Colleges and State Governments demand your Facebook log-in, WTF!

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Red Tape - Govt. agencies, colleges demand applicants' Facebook passwords

State agencies, colleges demand applicants' Facebook passwords

By Bob Sullivan

If you think privacy settings on your Facebook and Twitter accounts guarantee future employers or schools can't see your private posts, guess again.

Employers and colleges find the treasure-trove of personal information hiding behind password-protected accounts and privacy walls just too tempting, and increasingly, they are demanding full access from applicants and students.

In Maryland, job seekers applying to the state's Department of Corrections have been asked during interviews to log into their accounts and let an interviewer watch while the potential employee clicks through wall posts, friends, photos and anything else that might be found behind the privacy wall.

Previously, applicants were asked to surrender their user name and password, but a complaint from the ACLU stopped that practice last year. While submitting to a Facebook review is voluntary, virtually all applicants agree to it out of a desire to score well in the interview, according Maryland ACLU legislative director Melissa Coretz Goemann.

Student-athletes in colleges around the country also are finding out they can no longer maintain privacy in Facebook communications because schools are requiring them to "friend" a coach or compliance officer, giving that person access to their "friends-only" posts.

Schools are also turning to social media monitoring companies with names like UDilligence and Varsity Monitor for software packages that automate the task. The programs offer a "reputation scoreboard" to coaches and send "threat level" warnings about individual athletes to compliance officers.

A recent revision in the handbook at the University of North Carolina is typical: "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."

All this scrutiny is too much for Bradley Shear, a Washington D.C.-lawyer who says both schools and employers are violating the First Amendment with demands for access to otherwise private social media content.

"I can't believe some people think it's OK to do this," he said. "Maybe it's OK if you live in a totalitarian regime, but we still have a Constitution to protect us. It's not a far leap from reading people's Facebook posts to reading their email. ...

As a society, where are we going to draw the line?"

Aside from the free speech concerns, Shear also thinks colleges take on unnecessary liability when they aggressively monitor student posts.

"What if the University of Virginia had been monitoring accounts in the Yeardley Love case and missed signals that something was going to happen?" he said, referring to a notorious campus murder. "What about the liability the school might have?"

Shear has gotten the attention of Maryland state legislators, who have proposed two separate bills aimed at banning social media access by schools and potential employers. The ACLU is aggressively supporting the bills.

"This is an invasion of privacy. People have so much personal information on their pages now. A person can treat it almost like a diary," said Goemann, the Maryland ACLU legislative director. "And (interviewers and schools) are also invading other people's privacy. They get access to that individual's posts and all their friends. There is a lot of private information there."

Maryland's Department of Corrections policy first came to light last year, when corrections officer Robert Collins complained to the ACLU that he was forced to surrender his Facebook user name and password during an interview. The state agency suspended the policy for 45 days, and eventually settled on the "shoulder-surfing" substitute.

"My fellow officers and I should not have to allow the government to view our personal Facebook posts and those of our friends just to keep our jobs," Collins said to the ACLUat the time.

Agency spokesman Rick Binetti confirmed the new policy, but wouldn't comment on it or the proposed law which may ban it.

It's easy to see why an agency that hires prison guards would want to sneak a peek at potential employees' private online lives. Goemann said that prisons are trying to avoid hiring guards with potential gang ties -- the agency told the ACLU it had reviewed 2,689 applicants via social media, and denied employment to seven because of items found on their pages.

"All seven of these individuals' social media applications contained pictures of them showing verified gang signs (signs commonly known to law enforcement which are utilized by gangs)," the Department of Corrections told the ACLU in response to questions it asked about the program.It stressed the voluntary nature of social media inspection, noting that five of the 80 employees hired in the last three hiring cycles didn't provide access.

For student athletes, though, the access isn't voluntary. No access, no sports.

"They're saying to students if you want to play, you have to friend a coach. That's very troubling," said Shear, the D.C. lawyer. "A good analogy for this, in the offline world, would it be acceptable for schools to require athletes to bug their off-campus apartments? Does a school have a right to know who all your friends are?"

