Employers requiring applicants' Facebook passwords????

[kenny]

Let's face it (hahaha).
A growing number of people live and reveal a great deal about themselves on FB.
They take comfort in the privacy settings protecting their content.

Employers have a legitimate reason to want to know whom they are hiring, but does requiring applicant's passwords to log into and examine their FB account go too far?

Partial Snip:

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.

More: http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/resume-references-password-job-seekers-get-asked-in-interviews-to-provide-facebook-logins/2012/03/20/gIQAVlNhOS_story.html?hpid=z5

 

[Gypsy]

Oh Hell No. Employers could make an "argument" for coming over to my house and looking through it to. Doesn't mean they are right.

 

[iheartscience]

No way. And the spokespeople quoted all say applicants can say no, but they're trying to please an interviewer, so it's completely coercive.

If a prospective employer asked me for my Facebook log in information, I would absolutely say no. That said, I'm lucky enough to be in the position to be able to say no. Not everyone is.

 

[amc80]

I've got nothing to hide- everything on my fb is stuff I that is innocent (I mean, my mom is one of my friends, so that sort of limits it...not that my life is too excited anyway). But if a prospective employer asked me for my password? Um, no. And if they demanded it? 1) I wouldn't want to work for that person anyway, and 2) I'd delete my account.

 

[kenny]

I honestly don't have a FB acct.
When I told them that they'd probably throw my resume in the trash, thinking I have something to hide.

 

[HollyS]

It is indeed an "egregious privacy violation". Certainly, if I were applying with that potential employer, that would be my big red flag to decline any offer they might make. A$$clowns.

I don't have one either, Kenny. I occasionally use my hubby's; it has our photo and I just put my name in my message.

 

[ericad]

No. Just....NO.

It would also be interesting to see what sorts of liability this exposes employers to as well. What if they hop onto my FB account and see that I'm a lesbian, or that I want to have another baby someday, or that I TAKE BIRTH CONTROL (sorry, couldn't resist). And then they don't hire me. Seems there's a huge potential for discrimination lawsuits based on them becoming privy to information they would otherwise not legally be allowed to ask.

I'm pretty sure that if I were in an interview and they asked me to log into my FB account, I'd be flipping them the 'ole double-bird anyway, rendering me disqualified before it got that far

 

[Gypsy]

A$$clowns.

Wow. That is a great insult. Rolls right off the tongue and so satisfying to say. Nice consonants for bite. Thank you for that wonderful addition to my vocabulary Holly.

I love it.

 

[kenny]

A$$clowns.

Wow. That is a great insult. Rolls right off the tongue and so satisfying to say. Nice consonants for bite. Thank you for that wonderful addition to my vocabulary Holly.
I love it.

 

[Rhea]

A$$clowns.

Wow. That is a great insult. Rolls right off the tongue and so satisfying to say. Nice consonants for bite. Thank you for that wonderful addition to my vocabulary Holly.

I love it.

Ever watched Office Space? I prefer the entire insult. No talent ass clown. Ahhhh, such a nice ring to it.

Back on topic, no, I don't agree with it. To me, that's like my employer asking for my email password. Such an invasion of privacy.

 

[Maria D]

haha the definition of "assclown" makes it even better!

I had this conversation with my 12th grade students a couple of weeks ago. The article that I read (not sure if it's the same one Kenny linked to) said this was becoming more common with college recruiters for student athletes. A kid who is hoping/needing an athletic scholarship may not feel they have the choice of denying access and can easily be coerced. The sad thing to me, in talking to my students, was how they were just kind of resigned to it. They talked about cleaning up their FB account, but didn't have any inkling to start a "just say no" campaign--which ironically a venue like FB is the perfect place to do so!

I rarely use FB but if I were a younger person starting out today and felt that I could lose an opportunity by refusing a password, I would keep my account private of course, but also change my profile picture to something non-identifiable, like a picture of a pet or scenery. If asked by a potential employer if I had a FB account I'd say no. If the account with my name on it was presented to me I'd deny it was mine. It helps that I don't have a name like Blue Ivy Carter.

What about the fact that anyone can start a FB account in any name -- don't employers/colleges open themselves up some kind of liability if they make (or don't make) decisions based on FB accounts? If they've vetted applicants and missed something and later, say, that applicant is found guilty of invasion of privacy and bias intimidation charges after spying on their roommate who later commits suicide, is the university also responsible? If they deny admission based on a non-private account and it turns out that it's a phony account, are they open to a lawsuit? One would think it's a can of worms they wouldn't want to open.

