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<p>This paper discusses the future of employee privacy in social media.</p> <p>Part I reviews the extant legal landscape with an emphasis on three general areas of employer activity related to employees’ online activities: (1) monitoring and surveillance of employee social media profiles, (2) evaluation of applicants’ social media profiles and online speech in making hiring decisions, and (3) limiting employees’ off-duty online activities.</p> <p>Part II reports the results of an empirical research project into the expectations of young employees regarding the role of social media in the workplace. We asked respondents about a wide range of topics related to social media, such as the extent of personal information they post online, the privacy-protective measures they employ on social media sites, their level of concern regarding their privacy online, and their attitudes and expectations regarding the use of social media in the workplace. Despite granting employers access to information about their private lives by participating online, respondents expect that work life and private life should be generally segregated — and that actions in one domain should not affect the other.</p> <p>Guided by the survey findings and legal examples from international jurisdictions, in Part III we offer workable recommendations designed to protect employees’ desire to maintain some separation between personal and professional contexts.</p>

For years, products liability law has failed to provide a remedy for consumers who suffer financial injury as a result of purchasing defective products manufacturers place and keep in the marketplace. The economic loss rule and defect manifestation requirements have, to date, foreclosed products liability claims when consumers suffer only economic injury and severely hampered recovery through other claims. Prior discussion of consumer economic loss litigation has been critical and embraced the necessity of the injury‐based economic loss rule and defect manifestation requirements to protect manufacturers from perceived endless liability. While a few scholars have addressed some of the deficiencies behind the economic loss rule, this article builds on those discussions, addressing for the first time the flawed rationales behind defect manifestation requirements, and deconstructs in detail the outdated and flawed assumptions or fallacies upon which the rationales behind both doctrines are based. After deconstructing and exposing the, at best, questionable assumptions behind the economic loss rule and defect manifestation requirements, the article advocates a novel expansion of products liability law that provides a remedy for consumer economic loss caused by dangerously defective products. This proposed framework provides the proper demarcation between contract and tort, is consistent with earlier justifications eliminating privity and negligence, better aligns consumer safety with manufacturers' economic interests, bridges the current liability gap, and streamlines existing litigation.

<p>This paper discusses the future of employee privacy in social media.</p> <p>Part I reviews the extant legal landscape with an emphasis on three general areas of employer activity related to employees’ online activities: (1) monitoring and surveillance of employee social media profiles, (2) evaluation of applicants’ social media profiles and online speech in making hiring decisions, and (3) limiting employees’ off-duty online activities.</p> <p>Part II reports the results of an empirical research project into the expectations of young employees regarding the role of social media in the workplace. We asked respondents about a wide range of topics related to social media, such as the extent of personal information they post online, the privacy-protective measures they employ on social media sites, their level of concern regarding their privacy online, and their attitudes and expectations regarding the use of social media in the workplace. Despite granting employers access to information about their private lives by participating online, respondents expect that work life and private life should be generally segregated — and that actions in one domain should not affect the other.</p> <p>Guided by the survey findings and legal examples from international jurisdictions, in Part III we offer workable recommendations designed to protect employees’ desire to maintain some separation between personal and professional contexts.</p>