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Employer Demands Facebook Login From Job Applicants
Hugh Pickens writes writes "Alex Madrigal reports in the Atlantic that the ACLU has taken up the case of Maryland corrections officer Robert Collins, who was required to provide his Facebook login and password to the Maryland Division of Corrections during a recertification interview so the interviewer could log on to his account and read not only his postings, but those of his family and friends too. 'We live in a time when national security is the highest priority, but it must be delicately balanced with personal privacy,' says Collins. 'My fellow officers and I should not have to allow the government to view our personal Facebook posts and those of our friends, just to keep our jobs.' The ACLU of Maryland has sent a letter to Public Safety Secretary Gary Maynard (PDF) concerning the Division of Correction's blanket requirement that applicants for employment with the division, as well as current employees undergoing recertification, provide the government with their social media account usernames and personal passwords for use in employee background checks. After three weeks the ACLU has received no response."
and it's not just because I don't have any friends
One full of HOORAH, LOVE THE GOVERNMENT! and liking AMERICA: WE'LL PUT A BOOT IN YER ASS, but without many friends attached. And then you'll have your other (perhaps similar) Facebook page, but with your real friends and activities. That's not misleading, they wanted your Facebook login. They got it. No biggie.
There's a spot in User Info for World of Warcraft account names? Really?
Disclaimer: I am an avid non-facebook user. I refuse to support what I consider a complete waste of time and computing resources.
Sometimes the light at the end of the tunnel is the headlight of an oncoming train.
A lot of people have the opinion that the ACLU is only about shutting down the speech of Christians/Whites/Men/*insert majority group here.* I think this case proves that not to be the case, and demonstrates the good that the ACLU actually does: Protecting personal privacy, freedom of expression, etc. This is a very important case, one that could potentially set a very bad precedent. It's good that there's at least one somewhat powerful organization on the side of personal privacy in this case. I hope groups like the EFF get involved as well.
"We live in a time when national security is the highest priority, but it must be delicately balanced with personal privacy"
Calling it a delicate balance is a sleazy way of excusing any violations by suggesting that it's such a difficult fine line that nobody could be expected to do the right thing, all the time. There is no delicate balance. Personal privacy and liberty must always trump security, for without privacy and liberty, there's nothing worth securing. There's no point in protecting a bank vault that has already been looted of everything.
Also. A corrections officer in a prison. Hardly in a position to be trading secrets with Iran or Osama.
Cue the "no such thing as privacy! glorious free market! employer rights 100% teh awesome! john galt ROX!" posts in three... two... one...
If you're actually prepared to sue, I'd say refuse to provide the login, and let them terminate you. Then go after them for wrongful dismissal.
These posts express my own personal views, not those of my employer
From http://www.facebook.com/terms.php
Statement of Rights and Responsibilities
This Statement of Rights and Responsibilities ("Statement") derives from the Facebook Principles, and governs our relationship with users and others who interact with Facebook. By using or accessing Facebook, you agree to this Statement.
You will not share your password,
(or in the case of developers, your secret key),
let anyone else access your account,
or do anything else that might jeopardize the security of your account.
So they wanted him to break the Facebook Statement of Rights and Responsibilities ?
Just saying it like it are.
If you have nothing to hide this surely shouldn't be a problem.
If I were the employee, I'd use Facebook's activation feature to temporarily remove my account from the system. "What account? Facebook? Don't have one."
Well, you'd be out of a job if your employer finds a cached copy of your Facebook page in Google, for instance. Would you want to risk that?
If I can be modded down for being a troll, can I be modded up for being an orc, or a balrog?
If they are douchy enough to ask for that crap.. you should probably move on.. srsly..
I think you've missed the point. They want access to his facebook account in order that they can have a look at the sorts of things he says and people he hangs out with, not in order that they can keep tabs on whether he's using it at work or not.
If blocking facebook is the only way you can keep your employees actually doing their work of a day, you've got way bigger problems with your management than you're going to solve with a web filter, anyway.
Facebook should publicly tell all job applicants "please cancel your Facebook account before applying for any job that requests the password, or we will cancel it for you if we find out you shared your password.
At the very least, they should reset the password and warn the user not to give it out again or the account will be canceled.
Sharing your password is typically a violation of the terms of service.
Knowledge is how to play a game, intelligence is how to win, wisdom is knowing what game to play.
and I thought my boss was bad when he made me friend him before he would hire me!
I am not saying he should turn over his password, is the term and conditions of social website the law?
Facebook should notify all employers and background-check companies that they explicitly do NOT have permission to access a third-party's Facebook account even if they are using a login, on the assumption that the use of the login was coerced. Let them know that exceptions will only be made if the account owner AND the agency desiring access both certify under penalty of perjury that no consideration - including nothing related to getting or keeping a job or promotion - was offered in exchange for the access.
Once they do that, any employer or agency who does it will get an individual warning and if they do it again Facebook will press charges for criminal unauthorized access of a computer.
Knowledge is how to play a game, intelligence is how to win, wisdom is knowing what game to play.
I was actually thinking it's a false dillema, starting with the premise that "national security is the highest priority." Sure as hell isn't for me. I just want a functioning public transit system, power, running water, and law and order in my community. Funny how our state got slammed with record levels of snow, and the National Guard couldn't help out...because they're deployed in Afghanistan and Iraq. Funny how funding for social spending has dried up and all the teenagers in my community are now running around shooting each other (and innocent bystanders) because they have no education, no job, no future. The only people that seem concerned about national security are the people paid to do so or the people who otherwise benefit from such efforts and its rhetoric.
Please help metamoderate.
I can only imagine how many of them would be in Gitmo or prison for treason, domestic terrorism or "other".
When the people fear their government, there is tyranny; when the government fears the people, there is liberty.
