Posted on 02/21/2011 3:50:37 PM PST by FromLori
The American Civil Liberties Union has taken up the cause of a Maryland man who was forced to cough up his Facebook password during a job interview with the Department of Corrections in that state.
According to an ACLU letter sent to the Maryland Department of Corrections, the organization requires that new applicants and those applying for recertifications give the government "their social media account usernames and personal passwords for use in employee background checks."
The ACLU calls this policy "a frightening and illegal invasion of privacy" and I can't say that I disagree. Keep in mind that this isn't looking at what you've posted to a public Twitter account; the government agency here could look through private Facebook messages, which seems a lot like reading through your mail, paper or digital.
While it's not surprising that some employers might want to snoop in your social media life, it strikes me as a remarkable misapprehension of what Facebook is to think that it should be wholly open for background investigations. Legally, things are probably more complex, but it seems commonsensical that carte blanche access to your communications should be off-limits.
(Excerpt) Read more at theatlantic.com ...
With the exception of mass murders and meth heads, this is true.
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User name and password? Not a chance. I'll give them access to my account as a friend for a day, for a security check, then that's it.
One can set their Facebook privacy so they don’t show up on searches, for now anyway.
Congradulations, you've just disqualified Sarah Palin.
“FR handles all my online needs.”
OK, so you get a new job that starts contingent on security and background tests.
When they ask if you have accounts on Google, Yahoo, Facebook, Xanga, Orcut, Tumblr, Flikr, or any news discussion boards, do you lie and risk your job down the road, or tell the truth and change your pw when you get back to your android?
Based on what I see from my adult offspring and their associates, social networking is how things are done these days.
Any candidate expecting to be successful without it is writing off a significant portion of the electorate.
“Just create a “work” facebook account that is clean and squeeky.”
Exactly. That’s why my kids all do. You create an account with your real name, load it up with some innocent stuff, and then create a second account, ideally with a fake name (that’s what I had them do), which they can give out to their friends. Employers won’t have a prayer at tracking down my kids real Facebook page unless they can figure out who his friends are.
“Since there is no such thing as a right to a job, then the employer is free to ask, and the employee/candidate is free to say “no” and look for a different job.”
You do have a point. And a person saying no still may get the job, if the rest of his story is good.
My only problem is losing control of the account. Once someone has the password, they can start messing with the account.
So don’ tput a profile pic up. Or put up someone else’s.
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Login? No. ID? Sure.
The thing about Facebook is that it is pretty much useless if you don't use your real name.
True ... but we have nothing to hide here, we are a polite and civil forum.
Of course, if you do have a Facebook account and your employer later discovers it, you'd be in a position to get fired for lying on your application.
The best idea is that if you are job hunting, simply delete your FB account. You can always reopen it later.
“The thing about Facebook is that it is pretty much useless if you don’t use your real name.”
Nope, if you only friend people you know in meatworld, you’ll know everyone’s fake names.
And they’ll laugh at your choice of profile picture.
Oh your high school classmates won’t be able to find you. And there are other plusses too!
Moi aussi.
ML/NJ
Sure .... it’s Super secure.
During a recent password audit, it was found that I was using the following password:
“MickeyMinniePlutoHueyLouieDeweyDonaldGoofySacramento”
When asked why I had such a long password, I said
I was told that it had to be at least 8 characters
long and include at least one capital.
The ACLU does get it right from time to time. Not as much as they get it wrong, IMHO, but credit is quite due where it is deserved.
Sorry.... I don’t have a FB account.
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