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Teacher's Aide Fired For Refusing To Hand Over Facebook Password
An anonymous reader writes "You can add this one to the short but growing list of employers demanding access to Facebook accounts. After refusing to give her Facebook password to her supervisors, Kimberly Hester was fired by Lewis Cass Intermediate School District from her job as an aide to Frank Squires Elementary in Cassopolis, Michigan. She is now fighting a legal battle with the school district."
Is it required to break a legal contract with one entity to maintain employment with another?
Twitter supports and protects racists - by smearing their critics with the "Hate Speech" label.
Now the ACLU has a case they can use to clarify that it's illegal to do this under current legislation and put a stop to the nonsense.
It's too bad it'll take so long for it to churn through the courts.
Presuming the ACLU, EFF, et. al. don't decide to wait for a "better" case, that is.
I do not fail; I succeed at finding out what does not work.
that she is really glad she is in the USA where there is a 200 year old document based on 300 year old philosophies to protect her liberty.
I'll see your Constitution and raise you a Queen.
..it doesn't seem to be just another april fools joke :/
Now we can have this out in court.
Up until now, I've only heard of harassing people applying for jobs. It is easy to demand anything from a job applicant: when they are not selected it was just because they "did not fit" or something. Firing an existing employee is a whole different thing. Now we can finally put a stop to this illegal activity. Or maybe we will learn that it is legal in the U.S. - you never know.
Another reason not to "friend" everyone you know. Seriously, if you want to keep personal and work separate, keep it separate! No one I work with is on my facebook.
I don't understand this obsession people have with gaining access to people's Facebook accounts. What is the origin of this craze? Why is it considered acceptable to require from people a Facebook password, but not, say, a Gmail account password?
Even more so, I don't understand this acquiescence to "authority" that many people seem to display; why in the world would you give somebody else your password like this?
This is not perfect, but one possibility might be to set up a dummy facebook account and give that to them, rather than your real one. However, it is clear, this should be illegal, people who run into this should contact a lawyer and file lawsuits, as well, Facebook has expressed interest in filing lawsuits against employers who do this, so, notify Facebook of this if an Employer, or anyone else, has requested your password.
Well, YES it IS April 1st, BUT serious shit has, ironically, been reported on that day too.
If you believe in privacy, and believe you have "nothing to hide" at the same time, you're a goddammed idiot
She will be getting a few years of pay from illegal dismissal.
the school screwed up big time. Michigan is not a right to work state, so they cant fire you for any reason. and this school was retarded enough to publicize WHY she was fired so now it's a slam dunk in court.
If she get's a good lawyer, she will walk away with 10 years of her salary from the school.
Do not look at laser with remaining good eye.
Who would really want to be a teacher these days anyway? They have to put up with an ever growing list of shit for a not so great salary and now we hear that Oxford scientists have found how to 'program' the brain directly so that new languages can be learned in a day! So pretty soon real live human teachers will be an extinct species..
The school district is just taking the wrong approach. If they would just pay companies like Facebook, Google and her cellular provider, they could buy far more information about the teacher than they could learn with her password. They could probably find out more than the teacher knows about herself or knew was recorded -- everywhere she has gone, everyone she knows, every website she's visited, everyone she's emailed, called, etc. etc.
Facebook's objection to people handing out their passwords is that it cuts them out of the deal.
what about the IT rule of not giving out passwords? acquiescence to "authority" what about breaking IT / security rules?
1. Create Facebook account .... ....
2. Make it a museum of disgusting art: goatse, tubgirl, dead fetuses.
3. Make them sign a NDA over the account's content. Happily hand over password.
4.
5. Profit!
6. Walk out of interview, wishing everyone sweet dreams.
7. Do so threatening to sue if they damage "your property" (i.e. the account), or notify facebook of its content.
8. Threaten to sue if they hire someone less qualifified to do the job.
9. Quote your income expectations, 50% above the market level.
10.
11. Profit!
Fuck them and their mentalitiy. AND let them know.
Pretty much everything but food and shelter is not absolutely necessary. Slashdot is equally unnecessary, so why would you post here if you believe what you say?
~S
Powerful powerful reasoning there.
Please tell me more.
