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."

Comments

This is why I don't use facebook

[Anonymous Coward]

and it's not just because I don't have any friends

Re:This is why I don't use facebook

[Anonymous Coward]

I think it's plainly obvious that you're not actually responsible for hiring anyone.

Re:This is why I don't use facebook

[MoonBuggy]

If you're going to take nothing more than the fact that I use a particular communication tool as a reason to write me off as irresponsible, I feel fully justified in declaring you as a pompous, superior, neo-luddite based on nothing more than that single Slashdot post.

Some of my data doesn't need to be private; I'd be as happy to write "Does anyone want to go to the pub tonight?" in giant red letters on the side of a building as I am to place it on Facebook, if that happened to be the most convenient way to get the message to a large group of my friends. Some of my data does need to be private; that data doesn't go on Facebook at all.

Re:This is why I don't use facebook

[Mistlefoot]

All facebook users agree to NOT Share their password when they access or use Facebook.

So basically, to work at that correctional facility you MUST show that you are ready, willing and able to break past agreements that you have made and will continue to make in the future (every time you access Facebook).

Nice to see that they want honest people guarding those who are incarcerated. :P

http://www.facebook.com/topic.php?uid=101063233083&topic=15948&post=110792#!/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.

# Registration and Account Security

Facebook users provide their real names and information, and we need your help to keep it that way. Here are some commitments you make to us relating to registering and maintaining the security of your account:

      1. You will not provide any false personal information on Facebook, or create an account for anyone other than yourself without permission.
      2. You will not create more than one personal profile.
      3. If we disable your account, you will not create another one without our permission.
      4. You will not use your personal profile for your own commercial gain (such as selling your status update to an advertiser).
      5. You will not use Facebook if you are under 13.
      6. You will not use Facebook if you are a convicted sex offender.
      7. You will keep your contact information accurate and up-to-date.
      8. 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.
      9. You will not transfer your account (including any page or application you administer) to anyone without first getting our written permission.
    10. If you select a username for your account we reserve the right to remove or reclaim it if we believe appropriate (such as when a trademark owner complains about a username that does not closely relate to a user's actual name).

Balance?

[Seumas]

"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.

Refuse

[syousef]

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.

Facebook TOS says you may not share password

[a_n_d_e_r_s]

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 ?

Re:Facebook TOS says you may not share password

[thsths]

TOS may not be the main problem. I would think that this is also a federal crime "Intentionally accessing a computer without authorization to obtain: ...
Information from any protected computer if the conduct involves an interstate or foreign communication" and "Knowingly and with the intent to defraud, trafficking in a password or similar information through which a computer may be accessed without authorization" under the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act.

It is about time that the FBI starts to investigate, and clears up this nest of computer crime! :-)

Re:Facebook TOS says you may not share password

[Cederic]

This fails to fall under the typical terms of duress

"Do X or you lose your job" isn't duress?

Re:I have to applaud the ACLU...

[BitZtream]

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

Why exactly? They can still be anti-majority and still support things that are otherwise good. The two are not mutually exclusive.

I don't think the ACLU goes after majority groups, but they certainly go after somethings that clearly they shouldn't be, but thats the double edge sword of an organization like the ACLU, their viewpoint of civil liberties is different than mine. So when they are for something I agree with, I support them and make others aware of their fight, and when they are going off on some wildly retarded tangent like they so regularly do, I make sure people understand why I think its silly or wrong.

The same for the EFF, though I must admit the EFF is generally more aligned with my own opinions so its rarer that I disagree with the EFF but it certainly has happened.

One of the things all Americans (I don't want to speak for other countries though its certainly the same in some others) need to remember is that we all don't have to agree on everything. The only thing we all REALLY need to agree with is that its okay for others to have a differing opinion, and its okay for them to do things we don't really agree with as long as they aren't really bothering or harming anyone else. And that is just about where everyone fails, myself included. Its not always easy to accept someone else's opinion, viewpoint or way of doing things.

False dillema

[SuperBanana]

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.

Just like employment piss tests

[rastoboy29]

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.