THE INTERNET IN A CIVIL SERVANT’S LIFE

The article is dedicated to the analysis of negative aspects of the use of social media in civil service and the substantiation of the necessity of legal regulation of civil servants' conduct in the web space. It is mentioned that the Internet virtual space has become another new place of life of a contemporary human and a civil servant as well. Like in physical and social space, a human is able to act, be active, influence the situation and other people while equally depending on their reverse influence. This requires greater responsibility from civil servants for the content of their posts and the information shared by them on social media as well as understanding that contacts established there shall still obey the law and the rules of virtual life. Emphasis is put upon the necessity of civil servants' considering of the specific nature of social media that can constitute certain dangers. It becomes possible to invade their professional and private life, their personal data; they may be blackmailed, put under political pressure and so forth. Focus is placed on the absence of proper regulation of civil servants' ethical conduct in the web space by the state. At the same time, the article shows international experience in the matter of regulation of a civil servant's socialization in the web space. The authors examine foreign legislative acts regulating the particular question of the interaction of a civil servant's real and virtual life. This leads to the conclusion about the advisability of the introduction of special recommendations or an ethical code which would regulate the rules of conducting civil servants' web life. It is also emphasized that the implementation of the corresponding rules of British legislation into Ukraine would become a significant step to resolving civil servants' web problems.