Surveillance by potential employers

In class we were discussing how possible employers will go through your past in attempts to dig up any skeletons you may have hidden in order to find out whether you are the correct individual for the job or not. However, this may not work quite as well as they would hope if people refuse to play by their rules. If someone holds a grudge (as we discussed), for instance they may never render any good memories or stories of you but only tell of the awful, horrible things you may have done. They may even create stories to damage your chances. Although the opposite could also occur.
My sister had a good friend going into the military. After the girl's training the institution began to gather information about her to make sure they were making the correct choice by allowing her in. As one of her many references she gave in my sisters information, unfortunately 2 months later her and my sister had a huge falling out. The information gatherers were persistent, calling our house several times a week and even showing up to our home in hopes that my sister was present. My sister did not want to speak ill of her ex-friend however she felt that the men deserved the truth. After awhile of unrelenting attempts to get in contact with my sister, she just told them that her and the girl were no longer friends and that she did not wish to discuss her. Surprisingly (to me, anyway) that was sufficient and they left her alone. Had my sister told the men the truth that girl may have never gotten into the military, and probably rightfully so.
Occasionally the surveillance that is hoped for does not quite work out like potential employers hope that it will. People like my sister, who refuse to work with the system don't allow it to do so and thus it breaks down.