Kimberly Hester does not have clean hands. Posting an offensive picture of a co-worker with pants around ankles could be considered sexual harassment.
This is not harmless fun "A parent and Facebook friend of Hester’s saw the photo and complained to the school."
What teachers and employees do reflects upon the schools.
Teachers and school employees have a higher standard of care especially when posting comments about other employees.
Schools can and have been sued for failure to act in cases of sexual harassment. The school district had reasonable suspicion.
Although this is probably a good practice, it is irrelevant to the story. It shouldn't matter if she keeps her personal and work contacts separate. The heart of the matter is that this is 'her' Facebook page. It is private, and none of her employers business as to what she posts there. If a judge orders her to reveal her password, that's a different matter, but her employer has no legal grounds to order and expect obedience for such regardless of who she friends, what combination she friends them with, or what content she posts.
Without Facebook, I'd have to e-mail all my female friends indivisually and ASK them for photos of them making peace signs and duck faces.
Like it or not, FB is inarguably much more convenient for that sort of thing!
"Slow down, Cowboy! It has been 3 years, 7 months and 26 days since you last successfully posted a comment."
This will prove VERY interesting in states that have "At Will" employment. In those states, an employer can fire you or you can leave...for no specific reason.
However, this is an invasion of privacy and also is requiring the employee to violate another contract via coercion (penalty is the loss of their job if they don't).
Some may say that if they don't have anything to hide, what's the big deal? Big deal is that should not be a reason to give up your privacy. Period.
If someone tried to force me to give up my privacy, I would expect them to sign a document stating their reason for having done so and what the penalties are for non-compliance. Then, I would take that immediately to a lawyer for litigation. I will not work for anyone this draconian. Already turned down a job because they wanted me to disclose more of my IP without being willing to sign an NDA/Non-Compete for that information. This is none of their business. Period.
I am not sure which political party is pushing this sort of access greater - Democrat or Republican - you hear how the Democrats are pushing us towards martial law. Yet, the restrictions and powers of individuals really started eroding following 9/11 under Republican rule. I am guessing (perhaps, incorrectly), on this being a Republican issue. If they win this time around, expect more "corporate" rights (they already have been ruled "individuals" by the Supreme Court) and fewer personal freedoms and protections for yourself - the "individual" with the deeper pockets will win - just as they always have.
TFS gets it wrong and TFA never clarifies.
The administrator asked to view the Facebook account - no request was made for her password. Whether or not this is OK remains up for debate, but having the facts is always preferable...
Just because you couldn't get anyone to "friend" you is no reason to be so bitter...
School Administrator responsible, Robert Colby: rcolby@lewiscassisd.org
RTW only exists to kill unions, not provide choice to join one. Unless there is a law that prohibits indirect/contingent labor as any condition or form of employment, which is the employers' version of the labor union, RTW makes things worse. The only way you can get a population to accept it, is to use regional sensitivities to make it acceptable to "know your place" and not get too "uppity".
Twitter supports and protects racists - by smearing their critics with the "Hate Speech" label.
...so is a Facebook account now a condition for employment?
The only thing more annoying than /. April Fool's articles is people complaining about them. Especially on real stories...
I take an even better step. My Facebook password is null. No account to start with....
Since her employer is a governmental body, doesn't this violate her rights under the 4th amendment to be secure in her private papers, and the 5th amendment in that she can not be forced to incriminate herself by allowing them access to her account?
Being fired for not giving up your password is the same thing as being fired for not voluntarily submitting to a whole house search but waiting instead for a search warrant. The district will lose big time on this. Giving up your password violates Facebook policy. I also wonder if the school district itself has a policy for protecting their own district-issued passwords. If so and if it is equally as strong or stronger than Facebook's, they're in a boatload of hurt.
She was reported by a parent of a student. How did that parent see the post if not a friend? Lots of teachers friend students and parents. I think that is dangerous, and FaceBook is dangerous enough.
Yes and no. Mostly no.
Facebook want you to open your soul to their system - to make connections and fan out to every friend you have. Until there are 7 billion people putting all of their most intimate secrets on FB, they will have growth potential.
It's true they sell data, but primarily they sell advertising - "anonymous" advertising so that you don't feel like you're being watched. They really don't give a shit how you are and what you do, as long as it can be categorized and sold to people who want to sell their products to people like you. Note I did not say "you" but "people like you."
