The various uses of Social Networking Sites have grown rapidly since the past few years. I have heard people using them for reasonable purposes such as spreading social events, catching up with friends or finding out what's trending in world news. Another controversial but widely practiced use of Social Networking Sites is in the recruitment of jobs. It is now normal for employers to "stalk" or scan profiles of potential employees to develop a feel of their personality. Even though this may seem invasive to one's personal privacy, it is considered the norm today. What caught me off guard when I was reading the news was how Employers were requesting the actual passwords of interviewees so that they will have full access to their account. This is mainly due to the fact that most Social Networking Sites, such as Facebook, have options where one can limit the visibility of their profile and therefore protect one's privacy. I find this absolutely ridiculous and as an extreme threat to individual rights and freedoms.
One such example can be given in the case of Rob Macleod, who was being interviewed for a law enforcement position and was asked for his password to browse his profile for any questionable content. "I have nothing to hide. (I said) 'You can look at it. I just don't like to disclose passwords,' " he recalled of the law enforcement position he applied for in 2009. 1. Even with this type of behaviour, Rob agreed with the employer because he really needed that position. I think that any type of involvement by the jobs towards an individual's social profile is strictly a strong violation to their privacy and this type of activity should be restricted in the job market. You can not fully judge a person's work ethic through their online activity. This could lead to people making alternate names online or fully deleting their account as a whole, because of the threat to privacy that this causes. I would rather not accept working at a company where this type of behaviour exists!
Here's a few potential responses, taken from Kevin Mullet, you could give if in the above situation (2). :
No.
As my password is the same for multiple personal and financial accounts, I am not willing to disclose that information.
Heck, no. (Derivatives may be acceptable in certain situations…ok, don’t do that.)
I would be willing to show you a printout of my last 50 status updates; if this will not suffice, I will have to withdrawn my application. (Unless you REALLY, really need the job.)
I’ll show you mine if you show me yours.
Oh, don’t worry, you can subscribe to my public Facebook feed, which will give you access to all conversations I mean to make public. Obviously, conversations like those occurring in my own home, in a privately addressed letter, or via my own personal phone are off limits.
Are you concerned about what I might say because cause has been given to employees to speak out in the past?
*Updated* It is against Facebook’s terms of service, section 3.5 and 4.8, for me to share this information with you. (Are you asking me to break rules?)
“You will not solicit login information or access an account belonging to someone else.”
AND ”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.”See also section 3.12, 5.7 and 5.8 if they want you to friend someone who will “review” your account. See section 3.2 if they mention using “tools” to search for your information.
*Updated* As this information may be used to discriminate against me based on my age, race, religion, or sexual orientation and breaks Facebook’s terms of service section 3.10, I must decline.
“You will not use Facebook to do anything unlawful, misleading, malicious, or
discriminatory.” (2)
1. Dabu, S. (2012, March 21). Employers requesting facebook passwords. Retrieved from http://www.canada.com/news/national/Employers requesting Facebook password violates privacy Experts/6339030/story.html
2.Mulet, K. (2012, March 20). Asked for your facebook password during an interview?. Retrieved from http://www.kevinmullett.com/asked-for-your-facebook-password-the-answer-is-no/
Requesting the password and username to your facebook account is definitely an invasion of privacy without doubt. It's like asking someone for their house keys so I can check if they are organized in their private help.
ReplyDeleteDo you think requesting the facebook profile is an invasion of privacy though? You could easily control what someone who is not your friend can see, and as facebook is gearing up to be an internet user's overall online profile, it seems like a logical thing to ask for. Especially for tech jobs, online behaviour is as important as offline behaviour.
On a side note, facebook has threatened to sue any employer requiring facebook login information in their job applications. Hopefully this trend will die down.
Personally, I think that that requesting a Facebook profile on the job isn't really an invasion of privacy as the profile is just a deeper reflection on the person. Requesting log in information and passwords on the other hand is a strong privacy breach and this kind of behaviour should be avoided at all work places.
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