Private or Public?

While reading chapter 3, I found it interesting that Tapscott does disagree with one thing that our generation does - post very personal information on the internet. He uses statistics such as 60% of British employers browse the net for personal information and 20-25% of applicants are turned down because what is found on their page. This poses the question: Is it ethically correct for employers to search for incriminating evidence on the net or should they just leave it alone? Does a picture of a potential employee drinking with friends mean that they are a drunk or a respectable social person? I found a video on Youtube that discusses how ethical online "stalking" actually is. The video begins stating that it is a problem if an employer can use any and all information that they can find on the web against you. Public opinion seems to back this opinion up as quite a few different people are interviewed during the video. Clay Shirkey, a professor at New York University, is interviewed about the topic. He states that a line needs to be drawn between public and private online, but doesn't know how exactly to accomplish this. To start off, he says that you should change Facebook or Myspace settings to private, as they are most likely defaulted to public. This made me wander why social networking sites assume that the majority of people would want their personal information to be public. Shirkey closes his argument by comparing facebook stalking to real life stalking. If an employer would go to the mall and follow teenagers around just to hear their conversation, there would be something VERY wrong with that. However, if an employer happens to see something bad on the net, it is free game. This shows that a line between public and private must be set.