How Social Media Destroyed My Ability to Find and Keep Jobs
Author: Ilan Dan-Gur
In 2023, during an application for EI benefits, I was asked to justify why I quit a company I had worked for in Squamish, BC. I informed the government (on the online form) that it was due to privacy violations, and specifically for using the workplace to gather personal information about me for the purpose of sharing it with a third-party.
This privacy violation has happened in multiple jobs I have had, and I am yet unable to legally pursue the criminals behind it, as the violations to my privacy are done "behind by back" and supposedly without me knowing what has taken place. Those behind it make connections with my coworkers and supervisors in workplaces I go to, give them personal info about me consisting of half truths, false assumptions, and lies, and that they have no business to know, and get them to spy on me at the workplace by asking me personal questions and reporting back to them with anything they can say about me on the jobsite (whether for financial gains or simply for getting "upvotes" and "love" on social networks, I have no idea). The purpose, or the result, of doing that, has been the destruction of both my personal and work life.
Below is the relevant portion of my 2023 EI application. I have kept the company name confidential, and have used a fake name for my supervisor.
EI Application Q&A
Q: Please give the name and position of the person or persons with whom you had the personal conflict.
A: "Bill", who was my supervisor and site superintendent.
I submitted a two-weeks termination notice to the company after an event with Bill.
At issue is that I have been estranged from my family (in another country, Israel) for years.
During that day, Bill spoke to me in private (with no one else in the area). He was wearing a blue-tooth ear device (which I have never seen him use before).
He asked me a lot of personal questions relating to my life in Israel, and it was very clear from Bill's questions and everything he said, that someone related to my family was listening to my answers and instructing Bill what to ask me.
As Bill was my supervisor, and site superintendent, it would have been difficult for me not to answer his questions.
The supreme court has determined a few years ago, in a similar case, that it's a human right of an adult person to be estranged from their family.
After this event I immediately submitted my two-weeks notice, as it was impossible for me to keep working there.
Q: Please explain fully why you did not communicate directly with the person or persons mainly responsible for the situation.
A: It was a betrayal of my human rights that was done supposedly behind my back and without me knowing what was happening. There was nothing that Bill could have done with no outright chance of legal retribution, that would have been worse to my life.
Q: Please explain fully why you didn't discuss the situation with someone in higher authority than your boss.
A: I generally had very limited and rare interactions with the co-owners of the company, whom I know for a fact had no idea what had happened there, and seemed very nice and decent people who would not have allowed it.
Once Bill did what he did on the last day before I submitted my termination notice, it was so horrendous that my only option was to leave immediately (after a two-week notice).
It was not something I could have easily proven, and Bill, in theory, could have denied that any such thing actually happened.
Bill used his position, and the fact that I was an employee, to *personally* stab me in the back (in a non-job related manner) in the most horrendous way he could.
Q: Please explain fully why you didn't consult with any outside agencies.
A: It would have been very difficult to prove what had happened.
I simply submitted a two-weeks termination notice and started looking for another job.
Q: Please explain fully why you did not request any sort of transfer.
A: If Bill was using his job to spy on me for someone outside the company, the same would have happened in other company locations.
Privacy is considered to be a fundamental human right. The right to privacy is recognized in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
Privacy is important, in part because it allows individuals to think, reflect, and express themselves without fear of intrusion or surveillance.
The prosecution of those responsible for privacy violations can be complex and challenging due to difficulties in gathering evidence as well as getting people who participate to come forward. It's difficult for people who take part in spying to see the colossal damage they create in the life of the individual they spy on, or the destructive intensions of the people they are "helping out" by participating in the spying.
And finally, if you (the person reading this webpage) have come across a posting about me on Facebook or other social platforms, or possibly have been asked on social media to spy on me, for example to report back the location and time where you saw me, and/or ask me questions, please be aware that such privacy violations are illegal in Canada, and the people behind the requests are criminals who could be prosecuted. I would greatly appreciate if, using the email address "MyStory(at)tuta.com", you let me know the details.
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