Slashdot Mirror
Who Owns Your Online Networking Contacts?
Ben Morris writes "A recent judgement in the UK courts has forced a former employee to hand over details of his business contacts built up through LinkedIn.com while he was employed by his former company. The decision is one of the first in the UK to show the tension between businesses encouraging their employees to use social networking websites, and trying to claim that the contacts should remain confidential when they leave."
Apparently some other members of the company had been contacted by recruiters and they started going through email and found some emails in violation of the non-compete clause. They then solidified their case through the former employee's LinkedIn contacts. The guy ended up settling out of court and they drilled him financially.
After finding that out, I went through my LinkedIn contacts and removed ALL the recruiters on there I didn't know on a personal level. I then contacted the recruiters remaining on my list and asked them to contact me before sending any InMail to any of my LinkedIn contacts.
After RTFA, it appears as if the bloke in question set up his linkdin several weeks prior to him leaving. Of a more interesting nature, in my mind, is, at what point does an employer here in the States 'own' your contacts? Think about it. You've been on a site like the one mentioned in the article for lets say 5 years. You accept a position at a new company. Over the course of your 2 years being employed there, you add lets say 5 contacts. You then accept another position at another company, perhaps because you received a better job offer through this service. Can the comapny you are now leaving sue you in the US and obtain all of your contacts, even those prior to when you joined?
Another question is, are you now in the position of having to list out any and all personal and professional contacts you have on various internet sites as a part of your disclosure when filling out your paperwork for a new company? Sort of like having to list patents, websites and other works you might already have prior to working somehwere?
Time will tell I guess. this case seems pretty straightforward based on the limited article...but it sure will muddy up quick.
"Work is the curse of the drinking class" Oscar Wilde
I think the more relevant bit from TFA is this:
However, the issue here appears to be the contacts themselves and how they were uploaded to the sites - i.e. straight from Mr Ionâ(TM)s work address book.
So remember kids - the lesson here is to build your network piece by piece and day by day, even if it's tedious.
If libertarians are so opposed to effective government, why don't they all move to Somalia?
Is a tricky question.
The real question is, though, how does it impact on your and your former employer's life? A contact isn't some sort of IP. There's a person or a company on the other end of the address, phone number or mail address. How will they react to a company that browbeats you into handing over your, partly private, address book?
If anything I'd send a mail to my contacts and tell them in no uncertain terms what my former employer did. Would you want to do business with a company where you have to watch constantly for backstabbing? I don't know if I'd really enjoy that.
We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
some people might say that a "list" is not the "property" of anyone.
Those people would be wrong. Depending on your jurisdiction databases (lists) may be covered by copyright or database rights[1].
1. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Database_right
2^5
...where they have decent employment and privacy laws this would never be allowed.
Oh. Wait...
Warning: this article may contain humor, sarcasm, parody, and perhaps even irony. Read at your own risk.
The curvature is about 0 deg, 0 min, 1 sec per 100 feet, which is flat enough for engineering purposes.
Intron: the portion of DNA which expresses nothing useful.
Depending on your jurisdiction databases (lists) may be covered by copyright or database rights[1].
Databases want to be free!
"A person is smart. People are dumb, panicky dangerous animals and you know it." - K
Huh?
So, here's my list:
1. Everything of yours.
2. The lint in my pocket.
3. All your base.
4. Profit!
You are welcome on my lawn.
To all you worker drones out there:
To all you bosses out there:
Oh great...NASA just chimed in.
I Need someone to rebuild a Digitech Digital Delay pedal for me....for me...for me...for me.
some people might say that a "list" is not the "property" of anyone.
These people never spent years and money building and updating their customer lists.
After converting to meters, NASA has confirmed the earth is a torus.