my house, accusing my family of being terrorists. Then again, after all of the issues we have had recently with mass shootings, maybe this isn't that bad of a idea after all. I think a way to regulate these searches is, once a "suspicious" idea is googled, then, some sort of investigation or background check needs to be done on the person googling. This may give some clues as to why the person is looking up "pressure cookers," maybe they work for a company who makes pressure cookers and is checking out the competition--doing a background check on this person would prevent a joint terrorism task force showing up at their home. However, if an individual looking up "homemade bombs" and has a current history of being in jail or any mental disorder, then it gives a reason for a joint terrorism task force to show up. I do believe that in today's society that regulating the internet does keep us safer. Even if it does not prevent something from happening, it has solved murder cases all because of what was on the internet before it happened. I strongly believe that if you do not feel comfortable googling something or if you aren't sure if you should post something, then you probably shouldn't. And, if you do, then you should be able to explain yourself and face the consequences. I personally have never encountered a similar situation but by putting myself in the family's shoes in the article, it was very real to me.

When I first hear about what facebook was and how facebook worksI thought it was one ridiculous idea. Why would someone want their everyday activities to be known by the whole world? Even though I am active in most of the popular social medias I have never been very supportive toward it. I think that a employer should not be based on what they can find out about a person in their facebook page. You can't know how that person thinks or how that person really is because of a photo or a status that he posted while he was having a bad time and because of this status make an impression about that person. We all have bad times. I do think that it can be a violation to our security and our right to privacy. While living in Mexico my parents always warned me about what I posted in there since a lot of bad people followed these pages and even used them to kidnap young people. Even though social media is the future and I believe that if we want to succeed we have to learn how to interact successfully with it and do the right things when dealing with it.

Whether authorities should monitor our online behavior at work or not remains a debatable issue. In my opinion, I feel that it is an invasion of privacy for my employers to monitor my online behavior without my consent. There are many privacy issues that we discuss online, issues relating to our healthy, families and so forth. Such kind of things should remain private and confidential.

However, if the company feels that as an employee, I am being involved in elicit behaviors that might be a threat to the company’s welfare,   they must have the right to do so. But prior to this the rules must be clear, the company must outline its principles and terms of reference regarding online behavior of employees. It should be made clear to the employees that the company does monitor their online behavior. Of course any suspicious behavior must always be reported to the authorities for the benefit of communities at large. This debate reminds me of one man, Vikaz Mavhudzi who was arrested in Zimbabwe for a posting a statement that was deemed subversive to the state on the Prime Minister Facebook page.  The man spent one month locked in cells. While the police were trying to investigate the matter. The lesson though is, whether we are being monitored or not, we must always be very carefully of how we behave when we are online.

I think that there are both positives and negatives with employers monitoring search activity. First off, it gives everyone a sense of security within the company. If someone is searching things that are unrelated to work and seem to pose a threat, it makes sense for the employer to contact the authorities. It is the employer's responsibility to make sure all of his or her workers are safe. If there seems to be suspicious activity going on, it is always better to be safe than sorry in my opinion. If and employer noticed some strange searches going on and did nothing about it, they would be in big trouble and could cause harm to employees if something bad happened. I also agree with the idea that if you feel like you have to hide what you are searching at work, then you probably should not be searching it anyway.

On the opposite side of this issue, I believe that some employers could take this to the extreme, and jumping to conclusions for every little thing. This would just be a nuisance to workers, and make them paranoid to search anything at work. People search a lot of random things online, and most of the time it does not correlate with a dangerous plot. In the article, the family appears to be of foreign descent. After the worker's search activity included things like "pressure cookers," the employer assumed he was creating pressure cooker bombs. The fact that the family was accused as being terrorists is very prejudice. If another employee was searching for the same thing, I am curious to know if the reaction would have been the same. Allowing search activity to be monitored can cause things to be blown out of proportion and create issues that do not even need to be addressed.

