FTC approves Facebook archivings.

• Position: CONSUMER RECORDS - Brief article

Facebook files are fair game when it comes to investigating employees and potential employees, the U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC) said.

The FTC has approved the Social Intelligence Corp.'s practice of archiving Facebook users' posts as part of a background-checking service. The commission said the company complies with the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA), which also allows the retention of consumer credit records for seven years.

If something negative about an individual pops up on Facebook or Cralgslist when a search is made, Social Intelligence puts it into the individual's file and retains it for seven years, according to a Forbes report. But records that are disputed and changed are deleted and replaced by new material. Also, new employers who run searches through Social Intelligence won't have access to the materials if they are completely removed from the Internet.

[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]

Social Intelligence's Chief Operating Officer Geoffrey Andrews explained to Forbes that while negative information is kept on file, it is not reused when a new employer runs a check on a person.

"While we store information for up to seven years, we do not 'reuse' that information for new reports. Per our policies and obligations under the FCRA, we run new reports on applicants on each new search to ensure the most accurate and up-to-date information is utilized, and we store the information to maintain a verifiable chain-of-custody in case the...