There have been many high-profile embarrassing moments born of the toxic combination of student-athletes and Twitter. North Carolina defensive lineman Marvin Austin tweeted about expensive purchases on his account two years ago, then became subject of an NCAA investigation about improper conduct with a player agent.

The incident led, in part, to the school's aforementioned aggressive social media policy. So it's not surprising that many schools want to keep a careful eye on what students are posting online.

But avoiding an uncomfortable moment is not a good enough reason to squash free speech, Spear says. Plenty of settled case law in the U.S. sides with students' rights to express themselves publicly, he said, including numerous cases involving student newspapers.

Public displays of protest are also protected: A landmark 1969 Supreme Court decisions known as Tinker vs. the Des Moines School District said school officials couldn't prevent students from wearing armbands protesting the Vietnam War as long as they weren't inciting violence.

Colleges have legitimate concerns about the things students post on social media accounts, but they should "deal with that issue the way they deal with everything else. They should educate," Shear said.

"Schools are in the business of educating, not spying," he added. "We don't hire private investigators to follow students wherever they go. If students say stupid things online, they should educate them ... not engage in prior restraint."

Goemann also noted that the rush to social media monitoring raises an often overlooked legal concern: It's against Facebook's Terms of Service.
"You will not share your password ... let anyone else access your account or do anything else that might jeopardize the security of your account," the site says in its policies.

Frederic Wolens, a Facebook spokesman, wouldn't comment on the Maryland legislative proposals, but he said many of these school and employer policies appear to violate the site's terms.

"Under our terms, only the holder of the email address and password is considered the Facebook account owner. We also prohibit anyone from soliciting the login information or accessing an account belonging to someone else," he said in a statement to msnbc.com. Wolens said Facebook has yet to take a position on collegiate social media monitoring.
Social media monitoring on colleges, while spreading quickly among athletic departments, seems to be limited to athletes at the moment.

There's nothing stopping schools from applying the same policies to other students, however. And Shear says he's heard from college applicants that interviewers have requested Facebook or Twitter login information during in-person screenings.

The practice seems less common among employers, but scattered incidents are gaining attention from state lawmakers. The blog Tecca.com last year showed what it said was an image of an application for a clerical job with a North Carolina police department that included the following question:

"Do you have any web page accounts such as Facebook, Myspace, etc.? If so, list your username and password."

And the state of Illinois has followed Maryland's lead and is considering similar legislation to ban social media password demands by employers.

But Shear says a patchwork of state laws isn't good enough when the stakes are this high.

"We need a federal law dealing with this," he 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."
  • Profile picture of the author seasoned
    So I am supposed to create an account I DON'T want just so I can give a company access to something I DON'T use so they can make it look like I did things I never did? I would fight that to the supreme court! If they didn't hear my case, I would publicise it.

    Steve
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    • Profile picture of the author MissTerraK
      Originally Posted by seasoned View Post

      So I am supposed to create an account I DON'T want just so I can give a company access to something I DON'T use so they can make it look like I did things I never did? I would fight that to the supreme court! If they didn't hear my case, I would publicise it.

      Steve
      Exactly, Steve!

      That is what was going through my mind as I read the piece. Not only would they have access to read your posts, but the ability to post as you and set you up.

      The reality is that there are shady people in colleges and work places just like anywhere else! I'd fight it all the way to the top too!

      Terra
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  • Profile picture of the author trphebk
    Nothing is private.
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    • Profile picture of the author MissTerraK
      Originally Posted by trphebk View Post

      Nothing is private.
      Not if you allow it to be public.

      Terra
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      • Profile picture of the author Kay King
        I know three people who lost $60-80k jobs because of what they posted on Facebook. I know several who have not been hired because of Facebook.

        If you want to let it all hang out - people will see it. It's stupid to think you can rant and rave to the world and then claim "it's private".
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  • Profile picture of the author Kay King
    He was smart. If you want privacy - the place to start is to keep your mouth shut (and fingers silent) about some of the things you do.

