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

[CMKSAGEHIL@aol.com]

In a message dated 4/29/00 8:43:06 AM Pacific Daylight Time, 
grs@theneteffect.com writes:

<< 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.  Do you want a prospective employer to
 know how many weekends you took off work for rides in the past 5
 years?  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?  Do you want
 non-horse and non-endurance people judging other aspects of your life on
 your success rate at endurance rides?  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?
 
 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?  Whether you fudge to your employer, your boyfriend, or your
 next-door neighbor, is it really the right of the AERC to put your
 personal hobby activity schedule into the realm of public knowledge?  
  >>

I don't find the former anywhere near as obtrusive as many of the other 
"personal" facts that seem to be at the fingertips of any and everyone in 
today's society--do I think it's right?  No.  But how about the garbage that 
gets put out on your credit rating when an ex-spouse cleans out the checking 
account and shoves off, leaving you with the heap?  Or the just flat rumors 
and innuendos that get put out on the Internet?  Nope, there are far more 
important things out there than AERC ride stats...  And if a prospective 
employer is one of the more radical PETA members, then I do not WANT to work 
for him/her anyway, and would just as soon he/she know EXACTLY why I won't 
work there!!

As for the second--whatever happened to honesty?  An employer should know 
what sort of off-time you expect and why--and if you can't reach a mutual 
understanding, then it is not a good employer-employee relationship.  AERC 
rides occur in public places, and are under public scrutiny.  Why should you 
expect AERC to shield you from the consequences of less than honest behavior? 
 The other 100 riders and the ride management likely saw you there, too, so 
the knowledge IS public, whether AERC shares it or not.  They also know if 
you pulled or not, and why.  If you want privacy, go somewhere out in the 
boonies by yourself--endurance rides are among the least private places I 
know, right down to often not having a bush on the trail to hide behind to 
pee.  Can't think of many other places where I've garnered more "intimate 
knowledge" (much of which I'd just as soon NOT know) of a great many people...

Heidi