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 ...
The GOP got it's a** handed to it in 2008 when Insane McCain said he didn't know how to send an e-mail. The Leftists are using social networking media to advance their agenda, and were whipping our butts good until our side started pulling its heads out of the Stone Age, and started using FB, Twitter, etc. to fight back.
Because our enemies are using it, we have to use it. Get out of the Stone Age and face reality...FB is here to stay, just as cars, planes, microwaves, and cellphones are here to stay.
Scouts Out! Cavalry Ho!
Or ask yourself if you really want to work for a company/agency that is so intrusive that you have to give up your privacy.
Scouts Out! Cavalry Ho!
Sadly, beggars can't be choosers these days and employers know this. If you want a paycheck, you gotta stand in line with a whole bunch of people who would gladly bend over and spill their FB passwords while saying "thank you for giving me a chance!"
(shrug) I know nothing about Facebook and have zero interest. In fact, I think it’s crazy. If I was doing the hiring, an applicant having a Facebook account in the first place would give me pause.
I wonder if they’d figure out I’m not 106 years old...
“If I was doing the hiring, an applicant having a Facebook account in the first place would give me pause.”
Welcome to 1990.
Just don’t have Facebook or Twitter accounts.
They want the twits. They want the people who will submit. They do not want competent people.
Yes, an employer should be able to ask for this information. An employee should have nothing to hide from his boss and there should be no secrets kept from the boss.
Why do so many people on here think having a Free Republic account is different from having a Facebook or Twitter account? If you're a member of an online forum and post messages, they want to know your user name and login. There's no exemption for Free Republic, or for that matter, for DU.
You have a Free Republic account. They want that, too.
You’re being facetious, right?
How on earth would being registered at Free Republic ever become known to a prospective employer?
Facebook has at least 90,000,000 clients, maybe they are over a hundred million by now. Add in Myspace, Livejournal, Tumblr and the rest and you will find yourself refusing to hire 200,000,000 people.
I use FB for politics local and national. Twitter, for the same reason. I am a b/tard on 4chan, for political idea-spreading as well. Our enemies already have an infrastructure online and in the social nets they use for rapid communications and fund raising. If we ignore it we’ll always be wondering what happened.
I have an email account I use to sign up for all the left politicians and DSUSA, CPUSA, and the like to keep up with their online propaganda. If you wish to see what’s coming up, it helps a lot.
“How on earth would being registered at Free Republic ever become known to a prospective employer?”
If you say you don’t in writing on an application and they find out later, lets say they look at your internet use, or they hear you mention “well, I posted that on FR”, you can get canned for lying on your application.
If you have a TS clearance and they ask, you say no, then later you get that as a polygraph question, you are toast.
Basically if you lie you might get caught lying.
Monthly donor? If somehow they audit your credit card bill (happens for some clearances and the thread article is for the Corrections Department) you’ll get caught.
After this, they do a lie detector test. If your lie detector test comes back that you've been deceptive in answering questions on your application, they will dismiss you from the hiring process. You're living in the old world. If you apply with a governmental agency now, you're a suspect. They want your bank account numbers, your investment portfolio, all groups to which you belong, and dozens of other pieces of information. According to EEOC, they're not supposed to ask about your family, but I know of many agencies that ask if you are divorced, and if you are divorced, they want the contact information for your ex-spouse. If you decline to answer any questions, you are removed from consideration, and if you come back as being deceptive on the lie detector test, you are also dismissed from consideration.
This is why I am self-employed.
I work for me, not for somebody else.
Yeah, sorta, I guess. I suppose they should be allowed to ask anything they want. Employee should decide if and how to answer.
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