Technology

Should You Be Required to Turn Over Full Access to Facebook on a Job Interview?

Employers, Colleges Seeking More Facebook Access from Potential Candidates

Employers and colleges are asking candidates more often for full access to social media site profiles like Facebook.

It would be delusional to think that potential employers and college admission officers or coaches didn’t take a peek at Facebook profiles as a way to gain some insight into the person they may hire or accept. If your privacy settings are at a point where they can’t see or locate your full profile though, MSNBC reports, it has become more common for them to ask you to turn over full access to them.

The corrections department of Maryland, for example, had job candidates hand over or type in passwords on the interview and browsed pages while the subject sat painfully across from them. MSNBC reports that schools and collegiate athletic teams are following suit having students add coaches as friends or working through other administrators to see what is on Facebook pages.

But is this required surrendering of one’s personal life for a job or sports team acceptance going to far? According to MSNBC at least one lawyer thinks it is violating First Amendment rights:

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?”

[...]

“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?”

MSNBC goes on to report that some legislators in Maryland are even proposing bills to ban employers and schools from looking into a candidate’s Facebook page as part of the decision process, a move supported by the ACLU. MSNBC also notes the ACLU’s legislative director Melissa Coretz Goemann as saying that requiring sharing of passwords or any other activity that “might jeopardize the security of your account” is against Facebook’s Terms of Use. Facebook even confirmed that the aforementioned cases would be considered violations:

“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,” [Facebook spokesperson Frederic Wolens] said in a statement to msnbc.com. Wolens said Facebook has yet to take a position on collegiate social media monitoring.

It is unclear if the potential laws preventing sharing of passwords would also protect against over the shoulder access to personal social media sites during interviews. Goemann told MSNBC that in the case of the Maryland Department of Corrections this part of the interview was voluntary, but she said many would submit as they wanted to score well.

[H/T SlashGear]

Comments (120)

1 2 3
  • Lesbian Packing Hollow Points
    Posted on March 7, 2012 at 7:52pm

    Reason No. 35, why I don’t even have a Facebook account.

    I just wonder if asked to divulge my Facebook account to an interviewer and telling them, “I don’t have any social media accounts,” would they believe me?

    Report Post » Lesbian Packing Hollow Points  
    • Gb_rebel
      Posted on March 13, 2012 at 5:38am

      You should reply that giving them full access to your Face Book page would go against your
      own privacy policy. And also tell them you can upon request give them a copy of it within 48 hours
      with a 7 to 10 day shipping and handling… You may not get job but you have the right to secure
      your personal information and activity. I have my own privacy policy and use it all the time.
      Businesses hate me not giving them information. If they want my business they will accept
      my policy.

      Report Post »  
  • COFemale
    Posted on March 7, 2012 at 7:47pm

    This is absolute an invasion of privacy and any company who ask me to give them my logon information is not a company I want to work for. If they invade my privacy this way, then where will they invade.

    During an interview, I‘d get up and walk out saying I see this is a company I don’t want to work for.

    Report Post » COFemale  
    • Loki
      Posted on March 7, 2012 at 8:29pm

      agreed.
      bad enough my workplace is threatening that termination is possible if i post something on my facebook that violates their “workplace code of conduct”.
      even though i do not have their name as my workplace, or like anything by their company.
      or do anything they object wearing a shirt that might look like their uniform

      Report Post » Loki  
    • FreedomPurveyor
      Posted on March 7, 2012 at 8:51pm

      If we keep going down this road, the government will bypass the part where you voluntarily hand over the information. Instead, they will simply compel Facebook to allow them to view all information, all the time.

      Report Post » FreedomPurveyor  
    • Marci
      Posted on March 7, 2012 at 10:19pm

      This is going too far. If you want to probe that far, you don’t want to keep a handle on the work environment the traditional way. This is what probationary periods are for, to see if you truly can handle the job and are a good fit.

      Report Post » Marci  
    • ChiefGeorge
      Posted on March 8, 2012 at 12:06am

      I had a company recruiter ask me to like their company after I accepted their offer. Liking their company also I believe allows them to peek at me. Not so? I’ve nothing to hide so like away!