Personal identification is exactly what FB is worried about when it comes to advertisers, because it scares off the users (aka their product). That's good for users, too.
Is it just my observation, or are there way too many stupid people in the world?
From the page you pasted: "In a letter to Hester from the Lewis Cass ISD Special Education Director, he wrote "â¦in the absence of you voluntarily granting Lewis Cass ISD administration access to you[r] Facebook page, we will assume the worst and act accordingly.""
How obvious does it have to be?
Now I see even less reason :)
"The likes of Facebook and WhatsApp are free to those whose privacy is of zero value."
is there a paypal (sigh; yeah, I hate PP but its what is used, these days) for donations?
this is something we all need to get behind and ensure that the school gets a VERY bloody punch in the face (figuratively) from their bad behavior.
the only way a corp will ever learn is if they are punished and punished HARD. almost put-them-out-of-business hard. I don't care if its a school; a lesson (lol) needs to be taught here.
I'll donate. but I don't see an addr for that; is there one?
and yes, I realize the lawyers will make out the best on this; but I still want a lesson to be taught to asshole companies and organizations who think they have free reign over workers' privacy.
--
"It is now safe to switch off your computer."
Assuming they are truly asking her for her password, then, like most organizations they don't seem to follow their own policies.
http://www.lewiscassisd.org/tech/Tech%20plan%2009-12%20Final%20Copy.pdf
From page 14: "D. Respect the integrity of passwords and/ authentication pass phrases. The exchanging of passwords or seeking the
password of others is explicitly prohibited, unless authorized by the other user(s)."
and Page 17: "B. Staff members may only access the Internet by using their assigned Internet/E-mail account. Use of another person's
account/address/password is prohibited. Staff members may not allow other users to utilize their passwords.
C. Staff members may not intentionally seek information on, obtain copies of, or modify files, data or passwords belonging
to other users, or misrepresent other users on the network."
I would imagine one of the forms she has to sign states that a violation of the policy is grounds for termination, so by their own polices they could fire her is she did share her Facebook password with them.
A relationship between two adults is relevant to a post about a teacher of children how?
Before you turn red in the face, and your blood pressure raises to unsafe levels, please take note of the date of the article.
This is Slashdot...there has not been a true news story on April 1st for over a decade! (and some will claim it is not limited to just April Fools' day!!)
I've been seeing stories like this a lot lately. Of course, like most people, my immediate reaction is that this is ridiculous. Should employers be able to access your email accounts as well? How about your Amazon or eBay purchase histories?
But, aren't there other ways around this? If your Facebook is sufficiently secured, how would an employer even know you use Facebook unless you are honest/foolish enough to tell them you use it? If your employer can't just randomly look you up on Facebook, then they don't know you're using it.
I'm also tempted to suggest simply deleting your Facebook - better to let it burn rather than fall into "enemy" hands, if you will. But, for people who use it as a primary means of communication that's probably not an option.
If I am asked that question, I'd say the following:
While I am aware of your concerns with my personal conduct, giving my credentials would signify a breach of trust. If I were to do the same in the workplace, it would add liability and likely result in my termination. Is there another way that I can supply this kind of information, such as additional references to my personal character, while retaining the trust that I have built with people that I know personally and professionally?
This might be a bit long(and can be shortened a bit), but it would properly answer both the shoulder surfing and password requests in a courteous manner.
Twitter supports and protects racists - by smearing their critics with the "Hate Speech" label.
Trolling troll is trolling. Move along.
Why is it always schools where you see some seriously boneheaded management decisions made?
Don't answer, I already know; Because school administration attracts the kind of person that isn't employable elsewhere. The "waste" of society as it were. What that says about US, willing to put that type of person in charge of our kids, I don't even want to think about.
Mod me down with all of your hatred and your journey towards the dark side will be complete!
And I, as a father, would reject any attempts by a teacher to develop a 'social' network of any kind that I did not say OK to, and I'm not going to (well, wouldn't have).
The reason is that schooling is not part and parcel to every moment of a child's life. Just as with work, there needs to be down time. It's not the teacher's job to be my kid's "pal".
