Plum Crazy

Sometimes it feels like we live in a police state. In New York and probably other U.S. cities, police routinely search bags as people enter the mass transit system. Phone companies are turning over records of telephone calls made by their customers. The NSA wiretaps phone calls without warrants. There's a move to make sex toys illegal in South Carolina. Wherever you go, government is encroaching upon our space and liberties.

Now word comes from the NY Times that companies are going on the internet, to places like Google and My Space, to research prospective employees. If they don't like what they find, they eliminate a candidate from further consideration. Granted, the internet is a public space and perhaps anything you post there is food for consumption. However, freedom of expression is guaranteed in the Constitution. Provided that I am not threatening anyone or advocating lawless behavior, should I not have the right to say what I want to, even in a public forum, without fear of reprisal? Plenty of employees go to rallies and advocate positions or adopt personas that conflict with employers' core values. Should they be fired? I'm allowed to campaign in an election provided that I don't electioneer on company property. Why shouldn't people be free to be who they are without it hurting their career opportunities? Technology has created a world in which it is too easy to look over people's shoulders and invade their space. At some point, we need to let people be and allow them to express themselves without reservation.