    If you don't protect your OWN privacy - don't expect someone else to do it for you.
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  • Profile picture of the author seasoned
    Seriously! TO THIS DAY, I only have ONE "social site", and that is because someone high at my job requested it, for connections. I tried to get a LOT of connection, and one guy in my immediate friends is a self serving jerk that may PUBLICLY tell lies about me. I have NO MYSPACE or FACEBOOK account! I WON'T give people private logins.

    Steve
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  • Profile picture of the author whateverpedia
    Simple solution - DON'T HAVE A FACEBOOK ACCOUNT.
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    So that blind people can hate them as well.
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    • Profile picture of the author rambo9600
      [DELETED]
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      • Profile picture of the author whateverpedia
        Originally Posted by rambo9600 View Post

        Make sure you vote in November for the right candidate.
        I'm not eligible to vote in November.

        We don't have our next federal election Down Under until 2013.
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        Why do garden gnomes smell so bad?
        So that blind people can hate them as well.
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    • Profile picture of the author seasoned
      Originally Posted by whateverpedia View Post

      Simple solution - DON'T HAVE A FACEBOOK ACCOUNT.
      That doesn't solve anything. What if they INSIST that you give them a login?
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  • Profile picture of the author HeySal
    Kay - this isn't about what you say publicly - this is about having to hand over logins - it's about them requiring that you show what you write privately. PRIVATE communication.

    While it's true that you have to watch what you say online - it's also true that you have the right to speak to someone privately without someone else demanding to review that conversation. This is America - not Nazi Germany.

    The only proper answer to such a demand is: "Go take a flying f*** at a rolling donut. You will be speaking with my lawyer."

    I am appalled at the slave bait that allowed anyone to get away with this. If people would quit selling their damned souls, these entities would quit requiring people to do so just to eat and have a place to live. When are people going to start acting like they have some dignity again and just tell fascists where to get off? They need to start pretty damned fast because they are causing the "authorities" to presume that we can all be treated like cud chewing livestock.

    This disgusts me so bad I could puke. The fact that some people are so low they will take this sh*t infuriates me so bad I can't see straight.
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    Sal
    When the Roads and Paths end, learn to guide yourself through the wilderness
    Beyond the Path

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  • Profile picture of the author RySpencer
    I don't have facebook, therefore this will never happen to me.
    The best way to solve it.
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    • Profile picture of the author HeySal
      Originally Posted by RySpencer View Post

      I don't have facebook, therefore this will never happen to me.
      The best way to solve it.
      And you plan to never go to school or get a brick and mortar job. That's for now. If they get away with this crap now - you won't be able to get anything done without handing over whatever keys you have to ANY information that you should be able to consider private.
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      Sal
      When the Roads and Paths end, learn to guide yourself through the wilderness
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  • Profile picture of the author icegin
    Ridiculous. I don't have a FB account either but forcing people to provide access their private posts in order to go to school, get a job etc. -- what the hell is going on.
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  • Profile picture of the author yukon
    Banned
    My FB account is a fictitious name that lives in Arkansas. I've never even visited Arkansas, lol!

    What's funny is people still friend me & all that usual FB crap.

    I would never in a million years post a real name on a social site account, that's just crazy IMO. FB is nothing but trouble, well, unless your some fictitious guy from Arkansas.
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  • Profile picture of the author Michael Ten
    I would never work for any employer that tried to pull that sort of garbage.
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    • Profile picture of the author Marine0302
      The reality is that most HR departments and hiring managers are screening the social media accounts for job applicants. In some cases, what they find is incredible - pictures of the candidate smoking dope with friends, racist comments, comments that describe them goofing off during their current job, talking bad about their boss, family "fights" or other "Jerry Springer Show" type of comments and behavior. And these are all "public" comments that can be accessed without the person's log-in info!

