Colleges and Employers Now Requiring Applicants' Facebook Passwords

Mike Kayatta

Minister of Secrets
Aug 2, 2011
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Colleges and Employers Now Requiring Applicants' Facebook Passwords



A new investigation has revealed that more and more institutions across the United States are requiring personal social media passwords from potential students and employees. Legally.

It may be difficult to accept, but as it stands, it is completely legal for an employer to ask for your Facebook password or similar during an interview, or as a stipulation of you accepting a potential position. And it's not just the corporate world; nationwide schools (most notably college athletics programs) have started doing the same, forcing students to relinquish all personal data, information, and history ever posted within their private online accounts. MSNBC has begun an investigation into some of these practices, and the results of its inquiries are a collection of what would be considered very disturbing anecdotes to advocates of privacy.

In Maryland's government-run Department of Corrections, for example, those seeking jobs are faced with a very awkward section of their first interview. They are placed in front of a computer, and told to log into their Facebook account while the interviewer guides them through their past posts, photos, and friend's list from over their shoulder. Previously, MSNBC reports, applicants were asked to simply surrender their username and password to the facility management, but changed its practice to the more "moderate" version just described after numerous complaints from the ACLU.

The investigation has also revealed various colleges across the country employing a similarly invasive system as part of their athletics programs. Often, if you want to play for the school, you'll need agree to "friending" a "coach or compliance officer" on Facebook who will be given access to all personal posts without privacy provisions. Some institutions have even begun working with companies specializing in software packages that automate the system, offering what's called a "reputation scoreboard" that sends a student's compliance officer "threat level" warnings about the nature of his or her social networking activity.

The report even cited recent changes to multiple official college handbooks, such as the following excerpt from the University of North Carolina: "Each team must identify at least one coach or administrator who is responsible for having access to and regularly monitoring the content of team members' social networking sites and postings," it reads. "The athletics department also reserves the right to have other staff members monitor athletes' posts."

Currently, this practice is completely legal, though some lawyers are claiming it a major violation of First Amendment rights, comparing the practice to requiring students or employees to allow monitoring audio bugs in their houses. Such concerns have thus far caused only a few states such as Illinois and Maryland to, at the very least, examine legislation that would prevent the practice, but some people, such as D.C. lawyer Bradley Shear, thinks national attention is required, and fast.

"We need a federal law dealing with this," Shear said. "After 9/11, we have a culture where some people think it's OK for the government to be this involved in our lives, that it's OK to turn everything over to the government. But it's not. We still have privacy rights in this country, and we still have a Constitution."

Source: MSNBC.com [http://redtape.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2012/03/06/10585353-govt-agencies-colleges-demand-applicants-facebook-passwords]

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Fr]anc[is

New member
May 13, 2010
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Solution: don't use Facebook. Nobody gives a shit about what you just ate or the song lyrics you just posted anyway.
 

DJ_DEnM

My brother answers too!
Dec 22, 2010
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These are the moments where I am severely undecise about not having a Facebook account. Does that mean soon I won't be able to get a job? Fuck that!
 

endtherapture

New member
Nov 14, 2011
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This is completely wrong.

Luckily I never post on Facebook, only use it for inboxing and stuff, but god, I would not want my job looking at some of the stuff I say there.

It's pretty much like asking for your email address, or to go through your phone. It doesn't have a place.

Fr said:
anc[is]Solution: don't use Facebook. Nobody gives a shit about what you just ate or the song lyrics you just posted anyway.
Saldy FB is a massive part of social life nowadays, keeping in the loop with people and stuff. I only use it to attend events and inbox people, cos it save A LOT of money on texting, but you know. It's useful, just posting stuff is idiotic.
 
Jan 27, 2011
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This is nasty! This is REALLY FREAKIN NASTY!!

I do not approve of this, I really don't.

It's one thing for your employer to google you, but this? This is invasion of privacy.

What's next, telescreens in our homes?
 

Lurklen

New member
Feb 2, 2010
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This is insane, it would be like your boss asking to look through your mail or tap your phone.
 

