Employers want Facebook Access

[navane]

Last fall, I was a candidate for a law enforcement job. During the orientation meeting, the background investigator outright told us that, if we make it to the background interviews, do not be surprised if there's a laptop on the table - they're going to ask us to log into our Facebook account. He said either that or we would be contacted and asked to temporarily set our profiles to public for the investigator to review. He said they would be looking for any evidence of inappropriate behavior (smoking pot, etc) and to see what kind of people we have on our friends list. They told us, "If there's something you don't want us to see, delete it now. You've been given fair warning."

.....Kelly

[DubaiSis]

Well law enforcement or clergy I think could be held to a bit different standard because your personal life is so critical to your public one. But having you log in for them to see is NOT asking you for your password.

And regarding the LinkedIn thing, it wouldn't surprise me that the boss is just lazy and trying to piggyback on your work. The fact that your other co-workers haven't yet figured out that LinkedIn should almost be mandatory is a different thing. I can't say too much. Until my husband's recent job search began, I really didn't get it about LinkedIn either.

[excelblue]

I'd treat an employer who asks for my Facebook password the same way as I'd treat a SO who asks for one: I'd tell them it's none of their business. If it's in a controlled situation, considering that I have nothing to hide, I'll log in in front of them, but log out immediately afterwards.

Anyone who insists too hard effectively gets a middle finger from me.

[AGDee]

Yes, I could see this in a security clearance type of situation also. I had a card on my door recently from someone doing a security clearance background check on a neighbor that I don't even know. The card had the neighbor's name, said he had applied for a job with the FBI or something (don't remember, didn't pay that much attention) and if I knew him I should call the number on the business card.

[33girl]

Originally Posted by navane

Last fall, I was a candidate for a law enforcement job. During the orientation meeting, the background investigator outright told us that, if we make it to the background interviews, do not be surprised if there's a laptop on the table - they're going to ask us to log into our Facebook account. He said either that or we would be contacted and asked to temporarily set our profiles to public for the investigator to review. He said they would be looking for any evidence of inappropriate behavior (smoking pot, etc) and to see what kind of people we have on our friends list. They told us, "If there's something you don't want us to see, delete it now. You've been given fair warning."

.....Kelly

See, to me, this can foster laziness. "Oh well, he didn't have anything on his Facebook so he must be OK." What they don't know is he drops acid on a nightly basis but is smart enough to not have a camera anywhere nearby.

And as far as the "what kind of people we have on our friends list" - that just sounds like code for racism/religious intolerance etc.

[PeppyGPhiB]

No way would I ever give this information to a potential employer...or anyone else for that matter. My password is a secret. Plus, if my profile is not public to begin with, and I have tight privacy controls, my employer has no need to be concerned about me harming the company's public reputation. I can't imagine my employer ever asking me for this information (or asking me to let them browse my profile after I logged in for them), and I'm pretty high up at a PR firm! I feel so strongly about this that if my employer suddenly issued a policy tomorrow stating that everyone must grant them access to our profile - or "friend" them - I would probably resign. I am Facebook friends with some of my coworkers, but not anyone in HR or the executives, and I never friend any of my clients.

[MasTNX]

I am mostly concerned about the political or religious identifiers that I have on Facebook. In an interview I would never discuss my feelings on Rick Santorum, but they are on Facebook. The same is true with the number of children I have or their ages. This allows employers to discriminate on things that they never would be able to normally.
On the other hand, many employers have been burned when racy photos of their employees were made public. I can see how they would want to know beforehand, but it might just be better to make a company policy about social networking for employees.

[dreamseeker]

Facebook may sue employers that ask for passwords.

[NinjaPoodle]

^^
From yahoo news
http://news.yahoo.com/facebook-warns...163806953.html

Facebook has two lines of reasoning. For users, surrendering a password not only compromises a user’s privacy, but the privacy of all their Facebook friends as well. Not to mention, sharing a password violates Facebook’s terms of service and could be grounds for account termination.

[knight_shadow]

Facebook standing up for privacy? Wow.

[PiKA2001]

Originally Posted by DubaiSis

Well law enforcement or clergy I think could be held to a bit different standard because your personal life is so critical to your public one.

This story is a pretty good example of how online profiles can ruin law enforcement officers and is the reason many of us either don't have online profiles or keep the ones we have plain vanilla/non offensive.

In pictures, Vaughan Ettienne is a champion bodybuilder of surreal musculature. In conversation, he is polite and thoughtful.

And in the looking glass of his computer screen, he becomes a man of fierce, profane views on how to keep law and order. A few weeks ago, he posted a description of his mood on a MySpace account. “Devious,” he wrote.

The next day, a man accused of carrying a loaded gun would go on trial in State Supreme Court in Brooklyn — and in large part, the case rested on the credibility of Vaughan Ettienne, bodybuilder, Internet user and arresting officer.

What seemed like a simple gun possession case became an undeclared war over reality: Was Officer Ettienne a diligent cop who found a gun after chasing an ex-convict weaving through traffic on a stolen motorcycle? Or was his story a “devious” facade in keeping with the ruthless character he revealed on social network Web sites?

“You have your Internet persona, and you have what you actually do on the street,” Officer Ettienne said on Tuesday. “What you say on the Internet is all bravado talk, like what you say in a locker room.”

Except that trash talk in locker rooms almost never winds up preserved on a digital server somewhere, available for subpoena. The man on trial, Gary Waters, claimed that Officer Ettienne and his partner stopped him, beat him and then planted a gun on him to justify breaking three of his ribs.

Suddenly, Officer Ettienne was being held to the words that he wrote in cyberspace.

Besides the “devious” mood setting, the jurors learned that a few weeks before the trial, the officer posted this status on his Facebook page: “Vaughan is watching ‘Training Day’ to brush up on proper police procedure.”

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/11/nyregion/11about.html

[NinjaPoodle]

Originally Posted by knight_shadow

Facebook standing up for privacy? Wow.

Shocking, isn't it?

[AGDee]

Originally Posted by knight_shadow

Facebook standing up for privacy? Wow.

Originally Posted by NinjaPoodle

Shocking, isn't it?

Not so shocking if you think about it. If people start deleting accounts out of fear of this happening to them, Facebook loses money or even goes out of business.

[PeppyGPhiB]

Originally Posted by AGDee

Not so shocking if you think about it. If people start deleting accounts out of fear of this happening to them, Facebook loses money or even goes out of business.

Exactly. This is a business-savvy position for Facebook.

[Alumiyum]

I don't have a problem with an employer asking to view my facebook. I do have a problem with them demanding that we be friends and of course with anyone asking for my password. I'm going to be a teacher so my facebook is pretty clean. Anything PG-13 has been set so that only certain people can see it. I would never, ever friend students or their parents (and will likely have a professional profile for that kind of communication with no personal information). I friend people I want to communicate socially with. IMO this does not have to include employers. I'm currently friends with employers on facebook, but they're from summer jobs and camp counselor jobs. They can't see my entire profile. Again, if they asked, I would allow them to view it. But I personally WANT that professional separation between employer and employee, so I do not treat them as friends, especially on facebook.

I understand why employers feel the need to check. And I understand that certain professionals (law enforcement, clergy, teachers, etc.) receive a little more scrutiny. But passwords? Forced friending? Not ok, IMO.