The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants.
A wise and frugal government, which shall leave men free to regulate their own pursuits of industry and improvement, and shall not take from the mouth of labor the bread it has earned - this is the sum of good government.
All tyranny needs to gain a foothold is for people of good conscience to remain silent.
Conquest is not in our principles. It is inconsistent with our government.
Experience hath shewn, that even under the best forms of government those entrusted with power have, in time, and by slow operations, perverted it into tyranny.
I believe that banking institutions are more dangerous to our liberties than standing armies.
Those Who Sacrifice Liberty For Security Deserve Neither.
Lets not forget this Gem.
That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, — That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security.
I personally think this whole thing is just outrageously stupid. If nothing else, the employee should be fired for giving their credentials away freely. Of course, the government doesn't think this way--"we want your credentials to sites so we can see what you're posting!" rather than "if you give up your privacy freely, what other credentials might you give up?" What a strange world we live in...
Although, I guess that's one way to get a job at HBGary. Oh, you give up credentials to any account just because someone asks? You're hired!
He who has no
2 years ago I thought about leaving my job, In preparation I created a facebook page using my real name, with two artificial friends. I posted several "updates" with pictures: "Standing in a small group" at my old university refectory, a photograph at a church bake sale(I am agnostic, but those grey hairs make a proper cake), and a few from my mountain climbing days. If I motivate myself to still leave, I will spend a half hour and make another update.
I refuse all friend requests. Even my spouses.
My Manager returned from a 5 day management course recently. One 1/2 hour lecture was on Social Media.
In post Patriot Act America, the library books scan you.
There are a number of people with accounts with variations of my real name, several of whom appear to be grade A sleazebags. As a result, I created a Facebook account in my full name with accurate details, turned everything off and left it empty - purely to deal with this possible situation.
From scarped cliff or quarried stone she cries "A thousand types are gone, I care for nothing, no not one."
..and I sure as hell wouldn't hire anyone who complied.
-jcr
The only title of honor that a tyrant can grant is "Enemy of the State."
"We live in a time when national security is the highest priority..."
No, it isn't the highest priority. There have been times when it was. When the British army invaded Washington in 1812. it was. When the Nazis had conquered Europe and were getting ready to do the same to the US, it was. When the USSR built 10,000 atomic bombs and talked about conquering the world, it was.
But not now. No foreign power is an immediate threat. Not even close. Terrorism is down to the nuisance level, well below floods, hurricanes, blizzards, and drunk driving as a problem. Street crime is down. Most of the Mafia has been crushed. Nobody is talking about a revolution, except maybe the Tea Party crowd. There is no big national security problem right now. It's time to lighten up, and take a hard look at Homeland Security's budget.
The big problems right now are economic and internal, not foreign threats.
So many posts here are about not using facebook, not having facebook ect... This isn't an option for everyone. A huge portion of my friends use facebook with ages that range from pre-pubescent family members to senior citizens. I have friends around the world with whom I'd have minimal communication if not for facebook. Facebook allows me to keep touch with my friends and acquaintances abroad and at home in a single place that they will check often (too often). I deprive myself socially by not having an account. I don't care for it, but so many people I know use it I have no option. I just avoid saying or posting anything anything remotely incriminating.
Why just facebook? Why not linkedln or myspace?
This sounds like a test. I mean if an applicant was willing to give out their facebook password for a job, it's be clear that they were bribeable and shouldn't be guarding prisoners.
People have been tolerating piss tests to get/keep jobs for years, and the inevitable result is that employers reach out for more.
The thing to do is apply for jobs when you have one (ideally), and refuse piss tests when asked. If enough people start turning down jobs for that reason, it will go away.
But America will have to grow some balls, first.
expandfairuse.org
And just where do I get this free orange juice?
"It's the height of ridiculousness to say for those 9 lines you get hundreds of millions."
I personally don't use Facebook because it's unknown where the direction of the company is going to go, and they seem to be very aggressive about their use of the data. Don't trust them. It's that simple.
I know many people that do. Of those people, I know plenty that had bad experiences, and plenty that had good ones too. I personally wouldn't judge somebody on a Facebook account, because the use cases are all over the map.
That's what good interview skills are all about. Christ, if they can't do a good read on the person they have DIRECT and IMMEDIATE access to, perhaps it's time to get some education, instead of falling back on shitty things like asking for the keys to people's personal lives.
To me, this shit is all self-correcting. Anybody that makes a mess of their lives on Facebook will probably only get to work in the fucked up places where that shit doesn't matter. Fine by me. Employers who turn to the Internet in abusive ways to get advantage over their employees are not worth working for either.
People tend to sort themselves out over time. No worries here.
The best thing is to just manage your life, and your employment opportunities and think things over before you do them. Shutting some doors that you never, ever plan to walk through isn't too big of a deal. Not sure? Then be conservative about it, until you are. Most of it is all that simple.
Blogging because I can...
Those who fail to learn the lessons of history are doomed to misquote them.
Was it over when the Germans bombed Pearl Harbor?
If you were blocking sigs, you wouldn't have to read this.
We live in a time when national security is the highest priority
Uh, no? Where do you get that from? National security is no more or less important than at any other time in history. There have always been nations who hate your guts, there have always been people armed with the latest in destructive technologies, there have always been people getting killed violently.
Scientifically speaking, apply logic 101. If your assumption is incorrect, your conclusion is worse than false, it is meaningless.
We really, really need to teach kids logic 101. Maybe then when they grow up, this nonsense by which national policies are determined by unsubstantiated claims will finally end.
Assorted stuff I do sometimes: Lemuria.org
It is possible to see this in a positive light - even people involved in the day-to-day implementation of authoritarianism are capable of understanding violations of privacy when they themselves are the target.