I think monitoring online search activity in a company is a good way to keep your employees under control. I would be Ok with my employer monitoring my search activity, because everybody wants to know what his/her employees are doing during work. I personally never heard a situation like this before but for me, companies should keep on eye on their employees by monitoring their searches. Some would say, what about our rights to privacy? I think we still have our privacy when we are not working, but during work hours, we all should be focusing to our jobs and the best way for companies to track us by monitoring our search activity. It is also important for companies’ security in order to avoid things like illegal activities. So, I think this could be a good opportunity for some if they use it in an effective way.

I don't agree with you at all on people that worry about online privacy is a little paranoid. I think people should be a little paranoid now days. I think most people including myself had no idea that NSA was monitoring everything you do everything you say and that they are keeping that stuff for 5 years, google it worst because they keep that stuff forever. Google information can be accessed easily by the government with one of those FISA (a secret court) order and you never know because its illegal for google to talk about it ever. This is affecting millions of people that have done nothing wrong and it has been going on for at least 10 years.

To know that you are being tracked and everything that you write is being saved somewhere make people think twice about what they are searching for and people can end up censoring themselves because they are worry about someone coming to your door.

Having companies’ monitoring people on the internet is perfectly okay with me. I do not feel threaten by companies over bearing their rights and looking deeper into what people are searching on the internet. If you have nothing to hide, why does it matter? Everyone that uses social media, and the internet knows that what you put on the internet, or what you search for stays on forever in a database. The United States is the most powerful country in the world, and we feel threaten every day. If companies could do their part in monitoring their employees then we could potentially stop future terrorist attacks. 

I personally believe that the government has humble reasoning for monitoring online searches. I believe that there are things that the average Joe might not know about going on that we need to be protected from. I think in this situation, we might not know the full story, and without knowing the full story, we often jump to conclusions. Maybe this was a distraction – meaning that someone knew this would happen and wanted to make the government look bad. Or maybe this truly was as violating-privacy-rights as it seems. There is no way to really know. I have never been in a situation where I felt my privacy was violated by the government, but I have been in situations where employers monitor internet activity. I think they have a right to do so, since you are working for them, but at home I don’t believe employers should be allowed to monitor activity outside of work. I think sometimes you have to violate privacy, to protect it.

           I personally would not be bothered by employers monitoring my search activity while at work. I feel that if an employer happens to come across something that may seem suspicious and reports it to the authorities that it is no different than seeing something suspicious happen at an airport or on a crowded street and reporting it. Ultimately, these things are being done with good intent— to keep the community safe. In my opinion, it’s better to be safe than sorry. If you do happen to innocently search something that appears suspicious to others and the cops show up at your door because of it, if you were truly innocent in your inquiries, then you have nothing to hide and life moves on. I see how it could feel intrusive for your employer to be looking at your search history, but if you are searching something that you are embarrassed for others to see, then it is probably not something you should be searching while on the clock anyway.  

A downside to knowing that these task force visits could happen because of a simple Google search is that it could make people a little bit apprehensive to search things that they are just curious about. After the Boston bombings, I was curious about how you made a bomb out of a pressure cooker (not because I wanted to make one, just out of natural curiosity), but I wouldn’t dare search it because doing so made me kind of uneasy. I didn’t want people to see my searches and think that I was up to something when I wasn’t. I feel that this invasion of privacy can discourage inquiry on topics we are interested in, but we have to think about what is more important. Would we rather let another tragedy happen that could have potentially been prevented or would we rather retain complete privacy in our searches? And that is something that is up for debate.

I often think about how I feel about the government, or my employer monitoring what I do online. I too think that if you don't have anything to hide, then why would you care if they saw what you were doing. I recently encountered a situation at work where my co-worker wanted to buy a pressure cooker to can her tomatoes, but she was afraid to search the internet for one, feeling as though the government was watching her and would question her intentions. She has now gone another year without canning just in fear of the government taking action, and that is not okay. It is not very likely that she would have been questioned, but who knows. While it is important for the government to protect us, they can make things worse than they are by making bad judgement calls. How would they know what peoples true intentions are? It's sad that this is even a worry in our country. 

