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Not long ago, I wrote an article about employers using social networking sites to do pre-employment screenings. Well, word has gotten out and the Gen-Yers are not happy. They take great offense that anyone would consider their personal lives when making a job decision.

In my generation, we had what we called a “private life.” We didn’t feel a compulsion to share with the world our current mood. We didn’t feel the need to let everyone know what we had for breakfast and the personal psycho-emotional ramifications of eating Cinnamon Toast Crunch versus Wheaties. Truth be told, our parents didn’t know what we were doing half the time, much less how we felt about it and what song we were currently singing as we wallowed in our emotions.

With the new generations, the wall of privacy has come crashing down. Whether this is good remains to be seen. Their personal openness is as creepy as it is interesting, at least to a Gen-Xer like myself. What they’ve failed to think through is that for all this openness and information, there’s a price.

Their information is open to the scrutiny of others. Even though they don’t want employers looking at it, those folks are and will continue to do so. Don’t blame the employers. In some ways it is like a car wreck. You shouldn’t look, but you can’t resist taking a peek.

It’s a question of ethics.

Should employers look at candidates’ and employees’ social networking pages without their permission? Should a workplace or hiring decision be based on what employers read on these pages? Or, is all fair in hiring and firing and conducting background and reference checks? After all, it’s publicly posted information and knowledge is power.

These are all tricky questions.

One of the reasons looking can be tricky is noted by George Lenard, an attorney with a St. Louis-based law firm, Harris, Dowell, Fisher & Harris. By looking at a personal site, employers can learn about a candidate’s age, marital status, medical problems and plans to start a family. These topics are typically off limits during job interviews because they can be grounds for discrimination suits if people aren’t hired. Seeing such information on a social networking site conceivably creates the same liability problem.

According to News Corp., the parent company of MySpace, nearly 80 percent of Gen-Yers are online using a social networking site. Some of these sites can lock or control what people are able to see on your page. And in the case of MySpace, there’s an option where people need permission in order to view the site.

So with all of these so called “fail-safes” in place, what are all the Gen-Yers up in arms about?

To answer that, we have to go back to the ethics issue. All of those locked enhancements are great until you start a new job and become friends with your boss and co-workers. Next thing you know, your co-workers are asking to be added to your social networking site. What if the boss wants access? What do you do?

The technology is still new and the ethics are somewhat gray, which leaves it up to each of us to decide what is acceptable and what is not.

Nick Reddin is the business development manager at Manpower Inc.’s Des Moines office.