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Your Facebook password should be none of your boss' business

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Re: Your Facebook password should be none of your boss' business

#41

Post by brown9-2 »

warpspeed wrote: post #24
brown9-2 wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You can already sue for such harassment/discrimination. I just don't see why we need a special law regarding Facebook here if the underlying discrimination possible is already illegal.

I'm not a lawyer, but it seems that this practice is so wide-spread that there's enough grey area for hiring managers to get away with it, so the current laws aren't enough. Internet social networking is such a new and world-changing concept that I believe new laws are necessary to specifically address these issues.

But the underlying information - your social interactions and personal communications - are not new. An employer could ask for your email history, banking information, etc. Should that be illegal as well? What about background checks, credit history check, etc?

My only point is that I don't see why there needs to be a special exemption for social networking data, if the predatory behavior is already illegal b

Re: Your Facebook password should be none of your boss' business

#42

Post by brown9-2 »

MRonney wrote: post #38

I worked at a social media marketing agency for a few months, when I went out of town I gave my manager my login information because my clients would sometimes direct message me instead of email (annoying). A few weeks after returning, some of my new messages would already appear open, and Facebook asked me if I logged into my account from a PC ( NEVER!!) at a different location than normal ( near my managers house).…

You gave them access to your account, and were surprised they used it?

Re: Your Facebook password should be none of your boss' business

#43

Post by wisty »

Zikes wrote: post #2

Isn't this illegal during the interview process since Facebook reveals practically every protected status?

IANAL, but I don't think it's illegal per say. It's just illegal for the company to consider protected things (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Employment_discrimination_law_i...).

However, if it's a civil matter (i.e. you sue), then you just need "balance of evidence", not "proof beyond reasonable doubt". You'll try to prove that it was a factor, and they'll try to prove that it wasn't. You might argue that at this stage you're be neck and neck with the other candidates (having passed the previous filters), and it's just going to come down to a "gut feeling" from the hiring manager - so they will almost certainly be swayed by anything which they might dislike on your Facebook page. I've a feeling it would be a horrible case to try to defend against.

There's valid reasons for demanding Facebook login details, but if I were an employer I'd use a trusted third party to look for me, and only report things which have been cleared by a legal team. When the Australian government does security vetting, this is how it works - security personal do all the vetting, keep everything private except the "security clearance passed / failed", and can get thrown in prison if they let the wrong information out.

Re: Your Facebook password should be none of your boss' business

#44

Post by jeffreyg »

ahi wrote: post #28
mdkess wrote: post #20

If I ever had someone demand this, I would update my account to show my sexual orientation as homosexual, my religion to Islam, and my political views to whatever the opposite of my boss's were. Then if they ever tried to lay me off, or not give me a raise, I would point out that the only useful information they possibly could have gotten from demanding my Facebook account were these protected statuses.

Of the three listed, the only one that is actually protected in the United States is religion. In the vast majority of the United States you can be fired for being gay or a republican. If you work for a labor organization in the United States, you have to be fired for certain political views and organisational memberships (the left-wing variety).

references?

Re: Your Facebook password should be none of your boss' business

#45

Post by _mayo »

jchrisa wrote: post #35
mathiasben wrote: post #12

Is there anything in facebook's terms of service that would permit their users to share login info with third parties?

Agree. It might be a crime to comply with this request. Given that it can be a crime ("hacking") to break TOS. Catch-22 Update: 2 of the comments on the ACLU article say this also. I'm surprised this line of reasoning isn't more prominent on the issue.

Would it be considered "hacking" if you where "willingly" providing your password to them?

Re: Your Facebook password should be none of your boss' business

#46

Post by dreamling »

I think the whole topic is silly.

If your potential employer asked you for passwords to your bank accounts, stock managers or asked you to hand over your journals, why would you comply?

I know the job market is still tough out there for people, but why would you want to work for a company that won't trust you based on your face to face interview, the documents you submit, your references and a due diligence web search?

Were people compelled to give out their AOL passwords for jobs in the 90's?

Re: Your Facebook password should be none of your boss' business

#47

Post by lucb1e »

I would set up a fake Facebook account if I were very desperately in need for a job. Or just say I don't have one, which is true at the moment. Otherwise, No and Goodbye.

Sharing my password, any of them, is simply totally unacceptable. No way. I'm not giving them the key to my front door either am I? Or my ID card with my boss' face on it so that he can impersonate me, because that's also what this is (though that probably won't happen, so they key example is better, but that doesn't make this less true).

Re: Your Facebook password should be none of your boss' business

#48

Post by mikeash »

brown9-2 wrote: post #14
warpspeed wrote: post #3

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'd imagine it's probably not illegal, since that's not the only information on your profile. Just like they can't ask you your race or marital status, but when you come in for the interview they can certainly see the color of your skin and if you're wearing a wedding band. It should be illegal though- I'm not sure when it ever became acceptable to ask for someone's login credentials.

Should it be illegal though, if the applicants have to agree to do it in the first place? That's the piece of this that seems to get lost - the applicants are, for whatever hard-to-fathom reason, consenting. It's shady, and seems short-sighted, but no one is disclosing information against their will here.

It's not hard to fathom at all. For as much as the average person complains about work, people really want jobs.

There's a severe power imbalance. If you don't take the job, in most cases there are seven other qualified applications who will take it instead. Odds are that one of them will fork over their login info. And even though few people truly want to disclose it, once it becomes a de-facto standard, people will have little choice. The power imbalance is the crucial problem, and companies shouldn't be allowed to dictate unreasonable terms to employees or potential employees just because that imbalance allows them to obtain consent in most cases.

Re: Your Facebook password should be none of your boss' business

#49

Post by TheCapn »

jiggy2011 wrote: post #4

I wonder what the implications would be if facebook introduced a feature that allowed a potential employer to "buy" temporary access to a potential employees facebook data? For example you apply for a job somewhere and the next time you log into facebook you get a message that reads something like. "InitTech PLC has requested read only access to your account for 48 hours, please be aware that compliance with this is…

I would hope the US has similar privacy laws to Canada where a company that is solely responsible and has access to your personal data is required by law to use that data only in the ways you have explicitly permitted. If the company wishes to provide your data to a 3rd party or use it in some other means than what you agreed to they're liable for lawsuit and punishment.

I mean, sure, facebook could just update privacy agreement and have everyone agree to it then go this way but at that point I could demand my data to be removed/locked under law to prevent any one from using it in this manner.

Re: Your Facebook password should be none of your boss' business

#50

Post by eru »

jostmey wrote: post #22
eru wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No, you wouldn't. Because either you stand up against that company policy and show some spine, or if you are more worried about your job than your dignity, you wouldn't dare dream of ticking your boss off. Unless you don't really want the job, and only want to give your potential-future boss access to some juicy information, so that you can sue him easier later on for discrimination against you; and want to have some…

If my boss could not accept my personality traits, then that company is not the right fit for me and I for it.

Yes, that's what I meant. And if you don't want to work for them, why give them the password in the first case?
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