I think that there are many different facets to this question that need to be addressed.  On the one hand, using a company computer to mindlessly look up unrelated searches on the internet during the work day is wrong and wasteful of time and resources.  People who constantly squander company time playing Candy Crush at work or facebooking or shopping online should be disciplined.  I am all for companies monitoring what websites are used during the work day, and potentially firing people accordingly.

At the same time, I feel that this situation shows just how far the American authorities have fallen down the slippery slope of ignoring the Constitution and hunting innocent people in the name of national security.  I do not want to have another Boston Bomber situation (of course) but I think that the amont of resources and people dispatched to this home in New York was beyond overkill.  What has happened to "innocent until proven guilty" in this country?  In this situation we see the complete opposite; tell us why we shouldn't arrest you and leave you to rot in Guantanamo? It appears Americans now have to prove their innocence to nameless authorities (no special task force even claimed credit for coming to the house) which is a situation we have seen happen only since 9/11 in my memory.  I believe stories like these show we are becoming more of a police state and I do not see this changing any time soon.  This family would have been fine had they not been searching these random topics at work, however, so it all goes back to my first point that employers have every right to see when their worker's have not been using their time productively for the good of the company.  

In most cases, I feel the same way; that if you are paranoid about what you are doing online, then you probably shouldn't be doing it. On the other hand, when it comes to employers looking through search activity and social media, it begins to be debatable. If you are at work, I believe the employer has every right to look through your search activity or social media and call the authorities if they feel threatened. If the employee is at home, that is their personal life and the employer should have no business in looking through their personal life. Recently, the MSU office I currently work for has encountered a similiar situation where an employee was posting inappropriate material online and actually threatened the employer. In this case, since the employee and employer were friends on Facebook, the employee knew that the employer had access to his site which caused the matter to blow up into a bigger problem. The matter is currently still being resolved.

I believe if you are using an employer's computer during work hours, they have the right to monitor your search activity if they believe you have suspicious activity or are not completing your projects. They should contact you first about the results and any action afterward is between you and the company. The authorities do not need to get involved in the process, unless they find something life-threatening or illegal. If one feels as though it violates their right to privacy, I have one piece of advice. Don't search anything at work that you feel uncomfortable with your employeers seeing.

I totally agree with you Ross. Yes, using the Internet means relinquishing your privacy. People do not realize how very true this statement is. The minute you log on, a multitude of web sites are immediately made aware of your presence and begin tracking your moves and reporting them. Your data is collected, organized, studied and categorized. As you continue visiting sites, you will eventually receive advertisement emails based on your Internet preferences. And all you can really do about it is sit there and wonder how they got all that information about you. Its about what you decide to put out there and why. Thats just the way this day and age is when the Internet is basically running the world.

I have never had any kind of similar situation like this. However, I think this is absolutely absurd. In a way, I can see how people think this may keep us safer. Heck, if we can know who is searching this stuff to buy materials to make bombs or weapons to harm people on the internet they could be stopped, thus preventing people from being harmed or killed. Although there are benefits to doing this, just because someone is searching suspicious items on the internet doesn't mean they intend to use them in a way to hurt or kill people. In my view, this is a total violation of privacy. You should be able to use the internet for whatever you want, not matter how suspicious the search, and not be hassled. 

As a fulltime employee, I see no problem with my employer monitoring my work. I am personally afraid to even check my personal email when I'm at work...I do not want to lose my job, nor do I want them to think that I am being paid to take care of my own issues. I do not blame any monitoring agencies for what they do...but I am concerned if I was in witness protection and my searches were still being monitored. Thus, my concern is when identities should remain quiet, or when they need to be protected and not publicized. Thus, I believe it actually needed by our government and employers to actually monitor what we do. The sad fact is that there are people who used pressure cookers and backpacks to do bad things, and while a couple of people monitoring us might be bad, the masses are not and want the best for our country. We must accept, improve and not fall susceptible to heinous methods of life.

I believe that ever individual is entitled to privacy. However, I personally do not post anything online that I would later regret, but I do believe that depending on the company you are working should depend on being monitored. If I am a big company I would want me employees to be an extended representation of my company. 