Kids are greatly influenced by the ideas of their "pals". I wanted my kid school aged kid influenced by her peers, not an adult other than me and my friends. Then as now, adults just couldn't keep politics out of other people's faces.
Well, apparently, the populace doesn't care for IT's rules and policies until they've been cited with a 'red cup' on one of their own accounts. Then they hide behind IT.
But yes, I see a power play going on here between IT and HR, and it's going to get ugly.
I am John Hurt.
I'm intrigued by the ... stupidity ? .. of this aide, who'd never *ever* consider talking about, or sharing a physical photo of a friend with their pants around their ankles with someone she knew to be a parent, and laughing about it with that parent. Yet that's what she did implicitly by having both the parent and her friend 'mixed.'
While this is clearly an over-reach by the school system, and the aide ought to prevail, the bigger picture issue is that the naieve aide thought nothing of doing via social media what they'd never do F2F.
While google+ seems to be losing against FB, they at least attempted to understand that we have multiple, continuously changing, overlapping circles of human interaction that we all move in.
What happens if one doesn't have a FB account? Didn't we care about the children before FB, what did schools do to vet teachers? Seems they want FB account access to make things easier but where does it stop and why isn't a search warrant needed?
And what exactly do you think the reaction would be from the local school HR pulling down more dossiers on the local populace than the CIA?
But for the life of me, I can't believe HR would actually jump on the opportunity to grab someone's password. It sets up a liability problem if anything, and I mean anything, is ever modified / posted on that account that the owner disclaims as being one of his / her action; the district will, of course, be out millions (emotional distress being expensive). Frankly, I'm surprised legal didn't put a knife into the practice before it was started, but I suppose you get what you pay for...
I am John Hurt.
First of all change you name so it's not even close to your name or nick name and then you officially no longer have facebook! so if they ask for the password you can tell them, "Oh I don't have an account, sorry!", also make sure to change your display picture to someone other then you.
There are two reasons to become a teacher
(1) You love to teach and work with youth. That's the good reason to become a teacher, because you'll be a good one as a result. I don't want anyone to take this as a slam, but you really don't have to be great in your field if you have drive and enthusiasm. Inspiration of students will cause them to lear so much more then having the smartest person in the world lecture monotonously every day. You'll get paid a good hourly rate with full benefits, but you'll work lots of uncompensated overtime. You'll get a nice break around Christmas and in the summer (or you could say you'll be forced to take leave without pay over Christmas and the summer). It will be like most white collar/professional jobs, except the pay is a little lower, the job security and benefits a little better, and you'll be off of work the same time the kids are. That last one can be good or bad, depending on your family situation.
(2) You want a short work day with good benefits and lots of time off to sit by the pool or go on vacation in the summer. These are the teachers for whom it's just a job. We all know some of them - they arrive 5 minutes before class, run you over if you're standing in the door as the buses pull away, try and put as many multiple choice or computer graded tests in the curriculum as possible, and rarely do projects. You will never see them at a PTA/PTO function. There is a large fraction of the workforce who is like this, and they give the teachers in part (1), above, a bad name.
Is it just my observation, or are there way too many stupid people in the world?
Did you look at the picture?? I'm thinking you have not. Watch this video to see the picture:
http://www.southbendtribune.com/news/wsbt-teachers-aide-in-legal-battle-after-refusing-to-let-school-district-access-her-facebook-page-20120328,0,6869936.story
It is a picture of shoes and a pair of pants with some skin from her calves showing - that's all. It is NOT a picture of her co-worker - it is a picture of herself. No one was exposing anything. I guess the inference is that she's sitting on the toilet.
So - let's change the scenario slightly. Let's say she lost some weight and she proudly posts a picture of herself, fully clothed, but the outfit is tight enough to show she is obviously much thinner. Is that offensive? Inappropriate? Exhibitionist? What if she posts (again fully clothed) before and after pics from a boob job?
But set all that aside - judges make calls every day on harassment & inappropriate behavior - and they can do the same thing here. The bigger issues are that the employer wants her to give up a personal password for an "investigation", and that not complying meant she was fired. So - if someone reports that she has a porn magazine at her home, does that mean the school will demand to enter her home? This whole thing stinks. The employer is a jackass. The "friend" who reported her is a jackass. Kimberly is a typical clueless facebook user that doesn't understand that you need to separate real friends from people who shouldn't know what you post to your real friends.
