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Patriot Act Bypasses Facebook Privacy

Posted by ryuzaki0 on from the if-you-don't-want-it-published dept.

Geoffreyerffoeg writes "An article from the National Association of Colleges and Employers contains yet another horror story about a prospective hire's Facebook being checked — with a different twist. The interviewee had enabled privacy on his profile, '[b]ut, during the interview, something he was not prepared for happened. The interviewer began asking specific questions about the content on his Facebook.com listing and the situation became very awkward and uncomfortable. The son had thought only those he allowed to access his profile would be able to do so. But, the interviewer explained that as a state agency, recruiters accessed his Facebook account under the auspices of the Patriot Act.' How can a 'state agency' use the Patriot Act to subpoena a Facebook profile?"

5 of 562 comments (clear)

  1. Re:If the job... by toleraen · · Score: 4, Informative

    It's not likely they'd do that thorough of an investigation, unless the job required Top Secret (unlikely for an internship). Something tells me a bored manager was going through google (or some other web crawlers) caches of facebook profiles, since the article stated he had only very recently put a block on his site. There was likely a cache somewhere on the web. Also, it stated he knew someone in the office. Could have been possible that the boss required he (or the friend willingly did so) show him his facebook. /shrugs

  2. "yet another" by Syberghost · · Score: 5, Informative

    Interesting wording, since it leaves out the fact that the last one turned out to be a hoax...

  3. Only probably? by jd · · Score: 3, Informative
    Have you ever seen the paperwork for a secret clearance? Yeesh! They want everything - and I mean everything - for the past 5 years. 7 if it's top secret. IIRC, the form not only asks about you, but also about your relatives, your friends, your bosses... They'll randomly track down and interview former neighbors. Those applications are thorough. Stupid but thorough. If you're dual-citizen, it can take two years plus for them to process the paperwork, they're that paranoid.


    So what would said paranoid individuals do, when confronted with a blocked personal site? Ignore it? Yeah, right. I don't agree with what they look for - it seems questionable as to whether it has any relevance to whether the individual can be trusted - but it's blindingly obvious they'd investigate obviously hidden data.


    For "confidential" clearances, the rules are different. There, a fingerprint check with the FBI and a routine background check seems to be sufficient. That can take a week or two, but it's nothing like as extreme.

    --
    It's a small world and it smells funny; I'd buy another if it wasn't for the money; Take back what I paid (SoM)
  4. Re:If the job... by ZachPruckowski · · Score: 4, Informative

    Google doesn't search Facebook profiles or cache them, as far as I know (and I've tried to Google for my own).

  5. Re:Nothing for you to see here. Please move along. by techvet · · Score: 3, Informative

    Two quick points: 1. Car dealers requires SSNs for the Patriot Act on some purchases. Even casinos are involved in this kind of stuff as well. Don't believe it? Visit http://www.bridgerinsight.com./ 2. Earlier this year, I told my older kids not do anything with MySpace.com if they don't want their past to haunt them. Same thing applies here with Facebook.com. With Google + archives + cache, there's lots to see. Job holders and hunters: what you do on the Internet stays on the Internet, and stays, and stays, and stays... TechVet