Microsoft adds social-networking projects
Not happy with a partial investment in Facebook, Redmond-based Microsoft announced two new social-network projects.
One, known as Salsa, aims to use one’s corporate personal database to piece together a limited social network, or at least a network of co-workers. In its current form, the software is a plug-in to Microsoft Outlook that shows social-networking information such as a photo and profile next to an incoming e-mail message. The program also pieces together a list of “friends” based on e-mail frequency and other data.
Lin Cheng, a Microsoft veteran who heads the social-computing team at Microsoft Research, said part of Salsa is simply putting a human face on e-mail.
The second project is C2 – a Web application that pieces together contact data from a variety of social-networking sites.
Nude photos: not a good idea
An Italian man was jailed for more than two years for putting pornographic pictures of his ex-girlfriend on the Internet and sending them out in more than 15,000 e-mails, according to Reuters.
The 32-year-old man had created a Web site that appeared to show his ex-girlfriend offering sexual favors and erotic games, with her phone number also on display.
The man, who also sent threatening text messages to the woman and her parents, was accused of aggravated defamation, threatening and violence.
Porn at work: another bad idea
Think you can get away with using e-mail and the Internet in violation of company policy? Think again.
A new survey found that more than a quarter of employers have fired workers for misusing e-mail and one third have fired workers for misusing the Internet on the job. The study, conducted by the American Management Association (AMA) and The ePolicy Institute, surveyed 304 U.S. companies of all sizes.
The vast majority of bosses who fired workers for Internet misuse, 84 percent, said the employee was accessing porn or other inappropriate content. While looking at inappropriate content is an obvious no-no on company time, simply surfing the Web led to a surprising number of firings. As many as 34 percent of managers in the study said they let go of workers for excessive personal use of the Internet, according to the survey.
Among managers firing workers for e-mail misuse, 64 percent cited employee violations of company policy and 62 percent said the workers’ e-mail contained inappropriate or offensive language. More than a quarter of bosses said they fired workers for excessive personal use of e-mail and 22 percent said their workers were fired for breaching confidentiality rules in e-mail.