Pupils fear data shared online will affect jobs

Four out of 10 students are concerned that personal details they share on social media sites could hurt their future job prospects, according to a British survey.

The survey was carried out by research company YouGov for Britain's Information Commissioner's Office, the Telegraph newspaper reports.

It follows a new guide published by Britain's Advisory Conciliation and Arbitration Service urging employers not to be too hard on staff who post unprofessional comments on sites such as Facebook and Twitter.

Chief executive John Taylor said: "If an employer is too tough, they need to consider the potential impact of any negative publicity. Heavy-handed monitoring can cause bad feeling and be time consuming".

Mr Taylor also said employees should be careful about how they conduct themselves online and should assume everything they say on the internet can be made public.

The study has been released to coincide with the launch of a new nationwide campaign which is aimed at educating young people about their information rights.