Television, movies, magazines and online media continually gets more and more raunchy - yet our workplaces become more and more rigid and unrealistic. Our society is doomed.
Depending on her settings, "Friends of Friends" might have been able to see her post.
Cassopolis appears to be a small town. She is probably *actually* friends with the parents and may have been before their children even went to school. At the very least, they probably all know each other outside of the school. Even in the large metro area I grew up in I had two elementary school teachers who each were friends with one of my grandmothers before I ever attended school (my grandmother's lived 20 miles away from us in opposite directions). They didn't stop being friends when I moved into their classrooms.
What rule? Everywhere I've ever worked the rule is you don't give out the passwords to *their* network. They don't care whether you give out the password to your Netflix account.
What's your point? That's not what happened to her. A *parent* of a child at the school was a friend of hers. That non-employed-by-school parent made the complaint. Are you suggesting she was negligent because she didn't poll everyone and unfriend those with children at the school?
Someone you have as a friend on FB could have a connection to your employer that you are unaware of.
Employers should be VERY, VERY careful about how they treat employee's Facebook accounts. An employee's facebook account is likely to have information on the employee's Health Family History Sexuality Marriage Status Religion National Origin Age All of the above could be found on an average facebook account and can be used against an employer in a lawsuit claiming termination based on discrimination. It's really the best idea for employers to make it a clear policy that they DO NOT want to see any of their employees facebook information. If anything, employers should ban their employees from HAVING facebook pages, but that's not likely to make employees very happy.
I've given up on Slashdot's comment scores.
What if this woman never had a facebook account to begin with? Would she have been fired for refusing to provide a facebook password, even if she never had one to provide?
It's the default reaction of most people to submit to unjust authority that is the reason why I feel we (Americans) are all doomed and will take the rest of the world with us. And, now, unlike say hundreds or even tens of years ago, there is nowhere to escape to. We are not a nation of laws; we're a nation of men (increasingly controlled by women) and since the law says what they say it says (either explicitly or through 'interpretation'') no amount of advocating the founding principles will save this nation. It was a great experiment while it lasted but had one fatal flaw: people.
"A parent and Facebook friend of Hester's"
Article does not say if the student was one of hers or not.
Comment removed based on user account deletion
You need to get active and start trying to get facebook to put some money into lobbying for a federal law that makes it illegal for companies to ask for this kind of personal information.
Make Facebook aware that it is in their best interest to stop this type of BS.
The Kruger Dunning explains most post on
Facebook and privacy should not be used in the same sentence. Anybody who claims that their facebook posts are private and deserve protection may be Mark Z's best friend but they don't live in real-ville.
So the superintendent wants her to violate one rule (and risk losing her account) just to see if she is violating another rule. So we must assume this superintendent believes rule violations are unimportant.
I'm not surprised, though. Schools systems are flooded in their management layer with lots of failed politicians that couldn't make it in the real world of manipulating adults, and so have to find a place where there are weaker people to manipulate (e.g. children). That's why we see so many jerks running school systems. In this case, one made the mistake of taking on an adult.
now we need to go OSS in diesel cars
I'm reminded of the teachers that were raising holy heck because one state wanted to prevent teachers from knowingly friending students in the schools they teach in, with the reason being there was no way for the district to review the interactions between their teachers and students... As if there is a crying need for a teacher to let her students in on her flirting with a coworker (the photo that provoked the parent to complain)...
Ken
First off, as a general rule, I don't approve of employers asking to log on to your Facebook account to poke around.
That said, this story provides yet another example of the maxim: "if you wouldn't want to see it on the front page of the local newspaper, don't put it on-line." My employer provides this practical advice to the staff every year.
Luke, help me take this mask off
which is why many people have two Facebook pages; a personal one and a professional one.
From your own given link: "in the absence of you voluntarily granting Lewis Cass ISD administration access to you[r] Facebook page, we will assume the worst and act accordingly.".
