Without a doubt, social media and social networking sites like Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and countless others have become indispensable tools in conducting background investigations, due diligence, employment pre-screening, and other types of investigations. Pursuit Magazine recently had a good two-part series that covered not just pointers to some lesser-known social media sites, but also discussed the importance of adequately capturing and presenting the information found on these sites.

The articles also highlighted some ethical and legal issues around gathering such information, advising, for example, against using shady techniques like pretexting and password cracking to gain access to protected material. Additionally, in Canada, a number of laws – notably human rights and privacy laws – govern the types of information that may be gathered on social media and elsewhere, the methods used for gathering the information, and the decisions made based on the information.

To stay on the side of the law, it is crucial for organizations and investigators to exercise caution when researching, collecting, and disclosing personal information about individuals. The Information and Privacy Commissioner of British Columbia has released some guidelines for social media background checks (PDF), identifying some pitfalls and issues to keep in mind:

• Accuracy of information (Is it the right profile? Was the profile created by the individual himself or herself? Is the information current?)
• Collecting irrelevant or too much information
• Over-reliance on consent

Exercising good judgment when trawling social media sites isn’t just a matter of law and ethics; it can also save the organization from embarrassment, a lesson that the Toronto Star learned the hard way when it published false allegations against an Ontario MPP based on an old Facebook photo. The newspaper issued a rare front-page apology, citing an “egregious lapse” of standards.