Students may soon have to bring one more thing to job interviews besides a resume and portfolio: their Facebook password.
The Associated Press released a story March 20 detailing New York statistician Justin Bassett’s experience interviewing for a new job and his refusal to hand over the log-in information for his private Facebook page.
On March 21, National Public Radio released a story about Robert Collins, a former Maryland corrections officer who was also asked to hand over his log-in information. Collins, however, reluctantly handed over the information because the job was crucial to his livelihood. His potential employer proceeded to go through his wall, messages, friends list and pictures.
The practice raises privacy concerns.
Collins told NPR that “it is no different than me saying, ‘OK, I want to come into your home and install cameras to see what you are doing on an everyday basis.’ It’s just unreasonable.”
“Although I have nothing to hide, I think it is a personal side of life, and employers shouldn’t have access to that,” Autumn Kern, accounting junior from Thibodaux, said.
Kati Lafitte, culinary sophomore from Mansfield, said, “it really wouldn’t bother me at all because I don’t have any information to hide. The only thing I would have to say is if they looked at my news feed, saw posts from my friends and judged me on that.”
Employers who ask for log-in information argue that they are making sure they are hiring the best employees for their company. Collins’ employer said he was checking to make sure Collins was not affiliated with a gang. Others, like Illinois Chief Deputy Rusty Thomas, said employers want to make sure their employees are not engaging in illegal and inappropriate behavior.
Although the companies participating in this practice are generally public service, large companies like Sears are giving applicants the option to apply online by logging on to Facebook. The company reports that they use this in order to get a look at applicants’ employment history.
Other companies use third-party programs like BeKnown, a program developed by employment recruiter website Monster.com that allows users to search for jobs through Facebook, allows employers to see applicants’ presence on social media platforms.
Since reports have surfaced, Facebook and the American Civil Liberties Union have made statements regarding the practice’s liabilities.
“We don’t think it’s the right thing to do,” Erin Egan, Facebook’s chief privacy officer, posted on the site March 23. “But it also may cause problems for the employers that they are not anticipating. For example, if an employer sees on Facebook that someone is a member of a protected group, that employer may open themselves up to claims of discrimination if they don’t hire that person.”
Handing over passwords is also a violation of Facebook’s terms of service.
The ACLU states on their website that they are glad Facebook is taking the practice seriously and urges Congress to pass legislation to prohibit the practice all together.
Although some are comparing the practice to opening someone else’s mail, which is a federal offense, this password sharing practice seems to hold little weight with the Department of Justice. According to Yahoo! Finance, the agency said such violations would not be prosecuted, even though it regards violations of the terms of service of a social networking site a federal crime.
Connecticut Senator Richard Blumenthal and New York Senator Charles Schomen, however, want to take legal action to stop the practice. They are writing a bill to prohibit employers from asking for log-in information and citing outlawed procedures like polygraph tests as the basis.
The Senators sent a letter to Attorney General Eric Holder and the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission on March 25 to ask for an investigation into the legality of the practice.