Pop Quiz:
Mrs. Krabappel, your 10 year old daughter's 5th grade English teacher, is accused by a colleague of belonging to a religious cult which advocates forcible "sex training," i.e. rape, of girls as soon as they reach puberty, typically between ages 10 and 12. When confronted by principal Skinner, she responds: "What I do or don't do on my private time is none of my employer's business. I refuse to tell you whether I belong to the cult or whether I have ever attended a sex training."
Should principal Skinner respond:
A. Hey, no problem. Just don't bring it to school.
B. For the kids' safety, we presume your refusal to cooperate with the investigation hides the worst plausible outcome. Such views on child sexuality are incompatible with a position of power over children. You're fired.
Hester allegedly posted some pictures on Facebook which raised doubt about whether she should hold a position of power over children. Perhaps they shouldn't have; the pictures described sounded pretty mild to me. Nevertheless, doubts were raised. She then refused to cooperate with the investigation.
When you hold a position of trust, especially over children, what you do in the rest of your life matters. And that's completely reasonable.
Moderating "-1, Disagree" is simple censorship. Have the guts to post your opinion.
The Facebook Facebook terms of use, section 4.8) says
* (According to an earlier comment, that is not true, the administration asked only to view her pages.)
That's the next step. If your FB "friends" are business compatible, next they need to look in your current corporate "sent" folder to verify you can write up to a certain corporate standard.
"Science flies us to the moon. Religion flies us into buildings." - Victor Stenger
It sounds like nothing but trouble!
I killed da wabbit -Elmer Fudd
I am totally stunned by the fact that it is possible at all for employers do this in the US.
If it happened here in Germany, everyone would be outraged, and the company would be knee-deep in trouble. It would be in the news front pages and on prime-time TV. The employer's reputation would be damaged for a long time. IANAL but I am sure this level of threatening someone's privacy is a criminal offense here.
Say out loud: I'm an Aspie and I'm somewhat proud, I guess. Uh. Can I write an email in all caps instead? Hm...
From your own given link: "in the absence of you voluntarily granting Lewis Cass ISD administration access to you[r] Facebook page, we will assume the worst and act accordingly.".
You're misreading. It doesn't say "administrative", it says "administration" -- which strongly implies that it's referring to a group of people, eg "[the] Lewis Cass ISD administration" who wants "access to you[r] Facebook page".
The notion that teacher somehow reflects upon the school is absurd. If we allow that kind of reasoning think of what would flow from it. The bank fires tellers for being gay. After all the tellers personal life reflects upon the bank and some customers are offended by gays existing in business. Or John must be fired as an emergency room employee because he races motorcycles on his day off and racing motorcycles is not good social policy and it reflects upon the hospital. Or a cop can not be a swinger because sexually liberal people are a bad reflection on the police department. It is endless. It is a witch hunt and worse yet in court that school district will bleed tax dollars. If I were on a jury this teacher would walk away with 100 million bucks in the wink of an eye.
Just imagine your supervisor does not believe you have no facebook account because "Everyone has a facebook account" and fires you for refusing to give a password that does not exist. There is no way for you to prove you do not have one.
Just don't have a facebook account.
I don't and never will.
If I was ever to be asked about my social network accounts I will say with complete honesty that I don't have any.
I prefer more traditional methods of communication such as speaking to them on the dog and bone.
The Lewis Cass Intermediate School District (ISD) is incorporated in the state of Michigan. ISDs function as regional service centers to provide special education, instructional services, and career technical education coordination for local school districts.
Lewis Cass ISD currently employs more than 175 persons. Its geographic coverage encompasses approximately 487 square miles and includes most of Cass County and small portions of Berrien, St. Joseph and Van Buren counties in lower southwest Michigan. Four local school districts: Cassopolis, Dowagiac, Edwardsburg, and Marcellus, as well as the county's private and parochial schools depend on the Lewis Cass ISD for the provision and coordination of general and specialized services.
Almost 8,000 students, enrolled in pre-kindergarten through 12th grades, represent the primary consumers that the ISD incorporates into its strategic
Apocalypse Cancelled, Sorry, No Ticket Refunds
is that a person's opinion is somehow relevant to how they perform professionally. Just disagreeing with your employer is never just cause for firing the employee - the alternative is a cadre of 'yesmen' who cause stagnation through lack of new perspective and ideas. An employer who refuses to accept any kind of dissent is one who dooms his organization to mediocrity.
