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Job interview? Fork over Facebook Password

NoahFence

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NoahFence
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Mar 17, 2011
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Let me be the first to state:
If you require a prospective employee to fork over his or her facebook ID and Password, you're a butt hole.

But apparently that's exactly what's happening.


There is NO good reason for asking for such information.

Questions have been raised about the legality of the practice, which is also the focus of proposed legislation in Illinois and Maryland that would forbid public agencies from asking for access to social networks.
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Is this another example of real-life and technology butting heads?
 
Then again, you've already forked it over to another company: Facebook.

So much for privacy.
 
NoahFence said:
Let me be the first to state:
If you require a prospective employee to fork over his or her facebook ID and Password, you're a butt hole.

But apparently that's exactly what's happening.


There is NO good reason for asking for such information.



Is this another example of real-life and technology butting heads?
Click to expand...
Ten years or so ago when work was getting slow my boss (we do remodeling/rehab) looked into becoming a contractor for Home Depot. Home Depot demanded the right to come into the office unannounced at any time for an inspection. Now, his office is in his home (not at all unusual in this business), and he balked at that. And that wasn't even the biggest downside of becoming a Home depot contractor. I don't know why anyone would want to become affiliated with them.
 
Handing over the password because someone *might* have a job opening? So that they are then free to go to your account and add anything they want?

Yeah, right... and if they then ask for your house keys and banking PIN, will people obligingly hand those over too?
 
I am just as angry that anyone obligingly hand over their password during a job interview that a prospective employer would ask. If it was a common practice to walk out of the room when the question was asked, no employers would ask.

I wonder how they handle it if you say you don't have a Facebook account. There are still some holdouts!
 
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If a prospective employer asked that of me, they would immediately cease to be a prospective employer.

It is both unethical and legally questionable, as giving your password away would be a breach of Facebook's Terms of Service.

But first and foremost, it shows a complete disregard for basic IT security. As a software engineer, I find that to be completely unacceptable.
 
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At least the companies doing this are doing a favor for the applicants, in an odd way. It might take weeks to find out that you're working in a toxic environment. Not many companies are considerate enough to let you know right off the bat that you should steer clear.
 
NoahFence said:
What's your point?

Do you think Master Lock should be able to enter my private residence because they made the lock on the front door?
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Master Lock physically could. Of course they shouldn't. Likewise, the people at Facebook physically could look at all the info you post there. You have to trust them to not do anything untoward with it. If what you have on Facebook is something you wouldn't mind anyone but your employer seeing... well, I wouldn't want to be your employer.
 
ravdin said:
At least the companies doing this are doing a favor for the applicants, in an odd way. It might take weeks to find out that you're working in a toxic environment. Not many companies are considerate enough to let you know right off the bat that you should steer clear.
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:D
 
Pulvinar said:
Master Lock physically could. Of course they shouldn't. Likewise, the people at Facebook physically could look at all the info you post there. You have to trust them to not do anything untoward with it. If what you have on Facebook is something you wouldn't mind anyone but your employer seeing... well, I wouldn't want to be your employer.
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The issue isn't about hiding your life from an employer in case you do something they would not approve of, it's that an employer feels they should have such a right in the first place. What's to stop them from Facebook, the fact you use your real name? What if they want access to all your email as well as any forums you belong to and your post history? What about all of your internet browsing history and any future browsing being recorded?

What was the point of even qualifying the last highlighted sentence above?
 
I can't believe people actually put their real first and last names and other identifying info on Facebook. The internet seems to be turning into an Orwellian social engineering experiment and it appears people are signing up in droves.
 
Employers have gotten really crazy on the hiring process. To even apply for a minimum wage job at Walmart or a fast food place you have to take a psych questionnaire.
 
Said it before : I am only vaguely aware of what facebook is, but the more I hear about it, the more glad I am that I have nothing to do with it.

Hmmm, I wonder if actually not having a facebook account might disqualify a person as well?
 
Halfcentaur said:
The issue isn't about hiding your life from an employer in case you do something they would not approve of, it's that an employer feels they should have such a right in the first place. What's to stop them from Facebook, the fact you use your real name? What if they want access to all your email as well as any forums you belong to and your post history? What about all of your internet browsing history and any future browsing being recorded?

What was the point of even qualifying the last highlighted sentence above?
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That's what I want to know too: what if? What additional harm does it do to you if your employer sees it?
 
Seismosaurus said:
Said it before : I am only vaguely aware of what facebook is, but the more I hear about it, the more glad I am that I have nothing to do with it.

Hmmm, I wonder if actually not having a facebook account might disqualify a person as well?
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I use no social media at all.

And frankly, I cannot understand why anyone would want to put their life on public display like that.

To me it seems perverse.
 
Max_mang said:
I can't believe people actually put their real first and last names and other identifying info on Facebook. The internet seems to be turning into an Orwellian social engineering experiment and it appears people are signing up in droves.
Click to expand...

I remember being concerned in the early 2000s that the government was going to set up a master database with personal information for all citizens. I wouldn't have guessed that by now people would happily hand over their valuable data to a private company for (from what I can tell) very little in return.
 
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