Fortunately, I've never never been in situation like that before, but I do feel its a violation of our right to privacy. I should be able to search  the internet privately. The bottom line is, just because people are searching for pressure cookers and backpacks, doesn't mean they're terrorists that need to be looked into.

For some odd reason, it does not bother me that employers monitor search activity. Obviously, every situation is different. It is my hope that if employers do contact authorities based on search history, it is because they genuinely felt a level of concern, fear, danger, or confusion, that authorities could safely handle. It is definitely an invasion of privacy, but I think the potential benefits of this (law?) outweigh the negatives. Basically, as my grandpa would say, "there are alot of idiots out there," and I feel a little better knowing law enforcement is keeping a watchful eye on those idiots. 

I don't think it is right to be able to go to jail because of something you googled. This does not make me feel safe, and part of this country is privacy and that is not being private. I don't think it keeps us all safer....people google crazy things it does not mean they are doing them. This is definitely an invasion of privacy and is not right. No I have personally never encountered a similar situation.

I have never met such situation during my past working experience and in most cases monitoring employees’ online activity is improper. Invasion of privacy cannot be interpreted to ensuring employees’ working efficiency. If one could finish his tasks on time with a high quality, then why we should interfere his/her private life? Or if one’s poor working experience is thought to be about overspending time on irrelevant online activity, monitoring his Internet history is still not reasoned. Certain methods such as blocking irrelevant websites would be a solution. Besides, sometime the argument that whether the search is related/unrelated to the job is controversial. Of course, for institutions of a greater private standard, monitoring might be a necessity.

If employers are monitoring search activity while we are at work and using their computers, I don't have a problem with that because they need to know if their employees are doing their jobs, or are just goofing around on the computer. However, if an employer does find something out about an employee, depending on the situation, they may be required by law to report it. Also, if an employee is Googling "ways to kill someone", that should also raise some red flags. That being said, I do agree that there is a line and expectation for online privacy. If you don't want other people to know what you're doing, don't use a public computer or a work computer to participate in those activities.

I don't really have a problem with employers monitoring my search history.  I'm not one to search anything strange on the internet, especially on a work computer or anywhere that I have potential to be monitered.  I don't think that home use monitoring should be allowed however I do think that work computers are a special case that should be up to the employer.  If you want to search strange things, do it on your own time, on your own computer or even on your smartphone.  

I feel that employers have the right to track what their employees are doing while at work just to ensure that employees are doing what they are supposed to and being productive while at work, however what an employee does on their own time is their own business. I don't find it necessary for employers to worry about what employees are putting on their own personal sites on their own time unless it is harmful to the company. If it's happening while at work, I dont think that it is a violation of our right to privacy because it is the employers job to make sure everyone stays on task and is doing what they are supposed to. I personally have never encountered a situation such as this but I have heard many stories of employers tracking what their employees do on the internet and social media websites.

 I personally feel safe that they are monitoring the employees and potentially contacting authorities if higher power needs to be called into action. Although I feel safe, I do feel this is somewhat of a violation to personal privacy and could easily be taken out of context. At my current internship, we are blocked from almost any site either immediately or after a few minutes of use. Being blocked from these sites I never really found the answer why, although, I did find it extremely strange that even if I wanted to order food and find a phone number those sites were blocked as well. I would like to look into why they have such restrictions and interested to see if it is because of a previous incident.

I understand the need for concern by the government and employers, however I do not agree with them being able to see what you are googling or anything like that. Social media sites or blogs are fair game because those are sites where you are specifically posting things for the world to see. If you were too private of a person then you wouldn't be putting personal photos or messages on the web. Website searches or movies viewed and other related topics should be kept private no matter what. Everyone should have the right to feel safe and have privacy held in their own homes. There is no need for unlawful searches and seizures, which I believe is what this is. Only if the police had gotten a tip of a person possibly commiting harmful behavior would this be necessary.

