Here's the latest version of the old "hidden camera busts supposedly disabled people working" story:
Geek.com has a post about a Quebec woman who'd been on a year-plus long leave suffering from depression, yet now finds her benefits cut off after her employer sees photos from her Facebook page showing her partying it up.
The woman claims the photos show isolated happy moments that don't cancel out the ongoing depression. Her employer claims the photos aren't the only factor in their decision-making. Obviously, depression is a little bit more complicated than, say, a guy faking brain damage that supposedly left him with the intellect of a 5-year-old (seriously, watch this one. It's ridiculous.)
But another question here is how the employer got the photos -- the woman's page is private. Though of course "private" and "protected" are words that fall along a continuum when you're talking about social media. How far should/can an employer go into its workers' social lives, either as a matter of course or to investigate something specific?
To paraphrase a line I heard at @ONA09, most people see their profiles, and the information within, as semi-private, and everyone else's as semi-public.
(h/t Cathy Heard)