      Report Post » ChiefGeorge  
    • ChiefGeorge
      Posted on March 8, 2012 at 12:07am

      FB will be linked to your implanted chip…what do you mean compel? Geesh! This is where we are going whether u believe it or not.

      Report Post » ChiefGeorge  
    • rawmilker
      Posted on March 8, 2012 at 2:09am

      fb now has software that when someone mentions obozo in a post, it automatically goes to a page that compiles all comments that mention him. Its nothing but a CIA database

      Report Post » rawmilker  
    • Smokey_Bojangles
      Posted on March 8, 2012 at 2:34am

      And yet the same folks DEMAND drug testing. Give them an inch they will take a yard. You asked for it,you got it.

      Report Post » Smokey_Bojangles  
    • nzkiwi
      Posted on March 8, 2012 at 3:22am

      And then what?

      Should you hand over your personal diary and all family photos as well?

      Report Post »  
    • GhostOfJefferson
      Posted on March 8, 2012 at 7:27am

      @Smokey

      False. I’ve been against mandatory drug screening (just to get a job or as part of the hiring process) since it reared its head in the 1980′s.

      Report Post » GhostOfJefferson  
    • Tyson
      Posted on March 8, 2012 at 10:54am

      Why do you people even have a Facebook account to begin with? Jeez, for people who are suppose to be awake, you sure are drowsy. Social Security numbers to log on soon, continue to build a file for the government with known associates, political writtings etc.if you want to but Why are you helping them? I really don’t get it.

      Report Post » Tyson  
    • woebegone
      Posted on March 8, 2012 at 2:07pm

      The truth, at least in most high earning arenas, is that the minute a company hires you they think they own you, and maybe they do. There are all sorts of reasons for this–some of them very good–unfortunately your ability to act as a human in the world is severely curtailed. The truth is uncomfortable but it is this, the more I make the more public my activities the less freedom I have. It is what it is and I suspect it has always been this way. So if I want my high salary, a salary commensurate with my education I have spent my adolescence and early adulthood aquiring; not only do I give up all my post adolescent “social years” because I am in school, But I also give up every wilding I can ever experience because the constraints of employment and public opinion have become so unforgiving over time. Women are particularly victim to this, men are allowed youthful oat sowing and stupid mistakes, women are not. Any woman who makes a mistake is a miscreant.

      For those of you confused by the backlash against Rush’s comments, I can tell you only this–if this started a conversation about the indolent and growing misogyny is America, I am all for it. I for one am so very sick of being a prisoner to employers and public opinion.

      Report Post »  
    • little big man
      Posted on March 8, 2012 at 2:31pm

      Here is a better Idea don’t even use face book. it’s worthless.

      Report Post » little big man  
    • teamarcheson
      Posted on March 8, 2012 at 3:36pm

      When Facebook first came out, a Principal of a NJ Catholic High School issued a policy that any student who used Facebook would be expelled from the High School. He came under extreme attack from parents but did not relent. His position was that children were entering personal information that in the future they would regret and that it was un-Christian to spread rumors about students or faculty. That principal was right and the parents were wrong.

      Report Post »  
  • Searchingforthelight
    Posted on March 7, 2012 at 7:47pm

    Trick question. The answer should be no access period. Should anyone have access to your diary, your gps info. No period. Would I want to work for a company that did? No period. The Timeline is not just for fun. Think outside the box.

    Report Post »  
    • greatgrandma
      Posted on March 8, 2012 at 7:53am

      When my sister-n-law had a car accident and was injured from it,. She was asked if she kept a diary. When she replied yes, they got a court order for her to hand it over.

      Report Post »  
  • Midwest Blonde
    Posted on March 7, 2012 at 7:45pm

    Anybody who has been on the internet for any length of time KNOWS you lie in your online profiles. I’ve been using phony profiles for years now. EXCEPT one account – on facebook – where I only friend people I actually KNOW personally, and my family (including several grandchildren). That account is locked down so tight NO ONE can find me unless I want them to. All my gaming online is under phony IDs.