There was major uproar because of the recent phone scandal release of the government listening in on phone calls. This is pretty much the same thing. Whatever I want to say over the phone or look up on the internet or even watch on my own television should be private. Unless there is a dire need for it, I think it is inappropriate and unnecessary.

I have never came across this type of situation personally but I dont have an opinion on it. I think that employers have a right to block maybe certain websites and monitor some usage just to ensure productivity. But I do feel that it is an invasion of privacy that they can look at what you are searching and possibly turn you into authorities based on something that you searched on google. 

If you don't want your employer snooping into your business, then don't use your work computer for personal reasons. I do believe it may be a bit invasive, but the company you work for has a right to know what their employees are doing on their equipment and with their paid time. I myself have noticed some website have been blocked from my work computer, but I think mainly to keep people from slacking off.

This is going to far. It is not necessary to go to that extreme to know what your employees are doing online. If they do search something that is suspicious maybe its because they wanted to learn a little bit about the subject. 

Employers, and the government should be able to to these things. Think about it, if this works just one time, and results in any amount of lives being saved, then isn't it worth it? Does it really matter if the government knows what potentially emabarssing things you look at in your free time. No. Peoples lives do, and if any get saved then this is a worthy cause. 

I think this is a pretty disturbing topic. The fact that people can see so much of each other now a days is just insane. I would probably feel violated if the cops showed up on my doorstep because of what I was looking up online, but at the same time, I am not hiding anything. I wont be one to look up sketchy things on the internet. So I guess I do not know how I truly feel about this topic. Because if some creep was planning on doing something threatening and people noticed by his searches, the cops should be able to investigate - because they could be stopping something potentially disastrous. Hard subject to agree on only one side. I see the good and bad in both sides.

This is a pretty different thing to think about. I believe it's only going to become a bigger and bigger issue. I currently am not worried about a task force showing up on my doorstep, but if/once it happens I will probably feel pretty violated. The way to do it right now should be very secretive. They shouldn't just show up on your doorstep, but I do believe that certiain people could and should be monitored. A more passive approach would be approprate at the time, such as a simple third party monitoring, but not interving with the searches you make.

Honestly this topic creeps me out. I'd love to think that what I search for and do on the internet is private, but in all honesty it really isn't. Coming from an employeers point of view, I think they have very right to know what you're searching for, because you're supposed to be doing work at work, not surfing the web. What I don't agree with, and I saw someone had mentioned earlier, is how companies can see your click history and determine what to advertise to you on certain websites. It feels like an invasion of privacy, but in this day and age, little is private. I read an article earlier this week on Yahoo about what Google keeps track of, and they have basically your entire search history on hand. If an employeer feels that there is a threat, then they should go ahead and contact authorities if they think it is that bad. Otherwise, I beleive that what we search for should be on some level of privacy. And like you said, If you feel like it isn't right then you probally shouldn't be searching for it.

I think it is really crazy how people can access our activity on the web. For example the thing that got me the most was in my consumer behavior class we talked about how companies can actually track your click patterns to know what to send you in emails or what to advertise on the sites you visit. I think it is a smart idea for business but definetly an invasion of privacy for the consumers. I fall both ways on this topic because I do believe this type of thing can be beneficial to track susipious behavior and things that could be harmful to others. But I think it is silly that this means they have access to everything people do such as simple searches or their social media and shopping.

I cannot make my decision about this topic, and the answer might vary what kinds of circumstances or situations I am in. However, if companies or employers monitor workers search activity, they might take another route - such as using hacking tools or programs - to break through companies' surveillance. This could be a deviate story, when I was working a company (actually, it was a local broadcast station) my company blocked some of famous social network sites to make workers focus on their task. Before the firm monitor employees' search activity, the firm should make proper reason why they have to monitor first.  

In my opinion I believe that a company has every right to monitor their empoyeers search activity.  If the employee is using his/her own personal labtop then they should have the privacy to search whatever they want, but when using a work computer for their company, that company should entiteled to know what they are searching and if it is work related, or if they happen to come across disturbing information that may treaten them or their work environment.  

