I completely agree with everything you said. If some company demanded to see my FB or anything else I'd just say I didn't have one. I'm just barely old enough to get away with it.
But neither would I use social networking as a soapbox to rail against the hand that feeds me while it feeds me. However, I do reserve the right to commentate on a previous employer. Once I don't work for you anymore the gloves are off. So you'd best not treat me like shit.

I wasn't talking about regular bitching like "ugh, I hate my job" or "man my boss is a prick" I'm talking about using social media to say things like "the food sucks at our restaurant" or "such and such customer is a ________" If you are making statements that can be expected to drive customers away from the business you should work elsewhere.

If you have concerns about something the company you work for is doing internet social pages is not the appropriate place to air your grievances. If there is something to whistle blow, internet social pages is not the appropriate place. You should report violations to the appropriate regulatory authority. Whistle blowing laws will not protect you for saying stuff on facebook. And if something illegal is going on than a non-disparaging agreement does not apply.

But yeah, if you were my employee and you said anything that could potentially cost me to lose a customer it is goodbye don't include my name on your referral list. Without customers I can't pay your wages or those of your coworkers. And yeah, when I was an employee I never even bitched about the annoying idiosyncracies of my coworkers let alone my boss or the company. I think it is extremely inappropriate. Just like now, I NEVER say anything bad about my employees or my business partners. If I have a problem I discuss it to their face. Bitching to the public at large doesn't do anyone any good.

My position has always been if the company you work for stinks, go work somewhere else. I have worked for lousy companies and lousy bosses. One in particular I badmouth every time the subject comes up because the company and the owner are rotten. I didn't badmouth the company when I worked there, I realized how shitty it was and quit- then I badmouthed it. I don't understand how anyone can work for a company that they don't at least respect enough not to badmouth it. IMO, if you don't take pride in what you and your company does you should find a new job.

And if Nader had worked for GM I would not have been surprised at him being fired (he didn't work for GM). It is one thing to publicly criticize a company you think is doing something poorly or wrong, it is another to publicly criticize a company WHILE YOU WORK FOR THEM. You are free to badmouth any company you want, but if you are badmouthing the one that signs your paycheck, don't be surprised when the check stops coming. 

Really, it is kind of like if you had a girlfriend and you go out in public with her and start calling her ugly. You can't be surprised when she slaps you and breaks up with you, even if she is in fact ugly. I don't think the concept is that hard to grasp. Why would you imagine an employer would continue to pay you while you talk shit about them?

 It may also be asserted that pre-employment screening that goes into social medias are not just looking for the bad mouthing of present or previous employers, but to detect religious or political back ground.

For that reason I would have to say they can go fuck themselves..

Although I will say that bad mouthing to some degree is slander and could be prosecuted by law.

I do not and will not bad mouth the companies I have worked for. Some of them may deserve it but I don't do that.

I'll take Brian's side on this in that "prospective employees" need to know about actual working conditions (not those hyped and marketed by HR departments) and what, if any, tricks employed by managers and executives against their own underlings. There's also the question of 'team atmosphere', office politics, etc. How about the... 'expected' work ethic? Can it be gathered in an interview or is it best learned from an actual employee?

Most of you aren't going to recognize the domain names involved, but there was very much a reason websites like Fatbabies and The Chaos Engine sprouted up over late 20th and earlier 21st century years. They were setup to allow employes to make scathing remarks in near-complete anonymity at the particularly uncanny lack of workplace ethics demonstrated by game publishers and developers in the time periods involved (1999-2005.) By most standards, Britain apparently had it the worst; showing up to work one day with one's workplace completely locked up, for example; but American publishers/developers were no exception -in some cases, employees were 'asked' to stay on-board a project with NO salary after their studio had run out of money, simply out of the 'goodness of their hearts'. Some employees were gullible or 'charitable' enough to follow through. Many of these were people with actual families to feed, mind you. As I learned, some of the most fucked-up workplaces originate from ESA member corporations. And yes, according to some of the rants and critiques I've read, working for EA is great in terms of raw $$$ and benefits and also rules out any sort of family or social life during a work week.

At that, it's worth noting how easy it is to setup a sock puppet account on Facebook, etc. I've made about 7-8 for the month or two I was actually interested in Mafia Wars. I'm thinking building a workplace-only sock has to be SUPER easy. Thusly, I am at a loss for what corporations think they will gain by doing this, but I often underestimate how complacent/sheepherd-ish many white-collar employees are. No one is going to 'grasp' my real identity via my primary facebook page or my MW sock puppets. At most, they might glean my love of all things healthy and feline, my fandom of Pinky and the Brain and the occasional Classical Mediterranean movie quote. ("I am Proximo! For the next few days, I shall be closer to you... than that bitch of a mother that brought you screaming into this world.&quot They'll be hard-pressed to learn anything of relevance about who, specifically, I am. If that fails, I can always remove my birthdate.

Federal gov't stuff is different, IMNSHO. I don't believe Federal employees have an 'inalienable' right to declassify and cover-blow to crime lords and militants every possible secret that might compromise a law-enforcement or military-related mission. And if that means phone and computer monitoring on people who have high "government clearance", so be it. People here can raise ethical objections, but I think there is an 'upper limit' on tolerance for declassification by corrupt or indiscreet spies, sailors and/or soldiers. Bradley Manning wasn't a 'whistle-blower'; he was a disgruntled employee. He also broke an oath or two. I make one or two assumptions here that most people who are not anarchists do NOT want every US government secret declassified to the world, knowing what it could mean if most of the world's tinpot dictators got their hands on some of our more... dangerous technological blueprints. "With power comes responsibility", and what have you. Stuxnet and Duqu have opened up some interesting possibilities for certain government entities do with their spare time.

Outside of espionage, military, Secret Service and law-enforcement... it becomes a distinct no-no. "Why bother monitoring every USDA or FDA underling?" is the first question that comes to mind. Will anyone even want to work for the domestic federal gov't for fear of their employers learning about their raunchy past times?!