      I know for a fact that college coaches look at prospective athlete's social media pages during the evaluation process of offering them an athletic scholarship. If they see a kid smoking dope or otherwise behaving badly on a public forum, they will likely pass on them, because experience has shown them that many of these young adults don't have the maturity, judgment, etc.

      I'm not saying this is all the way it should be, but the reality is that public information will be viewed by anyone interested, and until the practice of demanding someone's log-in info is challenged in court and validated or outlawed, it will continue to happen.

      I have a Facebook account that uses my real first name and a false last name - something like "Joe Plumber". My friends only know one Joe who is a plumber and they quickly figure out who is trying to connect with them on Facebook. I also have nobody from my professional life as Facebook friends, as this will inevitably lead to people seeing or learning things about each other that are best avoided. Finally, even though I have taken steps to protect my identity, I don't write or allow anything on my Facebook page that I wouldn't want people in my professional life (current or future) to see.

      We are truly living in interesting times!
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      • Profile picture of the author rambo9600
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        • Profile picture of the author Karen Blundell
          I closed my Facebook account, because of privacy concerns, now this?


          I'd tell them all to take a flying leap.
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        • Profile picture of the author seasoned
          Originally Posted by rambo9600 View Post

          The TSA forced this woman to strip down in a public bathroom and pump breastmilk: Video: TSA Forces Mom Amy Strand to Prove Breast Pump is Real

          The Dumbing Down of America continues.
          [quote]"We accept responsibility for the apparent misunderstanding and any inconvenience or embarrassment this incident may have caused her."{/quote]

          That is a LIE, and they KNOW it! Responsibility is EXPLICITLY DISAVOWED as EMPLOYEES, to say NOTHING of the fact that they are PARAGOVERNMENT employees. It was CLEARLY not a misunderstanding, apparent or otherwise. And they broke a ****TSA**** LAW to give her that embarassment. SERIOUSLY, the rules say that on a pat down search they are to allow you to be searched by someone of your SAME se, and give you the option of A PRIVATE ROOM! IN FACT, they are to ADVISE YOU of that option! I should know, I have had enough pat down searches! I can't get them to NOT advise me, EVEN when I dictate the spiel MYSELF! They say they are REQUIRED to say it!

          But the words accept, responsibility, apparent, misunderstanding, inconveience, and embarrassment are among the words rendered USELESS today!

          Steve
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  • Profile picture of the author HeySal
    I don't have a problem with people looking at what I post that can be read publicly reading it. What's the point of a public post if nobody can read it? You just have to post in mind that EVERYONE can read it. I don't post anything that I don't want someone to see. Yet my posts give a quite solid flavor of who I am. If someone doesn't like who I am, that's not my problem and I don't care. I have seen a lot of posts that make me wince reading them, tough. To confuse a private message and a public post is just plain not lucid thinking.

    Still - I can't imagine someone asking to see my private messages anywhere. If it was someone who expected to have authority over my actions for any period of time, I would press charges. Employers do not own a person, they rent your services for XX amount of hours. If they want you to be under their authority 24/7 - they need to pay you for employment 24/7.

    What about schools? People pay a LOT to go to a college. So what would happen to a school if students just told them - I find your policies of snooping fascist and this institution is not getting my money, thanks, I'll go elsewhere? That college is in deep hock if they don't back off. If students have been raised to be Americans and appreciate and defend their way of life - colleges will stop that crap straight away. So will employers.

    Employers are becoming very smug and tyrannical with so many out of work, and people are becoming desperate enough to work that they are willing to get on their knees for employment. Corporations are becoming little dictatorships all onto themselves because of it. People need regain their senses and their dignity. If we don't stop caving in to unethical demands, everyone is going to be subject to them very soon - and how many of us are willing to be forced that deep into slavery?

    People who refuse to protect their rights and freedoms are a jeopardy to us all these days. It's embarrassing to let the world see what cowards my countrymen and women have become. Really just embarrassing.
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    Sal
    When the Roads and Paths end, learn to guide yourself through the wilderness
    Beyond the Path

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  • Profile picture of the author Dave Patterson
    I've had a daughter and a sister-in-law lose jobs due to FB comments.
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    • Profile picture of the author MissTerraK
      Seems no one is safe.

