Facebook warns employers not to demand passwords

Boston.com ^ | March 23, 2012 | AP

[GOPsterinMA]

NEW YORK—Facebook is warning employers not to demand the passwords of job applicants, saying that it's an invasion of privacy that opens companies to legal liabilities.

The social networking company is also threatening legal action.

[zeestephen]

I have not followed this story closely.

Has any news source actually named and verified specific companies that demanded passwords?

This sounds bogus to me.

But I am glad to read the facts if they are available.

[lwoodham]

I have a facebook account that I would gladly show to anyone. It is clean and nothing offense is on it. It is a tribute to my World of Warcraft guild and presents my digital artwork. On the other hand if an employer demanded that I show it, I would tell them to bite me. There is no need for paranoia over this unless your facebook page is filled with vile lol.

[Night Hides Not]

It must be cold and dark in that cave you live in...

I don't have an account with any of those social sites, either, and my cave is toasty and well-lit. lol

[GOPsterinMA]

Not bogus, very real.

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2861367/posts

[GOPsterinMA]

Thank you carriage_hill!

[GOPsterinMA]

“There is no need for paranoia over this unless your facebook page is filled with vile lol.”

True, but it presents a slippery slope of what type of information people think their entitled to. And that’s what needs to be stopped.

[GonzoGOP]

I said on that earlier post that any company that did this would eventually end up on the wrong end of a lawsuit. In the article it pointed out all the legal agreements, laws and contracts they were breaking. One extremely belligerent Freeper said employers could do whatever they wanted. Now it is clear they can't.

The HR departments of prospective employers assumed they could bully job applicants, and get away with it, because in a bad economy they have all the power. What they failed to take into account was that their actions were also crossing legal swords with another big company. Facebook has some good lawyers, and even they don't compare to one of the lawsuit for profit groups like ACLU.

Once this practice became public knowledge it was only a matter of time before the gang in HR learned which side of the power game they were actually on. The corporate office may throw a bottom level employee to the dogs rather than take on HR. But they will throw HR to the wolves rather than face problems from Legal.

[Buckeye McFrog]

Obama’s Labor Dept. is gonna make any employers who did this rue the day.

Unions have figured out that Facebook is a dandy way to organize behind the boss’ back. And their friends in the Obama administration are not gonna let employers get in the way of that.

[alexander_busek]

Privacy is tantparamount to me.

Regards,

[Carriage Hill]

Right. Do a C:/ search for “cookies” and run Malwarebytes Free and see what garbage comes-up. I’ve cleaned/sanitized a lot of others’ machines from all that social network crap which is data-mining/spying/transmitting info, unbeknownst to them. I did warn them well in advance, but they didn’t listen. Remedial action is always more difficult once the machine is compromised, despite Norton/McAfee etc.

[Carriage Hill]

“...my cave is toasty and well-lit.”

Mine is that, and s-a-f-e & s-e-c-u-r-e, too, NHN.

[xtinct]

due to careful planning ... a prospective employer can’t find me or any of my family members on the Internet...
and I’ve been on the Internet since 1993.

[ctdonath2]

“People have no idea of what they’re allowing to happen to themselves and their machines, as well as their/their families’ future, by using that “social-crutch” junk.”

That post is dripping with irony. Kinda like decrying the evils of alcohol while in a bar, then ordering another shot.

[bgill]

Why anyone feels the need to telegraph their lives across the internet for any and all to see is beyond this non-FB user.

[rarestia]

Ugh! Thank you, Alex. Just spent an hour in a job interview with a manager who butchered the language. Shame on me!

[Carriage Hill]

Good analogy, c. I don’t use either social networks or alcohol.

[King Moonracer]

The weaker the economy, the more power the cronie capitalists have.
The door on the iron cage of modernity is closing fast.

People of the same trade seldom meet together, even for merriment and diversion, but the conversation ends in a conspiracy against the public, or in some contrivance to raise prices. Adam Smith.

It also can be applied when extracting more from employees than originally bargained for now that the economy is worse.

[GOPsterinMA]

Nice!

[GOPsterinMA]

It's gay if you ask me.

“I blew my nose, ewwww!”

“Hmmm...should have have 1 sugar or 2 in my coffee?”

WHO GIVES A SH*T?!?!?!

[ctdonath2]

“I don’t use social networks”

Uh...what do you think FR is?