College seniors around the country breathed a collective sigh of relief last week when the U.S. Senate decided not to advance the new Cyber Intelligence Sharing and Protection Act, also known as CISPA. A new clause in the bill recently passed by the U.S. House of Representatives would have allowed businesses and the U.S. Government full access to individuals’ personal social media pages as a way to crackdown on cybercrime.
While this particular version of the bill is now considered dead, legislators are re-writing a similar version that could be more protective of citizen privacy. But if and when a version of this does get passed, professionals nationwide have some serious self-reflection to do.
For many, professional accomplishments are often prioritized ahead of other life goals such as when to start a family or at what age to retire. So just imagine what will become of us if one of the few places we truly express our personality, our personal social media pages, can now be considered an extension of one’s resume. Will we be forced to permanently keep our personal pages business-casual?
Google’s European headquarters, for example, are located in Ireland, which boasts one of the lowest tax corporate rates in Europe. When Google does business in France or Germany, they can simply chalk it up as a business trip, and note the revenue as having been generated from their more tax-friendly Irish headquarters.