Orange12345

New member
Aug 11, 2011
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Wow this is weird, I don't use any social media but this is still ridiculous, this is like asking for my e-mail address and password

Easy solution though just get everyone to refuse and they can't do anything about it
 

JaceArveduin

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Mar 14, 2011
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DJ_DEnM said:
These are the moments where I am severely undecise about not having a Facebook account. Does that mean soon I won't be able to get a job? Fuck that!
Don't have one myself. The only social media of that nature I have is my friend made me a twitter account to enter into some PCMagazine thing for a computer, or something.

I honestly wouldn't give it up, to me that'd be the same as giving them my skype or steam password. I'd have to trust them not to fuck things up, and I trust almost no one.
 

Hashbrick

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Mar 20, 2009
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I'd like to see the sorry sap who asks me for my password to a community site. Then I'd like to see his face when I answer his absurd question. Then I'll see what they have to say when I ask for the keys to their home and access to their phone.

Just because they are doing it doesn't make it legal. They are in grey area right now and getting away with it cause no one is going against it, but when this starts to blow up you will be damn sure that the people that had to deal with this is going to get some compensation from a settlement.
 

teqrevisited

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Mar 17, 2010
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That should definitely be illegal. I wouldn't mind handing mine over for the content it has within it (Literally nothing, I made one to grab some pictures of an event) but on principle I'd tell them to swivel on it.
 

BehattedWanderer

Fell off the Alligator.
Jun 24, 2009
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This is phenomenally stupid. What the hell are they going to find? The annoying prats from high school I don't talk to at all? The snarky jokes and amusing images I send to my friends? The ignorant racist rantings of the mother of my friend? Whoop-de-frickin-doo? Nuts to that. I'll friend you, if you require it, but I'm sure as hell not giving you my password.

It occurs to me that I don't even remember it, seeing as I only access the thing from one computer, and just have it set to remember me. Wonder if they would believe that.
 

Formica Archonis

Anonymous Source
Nov 13, 2009
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Mike Kayatta said:
A new investigation has revealed that more and more institutions across the United States are requiring personal social media passwords from potential students and employees. Legally.
Sort of like how the guys at Penny Arcade were discussing how you can't ask if someone smokes but can ask them how they'd feel if they weren't able to take smoke breaks. Or like how one employer asked me how many sick days I'd be taking per year if I got the job. And then there's the story of a bank with a draconian dress code that responded to complaints about interfering with its employees' personal lives by changing the "no facial hair" requirement to "no facial hair during working hours".

And I'd lose out on these things because I don't have Facebook account. And some people don't remember their passwords because their browser does it for them. I'm considering making a dummy account for if I ever need to go looking for a job.

Giving up privacy means giving up control of your life, because suddenly you have to live like someone else with power over you wants you to. No one seems to realize that because they're told that privacy is the opposite of safety, not control. (Edit: Fixed my antonym problems.)

Mike Kayatta said:
"We need a federal law dealing with this," Shear said. "After 9/11, we have a culture where some people think it's OK for the government to be this involved in our lives,
You have a law being proposed that divides the public into "registered sex offenders" and "unregistered sex offenders". Airports treat everyone like criminals while managing to miss all the actual criminals, and the TSA is trying to scope creep into even more of your life. I think it's safe to say that most people think it's OK.

Mike Kayatta said:
that it's OK to turn everything over to the government. But it's not. We still have privacy rights in this country, and we still have a Constitution."
got nothing to fear [http://www.computerweekly.com/blogs/the-data-trust-blog/2009/02/debunking-a-myth-if-you-have-n.html].
shouldn't even be here. [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dotvLcWV3jw&feature=related]
You've had your chance, now we've got the mandate,
If you've changed your mind I'm afraid it's too late.
 

The Artificially Prolonged

Random Semi-Frequent Poster
Jul 15, 2008
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The_root_of_all_evil said:


Dear US of A,

Get this. Soon.

Root.

PS. Otherwise, ditch Bookface or at least get another account.
I second this.

That is seriously messed up. If I went to an interview and my potential employers where demanding personal information like this I would not want to work for them and would say as much in the interview.
 

Slayer_2

New member
Jul 28, 2008
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Say you don't have an account? Make an alternate one? What if you really don't have one? So many ways this is BS.