Be extra careful! Posting at internet sites: protect your identity

Nurses General Nursing

Published

In light of recent discussions around here regarding privacy, I don't think I can stress enough to keep identifying information (especially here on allnurses) to a minimum!!!

I recently discovered and figured out one of the members on here that I know in real life based on info she gave out on her facebook and info she gave out on here. (I was able to put two and two together) I have not mentioned it to any of my friends, I have not mentioned it to her. (Nor will I ever)

Yikes!

Trust no one! It's a dog eat dog world, you never know who is secretly jealous or grudging you, they can easily use info against you.

".....anything you say can and will be held against you..."

Be careful guys!

I have to disagree. Plenty of employers will go after an employee who posts something about his/her workplace, even if what the employee said isn't derogatory. Perhaps I might come on here and ask for advice for how to deal with a situation with a coworker. That isn't in any way criticizing the place of employment, but if my identity on allnurses.com has been identified by someone from my department, HR, or management (which isn't exactly uncommon, judging by earlier posts), you can bet I'd be ripped for it at work and my future posts under that ID monitored. It's ridiculous, and eventually there are going to be legal clashes over how much control employers have over their employees' off-hours comments regarding work, but for now, it's hardly fear-mongering to warn people to be careful of the comments they make. I doubt there are many people on this forum dying to be the basis of a test case for the courts!

But they couldn't have a "hunch" it was you, they would have to be able to prove it was you. Short sending a subpoena to AN Administration, there'd be no way to do that.

Truthfully though, that's not the kind of thing I would ever stand in the middle of the cafeteria and speak about, or post on a public board.

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in Health Information Management.
But they couldn't have a "hunch" it was you, they would have to be able to prove it was you. Short sending a subpoena to AN Administration, there'd be no way to do that.

Truthfully though, that's not the kind of thing I would ever stand in the middle of the cafeteria and speak about, or post on a public board.

Yes - if I fought it. There are plenty of people without the money or time to do so, or who are in situations in which even if they win, they lose. If you sue an employer, good luck being employed again in that field. The safest course is just to be very cautious and avoid revealing much identifying information.

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Yes - if I fought it. There are plenty of people without the money or time to do so, or who are in situations in which even if they win, they lose. If you sue an employer, good luck being employed again in that field. The safest course is just to be very cautious and avoid revealing much identifying information.

That's my point though, you wouldn't have to sue them, they would have to sue you. They would have to initiate legal action in order to get a subpoena to find out your screen name, and in order to do that, they would have to prove to a judge that some kind of harm had been done to the organization. A lot of "what if's" have to occur before this would happen.

HR departments tend to be very conservative and very careful. If they can't prove something happened, the likelihood of them pursuing it is low. Now, they might try to scare an employee....but all other things being equal, there's not enough reason to pursue legal action to find out if you really are your screen name.

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in Vents, Telemetry, Home Care, Home infusion.

admins have changed identity of several persons after being recoginzed. anything posted online in a publically viewed site like an is viewable doing an internet search. that's why our terms of service has a warning in bold print:

the basic terms of service

many of you struggled through the registration process before being given a membership here. we apologize for that, but i think that after you have spent some time with us, you will understand why we are very particular about user names and passwords. this website hosts the most personable nursing discussion board on the internet. you'll find yourself discussing current daily topics on a more personal level and discover that everyone treats each other with respect on this discussion forum.

considering the real-time nature of this bulletin board, it is impossible for us to review all messages or confirm the validity of information posted. please remember that we do not actively monitor the contents of posted messages and are not responsible for messages posted. we do not vouch for or warrant the accuracy, completeness or usefulness of any message, and are not responsible for the contents of any message. the messages express the views of the author, not necessarily the views of this site or any entity associated with this site.

no potentially libelous information about specific schools, instructors, or health care facilities/entities should be posted in these forums. while it is important to be able to network, everyone should be mindful of the following:

  1. it is a small world - when we narrow it down to a state and throw in some personal info, there is actually a pretty good chance someone may recognize you if you are not careful. your privacy is paramount to us.
  2. while this site is a wonderful place to vent (without excess personally identifiable details) it is not the place to express why ("x" specific person, place or program) is terrible. gripe away, but since we cannot permit allegations to be made about named entities, your care in not naming them is very much appreciated.
  3. please do not give out personal information about others. do not name names where anyone could identify the person in any facility including your nursing programs.