I feel that is very much so in the realm of acceptablity for an employer to monitor your search activity at work. The justification for this is easy - if you're at work, you should be working. Using company's time and money to perform personal searches should result in some sort of punishment. If the employer finds the search activity to be alarming then they should most definitely pass that along to authorities. As an employee, you forfeit your right to privacy when performing activities (searches) on work time and with work equipment. However, I will say it is extremely important that this is made clear to any employees prior to their start date. If an employee is fully aware that they are not allowed to frivolously search the internet, and that their employer can track those searches, all privacy rights are relinquished. I would say it does keep us safer, but the chances of this happening are probably very slim to begin with. Something similar occurs at my current job - each employee is given a company email address and it's made explicitly clear that these are to be used only when speaking with clients. It was also made clear that management can at any time view any and all emails sent and received via this account. We haven't had a single problem since, mainly because nobody has given anyone reason to search their emails. 

In a work place I dont think it is wrong to monitor searches and history.  I think it should actually be done.  You are at your job, in a professional setting, you should act that way.  But when you are at home, what you do ans search is your own business to a certain extent.  Obviously we know that if keywords or phrases are searched or websites visited it is alerted to the right authorities, and during this time, I think it should be.  But for the most part other than the handful of things that should alert the right people, what you do and search is all your own.

Although I have never personally encountered a situation in which I was monitored but my opinion about being monitored rests upon the type of the company, the individual is working for. If someone is engaged with defence organization, I feel the employer is justified to monitor the employees' search activity. In such a context, it is perfectly appropriate to save the nation's interest. However, during such type of monitoring, one thing must be ensured that the monitoring reports must always be kept confidential so that to a certain extent the individuals privacy may remain intact. 

I think that search monitoring at work is reasonable but at the same time there should be communication in the work place about what is happening. Going straight to the authorities without confronting one of your workers first seems like a huge step to take. I feel that if you think one of your employees is searching for suspicious material than you should be the one to confront them first. Not everybody is out to hurt someone and it seems that we are training ourselves to think that they are. The internet was never a very personal place but the task force coming to your door because you searched for a new culinary knife set seems a bit ridiculous.

There is definitely a thin line between envading someone's privacy and monitoring people's social networks and searches for safety, and these days I think the govenerment easily crosses that line.  At this point in society, anything that has been put on the internet, in our phones, anywjere is being monitored by the government unfortunately.  I think its against the law and our free will.  There may be some good in being able to closely watch some people's searches, however in most cases I believe they go over board with it.  Its as if the privacy settings they make availible on these devices and social networks are pointless or just there for our comfort.

This is hard topic to east to say something. I would not like to do monitoring. It doesn't matter that it is good purpose or bad purpose. Think the other way, if someone monitor you, you might be feel bad. I don't have any simmilar situation in personal, but if employers monitor my search or history things, I will be quit that company as soon as possible.

This is a tought subject because of how many people search things on the internet. There is no way that it is right for people to be getting questioned for searching things like pressure cookers and backpacks. To begin assuming people are doing things for dangerous reasons is wrong. Looking up what people are looking up is also wrong and in my opinion it is against the law. I believe that everyone should have full privacy when looking at things online, and unless there is extremely hard evidence that you are doing something incredibly illegal online, you should never have to answer to anybody about what you have searched. It is unreasonable and ridiculous to know that people are being questioned about things like this. It will always be a problem but employers should not be giving tips to government with evidence of searching backpacks and pressure cookers, it is a wild assumption and is invading peoples privacy that should not have been invaded. 

While i do not find that it would be necessary for employers to monitor their employees, i can see why they might do it. Wasting company time to take care of personal items is something that employees should not do. While i do not condone people wasting company time, i feel that there are other ways to monitor what your employees do with their time. Another interesting topic of converstaion that has to do with your technology usage being monitored is with the new xbox that is set to come out this christmas season. People are skeptical to purchase the new xbox becasue it is rumored that the motion sensor monitor will always be turned on and can even record what you do within its' field of vision. While xbox states the sensor will do no such thing, the idea that you are being watched will always stay in the consumers mind.