I don't know if this information was spread in the States : In France, three employees were fired because they criticized their compagny on Facebook. They appealed against this decision at the "Prud'hommes" ("industrial tribunal") in Boulogne-Billancourt (near Paris) on November 19... and lost!
As "Libération" reports yesterday (in French), it started in December 2008: An employee of the company "Alten" presented himself on his Facebook page as a member of the «club des néfastes» ("harmfuls"). «Welcome to the club» was the answer of two colleagues on his page, who cited without naming her the head of the Human Resources of Alten. The goal of this virtual club was to "make her life a misery during several months". Their messages, accompagned by smileys and onomatopoeias, were meant to be humorous. Meanwhile, another employee reported the exchange to the direction of Alten, who apparently had not the same sense of humor and fired the three chatters. - The reason: «Dénigrement de l’entreprise» (denigration of the company) & «incitation à la rébellion contre la hiérarchie» (incitement to rebellion against the hierarchy).
The legal fight at the "Prud'hommes" in Boulogne-Billancourt two days ago was about "privacy". Since the "offending" Facebook page was public, the argument of a "private conversation" could not be maintained and the decision of the court was inevitable: the dismissal was confirmed.
So far the information. I don't know what the comment of Mark Zuckerberg would be. Probably none at all: "These guys had to be more careful, that's all..." Nevertheless, Facebook, with the huge visibility it provides, has become an organ of surveillance and control, you don't need to be a paranoid pothead or an aficionado of conspiration theories to come to this conclusion. - At the time, it was said that the CIA - and probably all their colleagues worldwide - use the so called "social networks" to trace connections between people. With the free access these "services" and "agencies" have to all the "private" data of the "users", and with the high-tech software they use, it's quite easy to gather tons of information about what people think, do and with whom they "socialize".
But can we still use the word "society" in this context? Aren't we witnessing a huge undertaking of "desocialization" here? The philosopher Hegel said that when a concept appears (like "social network" in this case), the thing that the concept means or signifies ("society") has ceased to exist.