Pavlov wouldn't be so famous if he'd used a can opener instead of a bell.
When asked, I simply play dumb and claim I don't have an account. Frequently they find my account (which doesn't have my image or location) based on my name - I simply state "Oh, look at that! There's someone else in the world with my name." I seriously question the mental competence of anyone who hands over their password.
I might have a facebook account on which I might have posted something about you.
"we will assume the worst and act accordingly."
So what will you do now?
Privacy is terrorism.
A) write it on the requested form/paper, sign, date it, use mobile phone to change password before handing form/paper over to 'em. "Well, that's what it was when I put it on that form/paper" ... "Not my fault if you can't keep up with me - I change my passwords frequently, including whenever I suspect they might possibly have been compromised or be at risk." For extra fun, make sure it's quite unique and non-trivial, and rather sloppily written on the form, e.g. something roughly like: -_C2A!ZWQ;`gSsDdy>!GkkPXt'^g-7ghZ){cLQ4U'_p.xYT5"3)qzTX,MKrC+JNlW(%I~D(ulD3;c:1f
B) respond with: cannot do, violates Facebook's legal terms - don't like that, take it up with Facebook
C) Sure, no problem with fairness and tit-for-tat. Just give me they keys and access to all your personnel files and corporate/company/business/entity email accounts and Facebook account(s), let me check out and do a background check, etc. on you and your personnel, make sure I might actually want to work for you, and then I'll let you access my Facebook account.
D) tell 'em to go get a life.
E) delete Facebook account, indicate N/A.
I'm reminded of the teachers that were raising holy heck because one state wanted to prevent teachers from knowingly friending students in the schools they teach in, with the reason being there was no way for the district to review the interactions between their teachers and students... As if there is a crying need for a teacher to let her students in on her flirting with a coworker (the photo that provoked the parent to complain)...
Another good reason to choose your "friends" carefully
Where does it end? Good thing I don't have facebook, mainly because Facebook staff don't need your password to look through your shit. I'm not going to voluntarily imprison myself in some panopticon techno-gulag.
A friend of mine is worried that he may have this experience when he interviews for a teaching position next week. He was of the opinion that should it come up he was fine with blowing the rest of the interview. To that end we decided to cook up a dummy Facebook which contains nothing but a picture of the Constitution, a link to the First Amendment Center, and the question "Was it worth it?" The password to account is printed over several sheets of paper in 8pt Calibri, and is approximately 10,000 characters of jibberish. At the top of the first page are the words "Good Luck..."
So I guess this is a verbose way of asking if Facebook has a character limit on their passwords?
Pretty much everything but food and shelter is not absolutely necessary. Slashdot is equally unnecessary, so why would you post here if you believe what you say?
~S
So true. Electricity is a plus, but not really necessary.
What is it with you idiots who cannot grasp how unnecessary Facebook is ?
Are you all sheep ?
What is with you idiots who think this issue is about Facebook?
Without giving up the password, if the account was not accessed, then there wouldn't be as strong grounds to sue...
Nothing. Ever.
What union shops in non-"right-to-work" states have done is to negotiate with the owner of the business, that everyone who works there pays the union dues and enjoys the union protections (and they are many, even if you claim you never experienced a benefit from them), whether they're in the union or whether they opt out.
Got that? You actually benefitted from union protections even though you didn't join the union.
As for your specious claim that cost of living is significantly higher in non-"right-to-work" states, it's funny, I went to double-check that claim, and I couldn't actually find any authoritative sources that support it.
I did find a whole bunch of far-right "think tanks" that support your claims. Nothing but bought-and-sold faux science. Hey, if that's what you believe in, go for it. In the world of fact, however, it seems like your claim doesn't actually mesh with reality.
It's true they sell data, but primarily they sell advertising - "anonymous" advertising so that you don't feel like you're being watched. They really don't give a shit how you are and what you do, as long as it can be categorized and sold to people who want to sell their products to people like you. Note I did not say "you" but "people like you."
Personal identification is exactly what FB is worried about when it comes to advertisers, because it scares off the users (aka their product). That's good for users, too.
An interesting theory, based on what?