      Remember about a year back when famous voice actor Gilmore Gottfried who was the voice of the Aflac duck was fired due to an off color joke regarding the Japanese Tsunami on his personal Facebook account?

      I can't imagine what would happen if mandatory private posts are ruled fair game for all employers and government officials.

      Terra
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      • Profile picture of the author HeySal
        Originally Posted by MissTerraK View Post

        Seems no one is safe.

        Remember a few years back when famous voice actor Gilmore Gottfried who was the voice of the Aflac duck was fired due to an off color joke regarding the Japanese Tsunami on his personal Facebook account?

        I can't imagine what would happen if mandatory private posts are ruled fair game for all employers and government officials.

        Terra
        If that happens, and it is getting close to it, just let me out of this place. I don't want to be where leaders are rulers and every damned word I say to anyone, even in private, is under someone else's control. I'll have to find a boat out because I already refuse to give an airlines my money when they allow me to be treated as a criminal at the entry gates. We need to get off our asses and start firing abusers damned fast or we'll have to answer to a "higher authority" no matter what we do or where we go. Want to go to the movies? Not unless your financial officer says you can. Want to talk to a friend on the phone? Not unless your communications officer says you can. Want to find a job that your employer isn't such a fascist douche bag? Not unless your employment officer says you can. Think that's a joke? Consider what you would have thought 20 years ago if someone told you some of the crap going on today would be actually taking place. Don't lie - you would have called them a raving mad tinfoil nutcase.
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        Sal
        When the Roads and Paths end, learn to guide yourself through the wilderness
        Beyond the Path

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        • Profile picture of the author MissTerraK
          Originally Posted by HeySal View Post

          If that happens, and it is getting close to it, just let me out of this place. I don't want to be where leaders are rulers and every damned word I say to anyone, even in private, is under someone else's control. I'll have to find a boat out because I already refuse to give an airlines my money when they allow me to be treated as a criminal at the entry gates. We need to get off our asses and start firing abusers damned fast or we'll have to answer to a "higher authority" no matter what we do or where we go. Want to go to the movies? Not unless your financial officer says you can. Want to talk to a friend on the phone? Not unless your communications officer says you can. Want to find a job that your employer isn't such a fascist douche bag? Not unless your employment officer says you can. Think that's a joke? Consider what you would have thought 20 years ago if someone told you some of the crap going on today would be actually taking place. Don't lie - you would have called them a raving mad tinfoil nutcase.
          That's true Sal!

          Every day right under our noses more and more of our rights, liberties and freedoms are being snuffed out!

          What the heck happened to power of the people? It seems more and more people choose to be blind so that they don't have to do anything, the prevalent popular attitude is let the government take care of me! Oh, they'll take care of you all right!!

          That happens and I'm on the boat with ya! Bon voyage!

          Terra
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          • Profile picture of the author rambo9600
            Originally Posted by MissTerraK View Post

            That's true Sal!

            Every day right under our noses more and more of our rights, liberties and freedoms are being snuffed out!

            What the heck happened power to the people? It seems more and more people choose to be blind so that they don't have to do anything, the prevalent popular attitude is let the government take care of me! Oh, they'll take care of you all right!!

            That happens and I'm on the boat with ya! Bon voyage!

            Terra
            People are ignorant, naive, stupid, and lazy, it's really that simple. People seem to believe they are entitled, the Government will take care of of us, and they do nothing to learn more about politics. Look at the last TOOL who got elected, nothing but 30 second soundbites and promises.

            I laughed at people who honestly believed his crap. 3 years later, the truth came out.

            There is an election coming in November for all you clueless minions.

