[Lancaster Online]

[tergiversator]

That is an obscene violation of privacy and a practice that should be stopped immediately. With few exceptions, when you're off the clock, you're off the clock.

[StrobeSML]

I fail to see where the number of friends on my Facebook page or commentary I wrote about a particular issue makes any difference for whatever job I am applying for (except, of course, unless I am trying for a position as a writer and had no published works to consider then perhaps). You should never give out your password and I believe it should be illegal for them to ask for it.

[gsmart]

I fail to see where the number of friends on my Facebook page or commentary I wrote about a particular issue makes any difference for whatever job I am applying for (except, of course, unless I am trying for a position as a writer and had no published works to consider then perhaps). You should never give out your password and I believe it should be illegal for them to ask for it.

But the company will say that it has a vested interest in determining whether you're engaging in conduct that could be detrimental to the company. Doesn't the company have a right to do that?

[skeptic2]

But the company will say that it has a vested interest in determining whether you're engaging in conduct that could be detrimental to the company. Doesn't the company have a right to do that?

The ACLU has been looking for test cases and this looks like one. This privacy issue only seems to matter to a minority of people (which I don't understand), but hopefully the courts will do something. What is good about this is that a distinction will be made between what is publicly available and a private profile.

My hope would be that companies would simply not try to oversee people's behavior when they are not on the clock, but I realize that it would require new laws to achieve that.

[skeptic2]

I think the reason that this type of abuse continues is because we think of 20 year olds who post personal information or talk about illegal behavior, and we feel that they shouldn't do so.

Well, how about I go to work tomorrow and fire my employee who still has a McCain/Palin bumpersticker on her car? I think she did this to irritate me and I don't think that the campaign's ideas are compatible with the mission of our enterprise. She parks that car in a private lot and our customers stream past it on their way in. Many of them are Democrats and they might stop coming. It would be better for business if we didn't bring politics into the office. I suppose that I could just ask her to remove it first, then fire her if she refuses to do so.

[lanzate]

But the company will say that it has a vested interest in determining whether you're engaging in conduct that could be detrimental to the company. Doesn't the company have a right to do that?

That was Obama's argument. He also required all applicants on his staff to hand over all passwords to social networking sites, chatrooms and internet forums. So goes the leader of the free world.....

[skeptic2]

That was Obama's argument. He also required all applicants on his staff to hand over all passwords to social networking sites, chatrooms and internet forums. So goes the leader of the free world.....

So obviously, it's legal (or at least no one has successfully challenged yet).

When this comes up, we get into discussions about legality and defining "private". My point is that the status quo should change. How you draw the line between a site like Facebook, what you say in public, what your t-shirt says, what tattoos you have and what sign you have in your front yard defies me. It shouldn't matter- what you do on your time should rarely cause a problem. Of course, there could be exceptions- if I work for Boeing and I start a web page falsely indicating that their planes are unsafe....

[Robotspyder]

That was Obama's argument. He also required all applicants on his staff to hand over all passwords to social networking sites, chatrooms and internet forums. So goes the leader of the free world.....

Hand over all passwords to social networking sites??
If the job ment that much to me .... Maybe. But ..... There goes the idea freedom and of password protected!!
I figure that I work with the public. I have to put foreward a certian persona (mask) to the people. My personal politics, religion or lack of, has no place in my work
and has no effect on my job performance.
Yes! I have a Facebook account. And, no my employer does not ask for my password. My employer also has a Facebook account and we exchange ideas and photos! Gee .... What fun!
If you have something to hide .... Don't post it on the internet!!

However it is strange that the leader of the so call "Free World" requires you to hand over ALL your freedoms / secrets (cough) passwords .........

So much for freedom!!

O's a Commie .... What did you expect???

[StrobeSML]

But the company will say that it has a vested interest in determining whether you're engaging in conduct that could be detrimental to the company. Doesn't the company have a right to do that?

No unless they are on my friends list. Does the company have the right to monitor private conversations between friends? Would they have the right to attach a microphone to my clothes and record every conversation that I have to make sure that it doesn't reflect poorly on the company? The whole reason that the company needs the password is because the commentary is not open to the general public.

While some information is appropriate to gather during the vetting process for a job, this is not. It should also be remembered that anyone who has access to my login also has access to my friend's pages which are also not public. They should not have access to that information.

That's the issue in a nutshell. If they were to, for example, look at my postings here at Talkback, I'd have no problem with that. This is a public forum and I write my commentary appropriately. On the other hand, what I write on Facebook is between myself and my friends -- not some schmuck who may want to hire me based on my social networking. If he want to see what I have written there, he can try to join my friends list.

[Bigmaclender2]

No unless they are on my friends list. Does the company have the right to monitor private conversations between friends? Would they have the right to attach a microphone to my clothes and record every conversation that I have to make sure that it doesn't reflect poorly on the company? The whole reason that the company needs the password is because the commentary is not open to the general public.

While some information is appropriate to gather during the vetting process for a job, this is not. It should also be remembered that anyone who has access to my login also has access to my friend's pages which are also not public. They should not have access to that information.

That's the issue in a nutshell. If they were to, for example, look at my postings here at Talkback, I'd have no problem with that. This is a public forum and I write my commentary appropriately. On the other hand, what I write on Facebook is between myself and my friends -- not some schmuck who may want to hire me based on my social networking. If he want to see what I have written there, he can try to join my friends list.

I agree with this completely. This is perhaps a minute example but all they have to do is read my Talkback and know that I am gay before they ever meet me-I would love to believe that people don't disriminate but they do-welcome to the real world! I am against it totally!