Privacy Watch: When You're Forced Onto the Web

Can you be compelled to allow your picture and personal information to be posted on the Web? Most people's quick answer would be, "Of course not"; but the truth is, one person can require you to appear on the Net--your boss.

"My boss has decided that he wants pictures and bios posted [on our Web site] of all the employees, including me," a system administrator for a Washington accounting firm wrote to us at privacywatch@pcworld.com recently. "I really don't like the idea of putting my picture and personal info on the Web."

There are valid concerns on both sides of this issue. Employees may worry that their personal information could find its way into the hands of identity thieves or stalkers, while employers want potential customers or investors to know about the expertise of their staff.

"The basic rule is that employers in the United States can share or disclose personal information about their employees," said Peter Swire, a law professor at Ohio State University who was the federal government's chief counselor for privacy during the Clinton administration. The only exceptions are states with laws specifically prohibiting the disclosures.

Companies may make public an employee's work history with the company and the employee's job duties. Photographs are not out of the question, and sometimes more-personal information, such as an employee's age, may become a part of a company Web site's employee bio.

Workers have expressed a great deal of concern about how their employers use their personal information. The nonprofit Privacy & American Business released a study last year reporting that 85 percent of respondents to a survey believed that it was very important for businesses to create an employee privacy policy that is all-encompassing--but a modest 38 percent of workers stated that their employer had adopted one.

Of course, numerous companies respect the wishes of employees who do not want to have their face or history splashed on a Web browser. And any firm that pledges to keep your private information confidential is legally bound to honor that pledge, Swire says.

If your employer wants to publish information about you on its Web site and you're not comfortable with the information that will go online, talk about it with a supervisor or a human resources manager. Let's hope the company respects your concerns. If not, your only other option may be to look for another job.

Andrew Brandt is senior associate editor for PC World. E-mail him at privacywatch@pcworld.com. Go here for more Privacy Watch columns.