            Spend more time planning who to vote for than planning for a vacation.
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            • Profile picture of the author MissTerraK
              Originally Posted by rambo9600 View Post

              People are ignorant, naive, stupid, and lazy, it's really that simple. People seem to believe they are entitled, the Government will take care of of us, and they do nothing to learn more about politics. Look at the last TOOL who got elected, nothing but 30 second soundbites and promises.

              I laughed at people who honestly believed his crap. 3 years later, the truth came out.

              There is an election coming in November for all you clueless minions.

              Spend more time planning who to vote for than planning for a vacation.
              My fear is that if some people haven't realized what is happening yet, then no matter what else happens, they'll still be clueless!

              We were never created to be slaves or mindless robots that do whatever we're "programmed" to do. We need a serious wake up call!

              Terra
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          • Profile picture of the author Karen Blundell
            Originally Posted by MissTerraK View Post


            That happens and I'm on the boat with ya! Bon voyage!

            Terra
            wait for me!

            :p
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            • Profile picture of the author Kay King
              I guess I'm odd. I don't have a problem with a potential employer asking for access to social sites. I don't have to grant that access - and he doesn't have to hire me. He doesn't have a right to force the access any more than I have a right to get the job. Where's the "slavery"?

              My neighbor said his company asks for social site access - and assumes anyone giving access has nothing to hide. Said when people apply for jobs and jump into "privacy rants" (his words) they are eliminated. He said they seldom look at Facebook pages when they get the access.

              The jobs he's hiring for are $80k and above - and the company is trusting employees with its reputation and proprietary information. They want open and honest employees - what rights does that violate?

              I guess I just don't get the rants that portray income producing jobs as slave labor and all corporations as blood sucking leeches. Either you are self-supporting through some job or business you work - or you live off the work of others...or you inherit money.
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              • Profile picture of the author seasoned
                Originally Posted by Kay King View Post

                I guess I'm odd. I don't have a problem with a potential employer asking for access to social sites. I don't have to grant that access - and he doesn't have to hire me. He doesn't have a right to force the access any more than I have a right to get the job. Where's the "slavery"?

                My neighbor said his company asks for social site access - and assumes anyone giving access has nothing to hide. Said when people apply for jobs and jump into "privacy rants" (his words) they are eliminated. He said they seldom look at Facebook pages when they get the access.

                The jobs he's hiring for are $80k and above - and the company is trusting employees with its reputation and proprietary information. They want open and honest employees - what rights does that violate?

                I guess I just don't get the rants that portray income producing jobs as slave labor and all corporations as blood sucking leeches. Either you are self-supporting through some job or business you work - or you live off the work of others...or you inherit money.
                If the person has nothing to hide, then there is no reason to ask!

                People in all areas of my life might write to any area. They MAY want to know that private letters stay PRIVATE! In such a case, I have NO RIGHT to grant access to others!

                If I give full access to all employers, isn't that mutually just STUPID, etc?

                What happens if some virus or trojan posts, or that company has a problem? ALL THREE have happened before, who's to say it won't happen many times again?

                And what am I to do? Keep track of the hundreds of sites I have had, or might get, and constantly check them? That will take several hours a day, IF I am lucky! Am I getting paid for THAT? What happens if I find a discrepancy? With potentially dozens with access, how do I track it down, etc?

                And what of the OLD posts I made that I can no longer access? What of the ones that WEREN'T made by me? What of pseudonyms? Sorry, there has to be SOME trust.

                The FBI has a better way to do such things and, though it is invasive, it is less invasive than this.

                Steve
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                • Profile picture of the author AprilCT
                  We've lost our privacy everywhere and it infuriates me. I think it's very unnecessary. I have no linked in and I have no twitter and I have no Facebook. But when I do (if I do) get those things, no one else is getting those passwords.

                  However, we have noticed there are cameras on stoplights all over the place and in one major town, there are cameras on every lightpole as people walk around. You can't just walk into many buildings without a guard making you sign in and show ID, then give you a temporary ID while you are in a building. It all makes you not only very uncomfortable, it also feels like you are not in a place that is safe, and of course you hope to never need to go back again as well.