    And if my employer wants my info, she can go to hell. I only work for her 40 hours a week, my OFF time is MY time.

    Report Post » Midwest Blonde  
  • grannyjojo
    Posted on March 7, 2012 at 7:45pm

    Lets see, I have a facebook account, haven’t updated it in 2 years, have pics of my flower garden, my veggie garden and pics of my grandbabies on it. You want to look at it before you hire me? Take a hike, I don’t want your stinking job, PERIOD. They can only get away with it because people don’t stand up to them. I‘d’ sue your butt off and THEN wouldn’t take your stinking job. “Every knee will bow and every tongue confess”

    Report Post »  
    • Smokey_Bojangles
      Posted on March 8, 2012 at 2:36am

      You gave them the POWER when you said it was ok to drug test.

      Report Post » Smokey_Bojangles  
    • GhostOfJefferson
      Posted on March 8, 2012 at 7:30am

      @Smokey

      You make a lot of assumptions, direct assumptions, about individuals. You think you’re getting some kind of revenge, but fact of the matter is a lot of folks here are not “social conservatives”, but rather libertarians. Libertarians have never cottoned to drug testing.

      Report Post » GhostOfJefferson  
    • mdeputy7
      Posted on March 8, 2012 at 3:52pm

      @smokey
      Why the heck do you complain so much about drug testing? I see nothing wrong with it personally. Drugs make people dangerous, and for certain types of jobs, you can’t have dangerous people around or you get sued when they do something stupid. They are also trying to make sure that you aren’t going to be in and out of prison for possession if you are going to be working for them.

      Report Post »  
  • Mateytwo Barreett
    Posted on March 7, 2012 at 7:44pm

    What’s a Job Interview? Sounds like it may have something to do with applications!

    Report Post » Mateytwo Barreett  
  • Snowleopard {gallery of cat folks}
    Posted on March 7, 2012 at 7:41pm

    The matter is very simple, there is no need for such information to be given as it crosses the line into private matters and should never be given out. How much control goes on here, I do not have either a facebook page nor a cell phone – and yes I have recently been asked about that at a job I had applied for.

    When they asked why I was very direct – there is no need for me to have one. I also explained that if I did find any employer discriminated against me due to not having a cell phone or social media like that of facebook a major lawsuit for violation of civil rights would be following.

    Report Post » Snowleopard {gallery of cat folks}  
    • taxpro4u03
      Posted on March 7, 2012 at 8:22pm

      In today’s environment — if you are NOT hired one has every RIGHT to file a civil suit — for DISCRIMINATION. Wrongful termination (even in at-will employment states) — Corporations are attempting to ‘own’ the private lives of their ‘slaves,‘ and until the critical THINKERS stop bowing down to this ABUSE of power it’ll continue. Just say NONE OF YOUR BUSINESS – and DO advise them you will be filing a civil suit against them personally AND at the corporate level — naming EVERYONE. ‘you’ are a legal fiction when ‘doing business.‘ Your sovereign ’self‘ does NOT cede itself in pursuit of means to earn a living at the discretion of a potential ’employer.‘ they’re ALL ‘on trial,’ and until people STRIKE BACK in the name of decency it will continue.

      Report Post »  
    • ChiefGeorge
      Posted on March 8, 2012 at 12:09am

      You didn’t get the job right?

      Report Post » ChiefGeorge  
  • pugsly84
    Posted on March 7, 2012 at 7:28pm

    Employers are getting way out of hand anymore, you have to practically give up your first born when applying for a job. And these dumbas$ HR reps well thats another story.

    Report Post »  
    • woebegone
      Posted on March 7, 2012 at 7:54pm

      The truth may just be that my having had cancer, no matter how cured I may be, makes me unemployable. The problem being that given my profession I am not going to be given any sort of disability. I guess in many ways I am OK with that, but the truth is I have seen people demand disability because they had a panic attack three years ago, people who never contributed to anything but are supported forever. Don’t get me wrong, I want to contribute. But I have fought in the trenches of urban chaos, and have been cheerful all the while battling cancer. I am ashamed saying this but it is the truth, somehow I think I should be ashamed claiming strength doing cancer and still working in the trenches.
      Sorry….