 

[Enerchi]

A$$clowns.

Wow. That is a great insult. Rolls right off the tongue and so satisfying to say. Nice consonants for bite. Thank you for that wonderful addition to my vocabulary Holly.
I love it.

priceless!!!

Nope, total invasion of privacy for employers to ask for passwords... for ANYTHING, not just facebook.

 

[lulu]

No. Absolutely not, and I wouldn't work there. You're entitled to a private life.

 

[Octavia]

No way. And the spokespeople quoted all say applicants can say no, but they're trying to please an interviewer, so it's completely coercive.

If a prospective employer asked me for my Facebook log in information, I would absolutely say no. That said, I'm lucky enough to be in the position to be able to say no. Not everyone is.

Exactly. I try not to forget how lucky I am that I could tell off an employer who asked for this kind of info and still be fed, clothed, housed...

Back on topic, no, I don't agree with it. To me, that's like my employer asking for my email password. Such an invasion of privacy.

And since most people do use the same password for lots of different sites, in many cases the employer could probably pop into people's email as well.

BTW, Facebook issued a statement about how this violates the site's terms of service and they'll fight back against anyone they hear of engaging in this practice. Not sure what that actually means, in practical terms, but it seems pretty clear that FB isn't happy.

 

[Dee*Jay]

Different scenario, but someone I know looks up people's public info on facebook when they are considering interviewing them. I am not on facebook, so I don't know how the lines get drawn in terms of what people who aren't your "friends" can see in public viewing mode, so perhaps not much, but he looks nonetheless. And at the financial firm I work for you are required to "friend" your compliance officer. Again, not the same though as asking for someone's password.


(Another vote for the love of a$$clown. I'm also a fan of goat rodeo, as in, "This place is a fvcking goat roedo." Makes a point.)

 

[Maria D]

Deejay, I think it's pretty common practice for employers/schools to seek what they can find publicly, whether on FB or anywhere else on the internet. I know I'm always seeing what I can find out of sheer nosiness , so I would imagine HR depts do this all the time.

Fascinating that you have to "friend" the compliance officer! Haven't heard that one. But if you don't have an account, it's OK?

 

[Autumnovember]

I would NEVER take any job that made me provide any of my passwords to ANYTHING. Period.

 

[Gypsy]

(Another vote for the love of a$$clown. I'm also a fan of goat rodeo, as in, "This place is a fvcking goat roedo." Makes a point.)

Very nice and much more creative (and cleaner) than my usual FUMAR or cluster f***.

I do like A$$hat and use it.

 

[Pandora II]

Outrageous and I would never work for an employer who asked this. I have a feeling it wouldn't be legal in the UK either.

I will say that when I was interviewing people for a role I did check to see if they had a FB profile and looked at it. What really shocked me was that out of the 6 shortlisted candidates for initial interview, 4 of them didn't use privacy controls and I could see every photo and every post. Since the role called for absolute discretion and the ability to deal with a lot of highly confidential data it did count as a negative against them - the content was not the issue (although some of it was rather dubious and had they been employed I would have had a quiet word about privacy), it was the lack of awareness that raised a red flag.

I invariably google anyone I deal with - I think it's pretty normal these days. I also google myself on a regular basis!

 

[Mikla]

This is so bad and over the top, it makes me want to vomit. Seriously, they think they have the right to dig into my social life? I have absolutely nothing to hide but this really gets my goat. You can look at my Facebook account and see whatever the rest of the public can see. All you need to know about me is that I have no criminal record, good credit, a clean drug screen, and excellent references. I've held security clearances that didn't require anything as invasive as this. Legally you can't even ask me how old I am. I hire people all day long and would be embarrassed to ask someone for their passwords. I'd look like an idiot!!! It reminds me loosely of a time that I got a job in my early twenties. It was at an insurance company. When I started signing papers to accept the job, I read about a requirement to wear blouses, skirts and pantyhose to the office every day. I told those people that if I can't wear dress pants to work, they could keep the job. What, you need me to be in a skirt to impress some male client? Seriously? I'm a CPA, not a model. Too many morons in the world making up stupid rules because they can with absolutely no clue how ridiculous and insulting they are, or thinking about how they would feel if they were subjected to their own rules. What's next? You want to see if I keep a clean house and know how much money I have in the bank?

Mikla