Prospective Employees Being Coerced Into Giving Up Facebook Passwords at Interview
There has been anecdotal evidence in America that employers are demanding the Facebook passwords of prospective employees when they arrive at interview so that they can snoop on their private lives and decide if they like them or not. This is a gross invasion of privacy and against Facebook’s rules. So much so, that now Connecticut Sen. Richard Blumenthal has told Politico that he will be introducing legislation to ban employers from demanding access to Facebook accounts as a term of employment. Facebook have issued a statement about this (snippet below) and there’s a lot more on this over at c|net, which you are encouraged to read. No one should be forced to choose between principle and putting food on the table.
In recent months, we’ve seen a distressing increase in reports of employers or others seeking to gain inappropriate access to people’s Facebook profiles or private information. This practice undermines the privacy expectations and the security of both the user and the user’s friends. It also potentially exposes the employer who seeks this access to unanticipated legal liability.
The most alarming of these practices is the reported incidences of employers asking prospective or actual employees to reveal their passwords. If you are a Facebook user, you should never have to share your password, let anyone access your account, or do anything that might jeopardize the security of your account or violate the privacy of your friends. We have worked really hard at Facebook to give you the tools to control who sees your information.
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