                  I have refused to fly because I don't want to be x-rayed and groped and have all my personal stuff gone through by a bunch of low-paid people who might or might not know what they are doing.

                  It just doesn't seem like America. My dad who was a WWII vet (deceased) would have had a heart attack just seeing all this stuff.

                  People are not objects, we are human beings, born to be free. Surely there is a better and much more sane way to preserve our freedom.
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        • Profile picture of the author seasoned
          Originally Posted by HeySal View Post

          Consider what you would have thought 20 years ago if someone told you some of the crap going on today would be actually taking place. Don't lie - you would have called them a raving mad tinfoil nutcase.
          Not ME, I saw it coming! What surprises ME is that it is SO open and people FIGHT for it!

          I said even 30 years ago, and I have said it HERE! If I could live on another planet, and could just see and here what happens on earth, I would have all the amusement one could ask for, and would not care one bit what happens here.

          It is just SICK what has been happening. I've noticed society just degrade so. It USED to be something to be PROUD of. NOW, it is embarrassing.

          Steve
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    • Profile picture of the author HeySal
      Originally Posted by Dave Patterson View Post

      I've had a daughter and a sister-in-law lose jobs due to FB comments.

      private or public comments?
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      Sal
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  • Profile picture of the author whateverpedia
    Just remember folks, that when a service is offered to you for free, YOU ARE THE PRODUCT.
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    • Profile picture of the author HeySal
      Originally Posted by whateverpedia View Post

      Just remember folks, that when a service is offered to you for free, YOU ARE THE PRODUCT.
      Don't see what that has to do with someone telling you that you have to let them see your private communications. If you don't like FB, fine - get off it, but someone telling you that you have to fork over your login details is tyrannical bull sh** and they need to be told where to shove it. I for one, have no intentions of discontinuing to use that service, and I'll be damned if I'm passing my passwords to anyone just because I do. I am a citizen, not a freaking prisoner.
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      Sal
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  • Profile picture of the author Sunfyre7896
    Yes, I was going to say immediately without reading the article that all you'd have to do is create a fake page to circumvent that nonsense.

    This is outrageous. Your social pages are yours and yours alone to be shared with trusted friends and maybe some not so trusted friends, but never employers or schools. Especially knowing that anything you post could lead to but not limited to termination, reprimands, lack of acceptance, and other negative outcomes. It is in no way a company or school's right to see your private lives. That's what Facebook is for. This sounds like some Gestapo nonsense to gain access to every facet of your lives.

    I say something should be done about this. In the meantime, just create a fake page with the same photo. Don't friend any of your friends or yourself or they'll have access to your real page. Just say that the fake page is for expressing yourself privately. However, I'm sure that the company or boss will try to friend one of your friends to have a backdoor sort of access.

    In the end, if you post a questionable pic or statement, it shouldn't be held against you if you did it on your own time. That would be like your boss demanding access into your home so that he/she can spy and monitor your every action. It's invasion of privacy to say the least.
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    • Profile picture of the author Kay King
      If you don't manage your own reputation - why don't you?

      The arguments are much like those years ago when credit ratings were being requested by banks and insurance companies and landlords. You can see where that argument went.

      I know two people who were outraged at their firing and threatened legal action. Neither was able to find a lawyer to take their case about the privacy of their Facebook pages.

      Odd thing is - the reason people seem to post outrageous things on Facebook is only to impress other people (usually people they don't know). What's up with that?

      Like it or not - what you post online reflects who you are to those who see the photos or read what you write. The privacy train left a long time ago - now the best option is to make sure what you say online doesn't hurt you offline. Is that really so hard?

      It's great fun to say what you would or would not put up with - but there's a lot of people applying to schools, for scholarships, for jobs. Giving up what you want in your life to protect a right to talk trash on Facebook doesn't seem like a good trade to me. Just sayin...

      kay
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      • Profile picture of the author ThomM
        Originally Posted by Kay King View Post

        If you don't manage your own reputation - why don't you?