remember what you agreed to upon sign up: you will not use this forum to post free advertising or solicitations, any material which is knowingly false and/or defamatory, inaccurate, abusive, vulgar, hateful, harassing, obscene, profane, sexually oriented, threatening, invasive of a person's privacy, or otherwise violative of any law. you agree not to post any copyrighted material unless the copyright is owned by you or by this site.

posting on this site for marketing or commercial research is strictly prohibited and member's account will be closed. research in the context of nursing school or high school assignments is permissible.

you retain the rights to any content (ie. articles, posts, reviews, etc) that you submit throughout the allnurses inc network. however, by submitting content throughout the allnurses inc network, you grant us a worldwide, non-exclusive, royalty-free license to publish, transmit, and distribute via any media or distribution outlets owned by allnurses inc network.

see our thread: protect yourself - use the internet without getting hurt or hurting your friends

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in Health Information Management.
That's my point though, you wouldn't have to sue them, they would have to sue you. They would have to initiate legal action in order to get a subpoena to find out your screen name, and in order to do that, they would have to prove to a judge that some kind of harm had been done to the organization. A lot of "what if's" have to occur before this would happen.

HR departments tend to be very conservative and very careful. If they can't prove something happened, the likelihood of them pursuing it is low. Now, they might try to scare an employee....but all other things being equal, there's not enough reason to pursue legal action to find out if you really are your screen name.

The employer could just fire me and deal with the consequences if I tried to get my job back. It's happened before, it'll happen again. Given that I've had that sort of thing happen to me once already (not for an online comment issue, just in general), I'm unlikely to take that sort of risk, nor would I counsel anyone else to do so. Whether an employer can legally do something doesn't seem to matter sometimes.

Up Vote Up Vote ×

I live in a Right To Work state and here, you can be fired for anything at all (as long as it isn't the usual discriminatory practices). The hospital in our county exercises this right regularly. If they suspected an employee posted something on this or any other forum or if they were even told something to the effect, they would be fired. I know a woman who was fired because someone told the charge nurse she didn't wash her hands. No investigation, no questions asked, they just fired her. Another woman was fired because someone said she said something. Same thing, no investigation, no anything.

Up Vote Up Vote ×
The employer could just fire me and deal with the consequences if I tried to get my job back. It's happened before, it'll happen again. Given that I've had that sort of thing happen to me once already (not for an online comment issue, just in general), I'm unlikely to take that sort of risk, nor would I counsel anyone else to do so. Whether an employer can legally do something doesn't seem to matter sometimes.

You got that absolutely right!

Up Vote Up Vote ×
I live in a Right To Work state and here, you can be fired for anything at all (as long as it isn't the usual discriminatory practices). The hospital in our county exercises this right regularly. If they suspected an employee posted something on this or any other forum or if they were even told something to the effect, they would be fired. I know a woman who was fired because someone told the charge nurse she didn't wash her hands. No investigation, no questions asked, they just fired her. Another woman was fired because someone said she said something. Same thing, no investigation, no anything.

Even in a right to work state, and even when there are lots of nurses looking for work....it costs money to hire a new employee. What I had said is "all other things being equal," if they want you gone, they want you gone.....doesn't matter what is posted where (hence the hand-washing example). But, it's unlikely that a suspicion that an employee might have posted something autonomously on a bulletin board is going to be the primary reason that a job is lost. to many unknowns there.

We all get to make a choice though, I choose to not live in fear.

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in mental health.

Anything you do on your employers network...unless heavily encrypted...is subject to scrutiny. Read your email at work? Your boss may be reading it too. Even encrypted stuff can be read...given enough time.

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Anything you do on your employers network...unless heavily encrypted...is subject to scrutiny. Read your email at work? Your boss may be reading it too. Even encrypted stuff can be read...given enough time.

While what you say is completely true, as someone who used to run enterprise-wide networks and e-mail systems......unless they're specifically looking for something (ie there's been a problem in the past and they're told to flag your account) or you're going to sites that are against the technology policy, the IT department is far to busy keeping up with their e-mail to read yours.

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in NICU.
Trust no one! It's a dog eat dog world, you never know who is secretly jealous or grudging you, they can easily use info against you.

".....anything you say can and will be held against you..."

Be careful guys!

I think this is fear mongering.

How? Elaborate please.

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in LTC, Psych, Hospice.
Anything you do on your employers network...unless heavily encrypted...is subject to scrutiny. Read your email at work? Your boss may be reading it too. Even encrypted stuff can be read...given enough time.

That's why I don't read email or get on AN or Facebook at work.

Up Vote Up Vote ×
+ Add a Comment