You want my password? Ok, it is kind of long, here it is. Be sure to type it exactly!
"I,LewisCassRepresentativeDoHerebyConfessThatI amInfringingPrivacyRightsAndDoPromiseToPayFullDamagesForThis."
Let me know when you have typed that in!
Beuaraucratic greed meets Beuaraucratic fear.
I am shocked at the number of employers who think they can get into people's private and personal lives and trespass on people's online accounts. I'm not even sure it's legal.
But I will say for the record, not having a damn facebook account sure seems to solve a lot of problems.
I know XKCD is the standard comic-of-choice for Slashdot posts, but this Joy of Tech comic seems apropos:
http://www.geekculture.com/joyoftech/joyarchives/1669.html
My sci-fi novel, Ghost Thief, is now available from Amazon.com.
Could somebody enlighten me as to what, exactly the employer did that was actually wrong?
I mean, I thought that the only things that you weren't allowed to fire an employee over are race, gender, age, sexual orientation, or religion. I don't think that not surrendering your facebook password fits into any of those.
So isn't this sort of what you can reasonably expect to happen when you have at-will employment?
File under 'M' for 'Manic ranting'
The schools are using FB as the I on the individual, so they can turn FB into FBI. ...we *saw* what you did last summer.... But does giving an account password *guarantee* a job, and what about the loss of privacy because the password was disclosed? Where is the compensation? How does the individual get their privacy back? How do they get their facebook account back without every man + dog over at the school (or wherever) decide over a boilermaker to pass it on to every Tom Dick and Harry?
If you don't have 5000 friends, it is easier to notice these connections...
Soon this will become so common that you would be out of your mind to use Facebook at all.
You seem to be under the impression that Facebook is an all or nothing system, that somehow friends are all magically part of your intimate social life.
Here's a thought, learn to actually use Facebook before passing off blanket comments. My workmates are on my Facebook. My boss is on my Facebook. They probably see about 1/10th of the content. They see WHAT I ALLOW THEM TO.
Just because you throw a sicky doesn't mean you need to tell them all that you were off getting smashed at some pub instead.
One can have as many FB accounts as possible, so what's the problem? just create an FB account for using it with employers, throw in some fake content non representative of you but enough to make the empoyers like you and voila, problem solved.
Let him know what you think of his actions:
rcolby@lewiscassisd.org
If this facebook account was schoolname@facebook.com and she was taking care of it, then yes, give the passwords over, but if it is a personal site, then no, it is private, and she did the right thing.
Still irrelevant. If a parent reported the TA, then the parent should provide the screen shot. It is poor thinking to believe that this is just cause for demanding the Facebook password. If said parent complained that the TA had that picture in a photo album in her home and showed it to guests, does the school district have a right to demand the keys to the TA's private residence to search for said photo album?
Pretty much everything but food and shelter is not absolutely necessary. Slashdot is equally unnecessary, so why would you post here if you believe what you say?
~S
So true. Electricity is a plus, but not really necessary.
It is a necessity on the gross scale. Our population is far past the point where we can keep it alive on the ox and plow level of technology.
Tell them you'd happily provide it but they should know it is also the same credentials for your online banking, gmail, credit cards, etc and by giving them that info they may be liable if you are a victim of identity theft in the future.
Ninjas don't carry tic tacs
those who are willing to give up their rights for the illusion of security deserve neither
-a lil modded of course but she stands her ground - what she does unless its something like trolling for kids to bang
with prudent evidence gives the school district as an entity itself the right to invade her personal life
if they feel shes actually out kidhunting get the police and the DA on it as they're the proper authorities (marginally) and even they cannot demand her password - they can however browse the public feed and consult with her students outside of class to inquire if shes been inappropiate with them
which i would gauge as doubtful
and now shes got a nice fat paycheck for someone's studpidity and by means of the taxpayers ! woooottttt
You can add this one to the short but growing list of employers demanding access to Facebook accounts.
Not to mention the long and still-growing list of reasons not to have a Facebook account.
https://www.eff.org/https-everywhere
What is wrong with our country?
You give in or you go to jail, so says SF.
Learn to love Alaska
... by denying anonimity and pseudonyms that are no automatically identifiable with your account by third partoes.
IANAL but write like a drunk one.