chicken: (Default)
chicken ([personal profile] chicken) wrote2004-10-27 02:21 pm

Big Brother is watching us

Apparently if you say something, even as a joke, that could be construed in a certain way, in your LiveJournal, the Secret Service could show up on your doorstep. This is very much not funny, and very scary.

[identity profile] chicken-cem.livejournal.com 2004-10-27 11:55 am (UTC)(link)
Oh boy. That "Skeptic" guy was not at all wise to post what he posted, either.

[identity profile] the-automatik.livejournal.com 2004-10-27 12:01 pm (UTC)(link)
Agreed. Did you watch that recent Law and Order about the website that exposed undercover cops? The whole free speech issue came up there as it did in the one with the Nazi teens and the guy who made videos recruiting them.

It's a very slippery slope but go too far one way and you've got problems.

[identity profile] the-automatik.livejournal.com 2004-10-27 11:40 am (UTC)(link)
I've been suspicious of this type of thing for quite a while. I am very careful about what I say about politicos but I will be even more so now.

I know of people who post all sorts of drug-related stories on their LJs. While I'm sure that the government has more pressing issues to worry about than who's eating pot brownies these days, it does go to show that you are being watched.

Don't even get me started on the people who got fired from their jobs because their managers and co-workers read their non-work-related websites (in one instance by stealing a password and hacking in) and didn't like the content.

[identity profile] chicken-cem.livejournal.com 2004-10-27 11:48 am (UTC)(link)
Don't even get me started on the people who got fired from their jobs because their managers and co-workers read their non-work-related websites (in one instance by stealing a password and hacking in) and didn't like the content.

And a lot of times the employee is so shaken by all this that they don't even retain an attorney to fight back (not to mention which they are financially unable to do so by that point).

[identity profile] the-automatik.livejournal.com 2004-10-27 12:00 pm (UTC)(link)
The rules are very grey in this area. If you tell your employees you have the right to snoop right off the bat, you have the upper hand. If you don't, they can probably sue you for invasion of privacy. But in the instance where the manager stole a password to sneak into the employee's file, the employee was basically complaining about his job and telling people not to look for work there.

Is that slander? Doubtful.

[identity profile] piesecki.livejournal.com 2004-10-27 01:18 pm (UTC)(link)
crap. thats, really really creepy.

To hell with free speech, I'm being a lot more careful what I say from now on!

[identity profile] wardenda.livejournal.com 2004-10-27 02:35 pm (UTC)(link)
I had a friend get brought before the MSU judicial board because of somethingi n her LJ about how she and I quote, "could just kill [insert person's name here]" An off-hand statement had her dragged before MSU's highest governing body. Thank god for F-locked posts.