      Report Post »  
  • LOTO
    Posted on March 7, 2012 at 7:19pm

    As the borrower is slave to the lender so goes the worker to the employer, the insurance company, and the the lawyer. If you are not dept free then you are a slave. Think that you are not, think again.

    Report Post » LOTO  
  • woebegone
    Posted on March 7, 2012 at 7:18pm

    Just de-enrolled from Face Book for exactly this reason. Not that I have anything to hide but because I don’t keep up with it. So I don’t particularly want employers to be up to date on the cancer I had two years ago. At the time I thought it would be a good way to let people who cared, know what was going on, and it was helpful in that way. I got all sorts of support from people I never thought would care and I am cured now and I think, it helped. But the task is done, and the potential for damage in the future set in. Privacy has always been an issue with me, so I tend to be a lonely person, so much so that when the crisis happened, I looked for help in all odd places and it came and it did help. But now I am like a turtle pulling in, because the reality is that privacy is a real issue for me and on some level my flailing for support in crisis reveals me as unworthy of my position. Believe me, I understand that that previous assertion may be maddeningly vague, there are however endeavors in this world where any personal revelation is damaging, I am involved in one of these. So I discontinued Face Book. Still I wonder if this is enough. The truth is I am mostly a very private person and would like to keep it that way despite the failure of this that came with having cancer.

    Report Post »  
  • marcus_arealius
    Posted on March 7, 2012 at 7:16pm

    You have to be an idiot to use any social networking site and post anything other than what would be in a telephone book. The most dumb ass idea in the last 100 years.. Let’s see, why don’t I write stuff about myself that shows the entire planet what a moron I am, how I act like a moron, where I live, who I’m screwing, or not screwing, drugs I take, shoplifting ventures, cheating on tests, falsifying applications for whatever, and so on.. Then to cap it off, I’ll upload some pics and videos of me acting like an *******, a drunk, and if I’m really wasted, acting like a democrat activist or union thug. Yeah, that’s sounds great.

    Hey dumb asses, even what I write here (these words, get it?) I assume are going to be archived forever. Oh, have you put a camera block on your device? You know, your laptop, tablet, phone, etc? Are you sure it’s not infected with a worm that turns on the camera and sends the video to who knows where?

    Uh, there’s a knock at the door, I’ve got to go..

    Report Post »  
  • ErinLindsey
    Posted on March 7, 2012 at 7:14pm

    This is why I have two facebooks… One in my real name, and one in my internet alias. I dont use either of them very often, but if I were to apply for a job, they’d get my real name facebook…which I hardly ever update, and it only has a couple of pictures of my dog on it and me telling a relative or two “merry xmas” or “happy birthday”.

    I keep my real name separate from my internet alias.

    Report Post » ErinLindsey  
  • ExpertShot
    Posted on March 7, 2012 at 7:11pm

    Guess it‘s a good thing I’ve never had a facebook page.

    Report Post » ExpertShot  
    • Macman1138
      Posted on March 7, 2012 at 7:20pm

      Amen.
      If you ever looked at a Facebook account, you would see that is a waste of time.

      Report Post » Macman1138  
    • copatriots
      Posted on March 7, 2012 at 8:42pm

      Fake and narcissistic. Gave new meaning to the phrase “it’s all about me”.

      Report Post »  
  • Jenny Lind
    Posted on March 7, 2012 at 7:11pm

    They asked for a lot of information if I wanted to comment on a site that has them. I didn’t feel comfortable giving several services my information, so here is the place comment, and that’s enough for me.

    Report Post »  
  • Eric_The_Red_State
    Posted on March 7, 2012 at 7:03pm

    Public……. is public —
    Private….. is private —

    What’s hard to understand about that?

    Report Post » Eric_The_Red_State  
    • justangry
      Posted on March 7, 2012 at 7:18pm

      Laws are being passed that make what’s private, public. That‘s what’s wrong.

