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I had to get a background check for my job; the report is a 300 page pdf

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Re: I had to get a background check for my job; the report is a 300 page pdf

#41

Post by coldtea »

Aloha wrote: post #33
brenden2 wrote: post #4

Here's the company doing this: https://fama.io/ The idea that you can assess someone's workplace performance based on automated screening of their tweets is utterly absurd. If anyone works somewhere that uses this tool, or anything similar to it, you should run far, far away from that company. This is a terrible precedent, and much too much Orwellian for my taste. EDIT: somewhat related, but a while back I made a Twi…

I'm curious about something, would most of the people who are aghast at this be as aghast at it if this had flagged someone who was racist, sexist, transphobic, or homophobic? I would be, but I wonder if I'm in the minority or not. This pilfering of your digital history is on the order of what's needed to get a security clearance - where it's at least somewhat justified. There is no case where I can see this being ju…

No, it's OK if it happens to "bad" people.

People who have bad opinions should not of course have jobs. They should die on the streets, as untouchables...

Of course this holds as long as "the good side" has the power to make companies fire people for their tweets. If and when conservatives get this power (like e.g. they did in the Hoover or McCarthy era), this practice would be wrong again, and it should all be about "freedom of speech" and right to work, etc.

/s

Re: I had to get a background check for my job; the report is a 300 page pdf

#42

Post by slvrspoon »

Online background checks increasingly incorporate all this social info but ALSO link it to other identity data. Next, combine it with profiles bought from data brokers which can include all basic personal info combined with political affiliation and prior salary, etc. Here's some steps to opt out of their databases: https://joindeleteme.com/help/deleteme-help-topics/opt-out-g...

Re: I had to get a background check for my job; the report is a 300 page pdf

#43

Post by CommieBobDole »

rakoo wrote: post #6
CommieBobDole wrote: post #3

I'm torn between "My god, this is a dystopian nightmare" and "Well, you did all that in public, in print, with your real name attached, what did you expect?". Maybe both things are right. Edit: Since, looking at the downvotes, this seems to be controversial, let me clarify that I'm not blaming the victim, I'm questioning whether it's a good general policy to give everyone, including various bad actors, a vast databas…

Is it normal to live your private life in accordance to what a future hypothetical employer might think ? EDIT: private should be replaced with personal, as opposed to work

I don't really know. Are you asking if it's right, or if it's normal? It's probably not right, but it's probably normal.

My personal opinion is you should probably control the information you give other people about yourself; information is power, and lots of people aren't very nice or are dangerously incompetent, and it seems like a bad idea to give them more leverage over you.

Re: I had to get a background check for my job; the report is a 300 page pdf

#44

Post by causalmodels »

egdod wrote: post #2

For those wondering, as I did, who’s behind this terrible report: > The background check company is Sterling Talent Solutions, and it looks like they contracted with Fama Technologies for this part of the report.

Sterling is terrible not only because they’re needlessly invasive, but also because they cannot run a background check.

Before I got into software I was a model, something very obvious if you search my name. I’ve had two background checks done by Sterling and they’ve never connected the dots.

Re: I had to get a background check for my job; the report is a 300 page pdf

#45

Post by CommieBobDole »

jolmg wrote: post #14
CommieBobDole wrote: post #3

I'm torn between "My god, this is a dystopian nightmare" and "Well, you did all that in public, in print, with your real name attached, what did you expect?". Maybe both things are right. Edit: Since, looking at the downvotes, this seems to be controversial, let me clarify that I'm not blaming the victim, I'm questioning whether it's a good general policy to give everyone, including various bad actors, a vast databas…

> "Well, you did all that in public, in print, with your real name attached, what did you expect?" I don't think that's the issue for them. The issue is the bad algorithmic flagging.

But that's the point; you give people information about you, some of them are going to use it against you, probably incompetently.

Why give them that information in the first place?

Re: I had to get a background check for my job; the report is a 300 page pdf

#46

Post by appleiigs »

brenden2 wrote: post #4

Here's the company doing this: https://fama.io/ The idea that you can assess someone's workplace performance based on automated screening of their tweets is utterly absurd. If anyone works somewhere that uses this tool, or anything similar to it, you should run far, far away from that company. This is a terrible precedent, and much too much Orwellian for my taste. EDIT: somewhat related, but a while back I made a Twi…

On a related note, I declined a job interview when a company wanted to do the interview process via HireVue. Has the Orwellian telescreen feel. The process includes candidate recording interview responses and uploading them for AI to evaluate. HR must not realize that as part of the interview, candidates are also evaluating whether the company is a good place to work at.

Re: I had to get a background check for my job; the report is a 300 page pdf

#47

Post by siruncledrew »

300 pages is not all that surprising considering the amount of stuff that could be requested from some assortment of background check companies by whoever is willing to pay for it.

Even the background checks to open a bank account are commonly 50+ pages of information.

Whether or not the information is entirely correct (or even for the right person) is a whole other matter. Sure, a company could scrape someone’s tweets or assign probabilities to how likely various accounts and services are owned by that person, but at the end of the day it’s not 100%. Even alerts could come up for news articles mentioning a person of the same name from the same area as the person undergoing the background check, but is a completely different person. Depending on how much someone cares to read the whole report and the analysis versus just look at a few flag icons, that could make a difference.

In the end, as long as background check companies can still sell fear and risk, they can live with the tradeoffs of relying on statistical significance determinations to assess people.

Re: I had to get a background check for my job; the report is a 300 page pdf

#48

Post by seanmccann »

ardy42 wrote: post #10
quotemstr wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> If anyone works somewhere that uses this tool, or anything similar to it, you should run far, far away from that company. You might not even know --- and it could extend beyond hiring. Didn't get promoted? Maybe it's because someond keyword matched you for "toxic". The only real way to safeguard yourself is to keep your identity as small and bland as possible, and that's no way to live.

IIRC, aren't employers required to provide some notice of background checks, especially in the case where they're used to justify adverse actions?

You're absolutely right. Background checks for employment purposes are covered under FCRA (Fair Credit Reporting Act) and a myriad of other laws at various levels. Complying with these laws is not trivial, but the onus is on the employer to handle compliance if they are using data sources like this.

I work at a background check startup that puts a focus on fairness and compliance.

Re: I had to get a background check for my job; the report is a 300 page pdf

#49

Post by komali2 »

coldtea wrote: post #41
Aloha wrote: post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm curious about something, would most of the people who are aghast at this be as aghast at it if this had flagged someone who was racist, sexist, transphobic, or homophobic? I would be, but I wonder if I'm in the minority or not. This pilfering of your digital history is on the order of what's needed to get a security clearance - where it's at least somewhat justified. There is no case where I can see this being ju…

No, it's OK if it happens to "bad" people. People who have bad opinions should not of course have jobs. They should die on the streets, as untouchables... Of course this holds as long as "the good side" has the power to make companies fire people for their tweets. If and when conservatives get this power (like e.g. they did in the Hoover or McCarthy era), this practice would be wrong again, and it should all be about…

"Bad opinions" is a pretty remarkable simplification of the concept of someone that doesn't think you're fully human based on the color of your skin or your sexuality.

Would you want to work with someone that didn't think you should be allowed to exist?

Re: I had to get a background check for my job; the report is a 300 page pdf

#50

Post by underpand »

How long would the report be if you have your profile privacy on lockdown? ie. all public profiles are private and you don't reuse usernames

Are they able to do more nefarious things like use fingerprint/IP/device history to connect random accounts together?

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