Re: Getting PUlled -- It's a Privacy Issue

[David LeBlanc <dleblanc@mindspring.com>]

At 10:38 AM 4/29/00 -0500, Glenda R. Snodgrass wrote:
>> This is a good point - in car racing, it is typically known how many laps
>> someone completed, and why they 'DNF', right down to the component that
>> blew up.
>> 
>> I think the problem is more a personal issue - when we blow up, it is a
>> horse.  We all love horses, and don't want anything bad to happen to

>1 - It is becoming common practice for employers to run Internet searches
>on the names of prospective employees prior to interviewing.  It's a way
>for them to learn things about the applicants that don't show up on a
>curriculum vitae or in references.  

yes, I've had this happen.

>Do you want a prospective employer to
>know how many weekends you took off work for rides in the past 5
>years?  

If they don't know before I get the job, they're going to find out.  Sure
would stink to get the job, only to find out that they really have a
problem with me taking my vacation every other Friday or so April through
October.  We'd better discuss that up front.

>Do you want your pulls to look like abject failure to someone who
>doesn't understand the sport at all, and is likely to misapply your
>"failures" at endurance to your overall success in life?  

Unless they're hiring me to train endurance horses, if they count that
against me, then I don't want to work for them.

>And what if the prospective new
>employer (or major new client or whoever) is a card-carrying member of
>PETA and decides to blackball you after seeing that you are one of those
>killer endurance riders?

Screw them.  I get paid to know network security, and if they don't like
some other aspect of my life, then there are plenty of other people who
will pay me, and don't care whether I spend time riding or have my hair
halfway down my back. If they're a bunch of small-minded nitwits, then I'm
better off not working for them.  Life's too short to hate your job.

>2 - It's also an easy way for people to check up on what you were doing
>last weekend.  You weren't *really* visiting your sick Aunt Betty, now,
>were you?  

As long as I tell people the truth, that's not a problem.

>3 - I am self-employed and usually take off Thurs & Fri to do a ride
>because they're all so far away from me.  I tell some of my clients what
>I'm doing, but some of them I don't, because they wouldn't take it well.  
>Frankly, it's really none of their business what I'm doing, as long as
>their needs are met according to our services contract, and I don't want
>to think that they can check up on me every time I leave town!

Well - if you _finish_, then they can check up on you, so I don't see where
having the same name next to a pull is going to change this one much.

>4 - Do you want the neigborhood cat burglar to know which weekends you're
>likely to be out of town this year, because you *always* do this ride and
>that ride?

If the neighborhood cat burglar spends that much time researching me, then
I'm screwed.  Of course, the neighbor is a really good shot, so they better
look out.


David LeBlanc
dleblanc@mindspring.com