      Report Post » justangry  
  • ddajs
    Posted on March 7, 2012 at 6:58pm

    Another way businesses are trying to intrude into our every day lives. They already do drug test, and background checks. This is not the government doing this, it is the free market business.

    Report Post »  
  • NOTYERHUCKLEBERRY
    Posted on March 7, 2012 at 6:58pm

    What happens if one doesn’t have a facebook or twitter account? Gonna make me get one?

    Report Post »  
    • copatriots
      Posted on March 7, 2012 at 7:01pm

      Somehow I see “fake” accounts becoming the new norm.

      So glad I quit FB after a few months test with completely fabricated information.

      Report Post »  
    • Rowgue
      Posted on March 7, 2012 at 9:16pm

      Fake accounts are already very prevelant. There is a whole new industry that has sprouted up due to all the social networking stuff. Ordinary everyday people consult with PR firms now, especially people seeking employment. One of the biggest things they advise their clients to do is create fake facebook accounts that contain only things that make you look good, whether any of it is real or you fabricate it for the purpose.

      Report Post »  
  • NotPoliticallyCorrect
    Posted on March 7, 2012 at 6:57pm

    Pshhhh, of course you shouldn’t give away your password, it‘s against FB’s TOS, it’s a trick question ;)

    Report Post » NotPoliticallyCorrect  
  • copatriots
    Posted on March 7, 2012 at 6:57pm

    Why anyone trusts FB with so much personal information is beyond logic.

    Report Post »  
  • justangry
    Posted on March 7, 2012 at 6:56pm

    Keep pushing tyrants. Not enough people are pissed off yet… apparently.

    Report Post » justangry  
  • Razorhunters
    Posted on March 7, 2012 at 6:56pm

    watching cspan 1…
    west and others talking tax code.
    love west , but dam he votes on bad things.

    Report Post » Razorhunters  
  • KidCharlemagne
    Posted on March 7, 2012 at 6:55pm

    I saw this coming years ago…..and that is exactly the reason that I have refrained from engaging in social networking of any form.

    This is like a New World Order and Number of the Beast all rolled into one.

    Report Post »  
  • Rowgue
    Posted on March 7, 2012 at 6:53pm

    It’s not any sort of constitutional violation because you have to voluntarily submit to their request.

    I do find it innapropriate though. If I ever had somebody ask me for full access to my profile, even though I don’t even have one, I would immediately excuse myself and tell them I’m not interested in working for anybody that would even consider making such a request.

    Report Post »  
  • RamonPreston
    Posted on March 7, 2012 at 6:50pm

    We lose more and more rights every day.

    Report Post » RamonPreston  
    • copatriots
      Posted on March 7, 2012 at 6:58pm

      The sadder part is we don’t lose just lose rights…….the majority of society gives away the rights for the rest of us.

      Report Post »  
    • Exrepublisheep
      Posted on March 7, 2012 at 7:28pm

      @copatriots. Well said.

      Report Post » Exrepublisheep  
  • The Third Archon
    Posted on March 7, 2012 at 6:48pm

    “SHOULD YOU BE REQUIRED TO TURNOVER FULL ACCESS TO FACEBOOK ON A JOB INTERVIEW?”
    No, no it obviously shouldn’t. But since people seem fine at turning a blind eye to authoritarianism in the economy, I suppose there won’t be much protest when the modern slave-holding class (the so-called “job creators” who couldn‘t tell you what jobs they’d created) tells its slaves how to dance.

    Report Post » The Third Archon  
    • GhostOfJefferson
      Posted on March 8, 2012 at 7:39am

      Please, spare me the drama.

      People can be buttheads regardless of the venue (government/private). The question is “can I walk away from the buttheads, or am I compelled to entertain their whims at the point of a gun”. That’s the difference between private and government. Nobody likes to be put upon with things like in this article. The traditional American solution would be for folks to open their own businesses and not demand this kind of crap.

      Report Post » GhostOfJefferson  
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