        The arguments are much like those years ago when credit ratings were being requested by banks and insurance companies and landlords. You can see where that argument went.

        I know two people who were outraged at their firing and threatened legal action. Neither was able to find a lawyer to take their case about the privacy of their Facebook pages.

        Odd thing is - the reason people seem to post outrageous things on Facebook is only to impress other people (usually people they don't know). What's up with that?

        Like it or not - what you post online reflects who you are to those who see the photos or read what you write. The privacy train left a long time ago - now the best option is to make sure what you say online doesn't hurt you offline. Is that really so hard?

        It's great fun to say what you would or would not put up with - but there's a lot of people applying to schools, for scholarships, for jobs. Giving up what you want in your life to protect a right to talk trash on Facebook doesn't seem like a good trade to me. Just sayin...

        kay
        Kay again, it's not about them having access to what you post, it's about them having access to your entire account including private messages you have sent or received from one individual.
        It's really no different from them demanding your user name and password to your email accounts.
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  • Profile picture of the author HeySal
    It's not that they can read your public posts that bothers me- it's that they want to read private messages, too. There is nothing about a private message that is anyone else's right to read - and yes, people want educations and jobs - but at some point you have to draw lines and stand up for your rights, Kay. How much control are you willing to let someone have over your life before you say enough is enough and take a stand? It took blood to get this country and our freedom - you throw that away because some meglamaniacal corporate chump wants to treat employees like slaves? Being a slave has no dignity. It might be easier for ya for awhile - but sooner or later a surrender of every right to your person and autonomy leads to a hell of a lot worse problems that people seem to realize. Corporations were not meant to govern us. They are supposed to work within our national laws. So let a fascist company die - get your jobs elsewhere, and the next company raised to take the dead fascist organizatoin's place will have a clue what people won't take. And there will be another company to take its place. If you have stood ground to have enough free enterprise left for things to still work like they are supposed to here. People do need jobs - but a job isn't supposed to cost your soul. If you let them take it, you have a slave mentality. Private means private. Public means public. "Authority" needs to understand the difference just as people posting do.
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    Sal
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  • Profile picture of the author InWait
    So if I've never had a Facebook account, what are they going to do? Say sorry, we can't accept your application? Or are they going to demand know about other sites, such as message boards, that I may have posted on?

    Where does it end? Better yet, where did it start in the first place?
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  • Profile picture of the author Khemosabi
    I'm going with Sal on this one. Here's the difference. A personal profile is just that. What I do in my personal life, is, um, personal. It's bad enough that I can't go outside and ride my horses without my neighbors (more than one) going outside to "see" what I'm doing, or doing wrong.
    Here's the deal... Google keeps tabs on you, you don't think so, if you have a smart phone, they're mapping your A**. Just out of fun, hit your map-app (that was funny!), when you're on the toilet! Ok, just kidding there, but I wonder if Google Earth could locate you?? EEK!
    On a more serious note, a lot of people right now have less than superb credit scores. So, if a job you are qualified for, hands down, requires a credit report, you're screwed. NOT because you don't pay your bills, it's because you have lost your job, and cannot! Doesn't make you a creep, it makes you a person trying to fix a bad situation (read responsible)!!
    On to the social media topic, what ever happened to my qualifications being the why and how I got, or didn't get a job?? What the helL does my FB page have to do with anything? Unless I posted a picture of myself searching my boss's files, I'd say.. NOT A DAMNED THING! Gosh, I just cussed again! Hope the Mods don't go all FB on me!
    Now to end my rant, I want to add this, most of us are right! They are watching, moderating, and spying on you. It's no longer a conspiracy theory, it's a fact, and a sad one. Want to test it out, call the White House and complain about POTUS, they'll ask you your social #. UHOH..
    Freedom of Speech, not so much. I wish more would wake up to this!
    I'll be back to post a time and date of when I see the big black cars parked outside my property! Ok, just kidding again. I hope! :rolleyes:
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