Facebook Speaks Out Against Employers Asking for Passwords. As we told you earlier this week, many employers are now asking interviewees to log in to Facebook and/or hand over their password before they even have the job. It’s an issue that got a lot of attention in the media and has now prompted a response from the social networking site. Facebook spoke out against the practice via a blog post by Chief Privacy Officer Erin Egan Friday, saying:

“This practice undermines the privacy expectations and the security of both the user and the user’s friends.  It also potentially exposes the employer who seeks this access to unanticipated legal liability.” 

Additionally, Egan goes on to say:

“The most alarming of these practices is the reported incidences of employers asking prospective or actual employees to reveal their passwords.  If you are a Facebook user, you should never have to share your password, let anyone access your account, or do anything that might jeopardize the security of your account or violate the privacy of your friends.  We have worked really hard at Facebook to give you the tools to control who sees your information. As a user, you shouldn’t be forced to share your private information and communications just to get a job.  And as the friend of a user, you shouldn’t have to worry that your private information or communications will be revealed to someone you don’t know and didn’t intend to share with just because that user is looking for a job.  That’s why we’ve made it a violation of Facebook’s Statement of Rights and Responsibilities to share or solicit a Facebook password.”

 -LD

Facebook

Should Job Seekers Have to Give Up Their Facebook Passwords? With the rise of social networking, it has become commonplace for managers to review publically available Facebook profiles, Twitter accounts and other sites to learn more about job candidates. But many users, especially on Facebook, have their profiles set to private, making them available only to selected people or certain networks (read: most likely not a potential employer).

A new trend, as pointed out in this Associated Press story that is making the rounds on the Internet, is employers asking interviewees to log in to Facebook and/or hand over their password before they even have the job (during the interview process).

“In their efforts to vet applicants, some companies and government agencies are going beyond merely glancing at a person’s social networking profiles and instead asking to log in as the user to have a look around.”

This comes on the heels of a study released Monday by Eurocom Worldwide that says 1 in 5 technology firms has rejected a job applicant because of social media.

The main question here: is it legal? More from the AP story:

“Giving out Facebook login information violates the social network’s terms of service. But those terms have no real legal weight, and experts say the legality of asking for such information remains murky…The Department of Justice regards it as a federal crime to enter a social networking site in violation of the terms of service, but during recent congressional testimony, the agency said such violations would not be prosecuted.”

What do you think? Should potential employers have access to your Facebook profiles? Or is that private?

-LD

[MSNBC, Eurocom]

Photo: Getty Images