Some employers are asking job applicants for Facebook username, password

[chanel]

In their efforts to vet applicants, some companies and government agencies are going beyond merely glancing at a person's social networking profiles and instead asking to log in as the user to have a look around.

"It's akin to requiring someone's house keys," said Orin Kerr, a George Washington University law professor and former federal prosecutor who calls it "an egregious privacy violation."

Questions have been raised about the legality of the practice, which is also the focus of proposed legislation in Illinois and Maryland that would forbid public agencies from asking for access to social networks.

Since the rise of social networking, it has become common for managers to review publicly available Facebook profiles, Twitter accounts and other sites to learn more about job candidates. But many users, especially on Facebook, have their profiles set to private, making them available only to selected people or certain networks.

Some employers are asking job applicants for Facebook username, password | NJ.com

Comments?

 

[editec]

AFter you expect that people will pee in a bottle to get a job, and people DO IT like sheep, pretty much every invasion of privacy is thought minor by our corporate masters.


Corporations do not believe in anybody's right to privacy.

And it is these corporations that some of us truly HOPE will eventually run the nation.


Forking tools!

 

[Paulie]

What business is it of ANYONE what your private inbox messages are?

I've heard it all now.

 

[KissMy]

Why would anyone be stupid enough to tell their employer that they had a Face Book Account?

 

[chanel]

AFter you expect that people will pee in a bottle to get a job, and people DO IT like sheep, pretty much every invasion of privacy is thought minor by our corporate masters.


Corporations do not believe in anybody's right to privacy.

And it is these corporations that some of us truly HOPE will eventually run the nation.


Forking tools!

Oh those "EVIL" corporations! Guess what editec? Many govt. agencies (esp. police depts) are doing it. Read the article.

I have no problem with drug testing people who have jobs that involve public safety, and most people don't either. This has NOTHING to do with safety.

But to require a password at the INTERVIEW? Awful.

Cautionary tale for young people.

 

[Artevelde]

Seems to me to be completely unwarranted and inappropriate. I do however understand employers who block access to social network sites on their company computers.

 

[Sarah G]

In their efforts to vet applicants, some companies and government agencies are going beyond merely glancing at a person's social networking profiles and instead asking to log in as the user to have a look around.

"It's akin to requiring someone's house keys," said Orin Kerr, a George Washington University law professor and former federal prosecutor who calls it "an egregious privacy violation."

Questions have been raised about the legality of the practice, which is also the focus of proposed legislation in Illinois and Maryland that would forbid public agencies from asking for access to social networks.

Since the rise of social networking, it has become common for managers to review publicly available Facebook profiles, Twitter accounts and other sites to learn more about job candidates. But many users, especially on Facebook, have their profiles set to private, making them available only to selected people or certain networks.

Some employers are asking job applicants for Facebook username, password | NJ.com

Comments?

Why would they want your password. Nobody would give that info to them, I don't even think that's legal.

 

[Sarah G]

Seems to me to be completely unwarranted and inappropriate. I do however understand employers who block access to social network sites on their company computers.

They don't need your password to do that.

 

[Artevelde]

Seems to me to be completely unwarranted and inappropriate. I do however understand employers who block access to social network sites on their company computers.

They don't need your password to do that.

Obviously.

 

[editec]

AFter you expect that people will pee in a bottle to get a job, and people DO IT like sheep, pretty much every invasion of privacy is thought minor by our corporate masters.


Corporations do not believe in anybody's right to privacy.

And it is these corporations that some of us truly HOPE will eventually run the nation.


Forking tools!

Oh those "EVIL" corporations! Guess what editec? Many govt. agencies (esp. police depts) are doing it. Read the article.

I have no problem with drug testing people who have jobs that involve public safety, and most people don't either.

Of course you don't.

And that is why our 4th amendments rights are pretty much thing of the past, Chanel.

Because you and millions like you cannot see why such things are antithetical to a free society.

 

[Quantum Windbag]

AFter you expect that people will pee in a bottle to get a job, and people DO IT like sheep, pretty much every invasion of privacy is thought minor by our corporate masters.


Corporations do not believe in anybody's right to privacy.

And it is these corporations that some of us truly HOPE will eventually run the nation.


Forking tools!

You should have read the story, the "corporations" they cited were government agencies.

 

[uscitizen]

No facebook account for me.

Although I keep getting notices here and there that people have sent me messages on facebook...

 

[Quantum Windbag]

In their efforts to vet applicants, some companies and government agencies are going beyond merely glancing at a person's social networking profiles and instead asking to log in as the user to have a look around.

"It's akin to requiring someone's house keys," said Orin Kerr, a George Washington University law professor and former federal prosecutor who calls it "an egregious privacy violation."

Questions have been raised about the legality of the practice, which is also the focus of proposed legislation in Illinois and Maryland that would forbid public agencies from asking for access to social networks.

Since the rise of social networking, it has become common for managers to review publicly available Facebook profiles, Twitter accounts and other sites to learn more about job candidates. But many users, especially on Facebook, have their profiles set to private, making them available only to selected people or certain networks.

Some employers are asking job applicants for Facebook username, password | NJ.com

Comments?

Why would they want your password. Nobody would give that info to them, I don't even think that's legal.

The problem is, some people do. I wouldn't give anyone my Facebook password, it is so secret I don't even know what it is.

 

[Quantum Windbag]

No facebook account for me.

Although I keep getting notices here and there that people have sent me messages on facebook...

You should click on them, you might win a million dollars.

 

[Shogun]

I can understand the desire to check for things in order to circumvent PR issues for certain industries. I don't agree with it but I can understand how, in this online age of a billion and one personal expressions, how it has come to this.

There are three other people in the world with my exact name on facebook. I'd just insist that I don't have an account and move on. Hell, i'm not even sure vetting for security clearance goes this far.

 

[Katzndogz]

I know employers who want facebook info and twitter account info. Those that don't have this kind of social media presence are assumed to have something to hide.