Reps say your boss can demand your social media login info...

pretty sure at least facebook has said that asking for this is a breach of Facebook terms and conditions and that they might just sue/help people sue their employers for asking such things

www.facebook.com...

You will not solicit login information or access an account belonging to someone else. You will not bully, intimidate, or harass any user.

You will not share your password (or in the case of developers, your secret key), let anyone else access your account, or do anything else that might jeopardize the security of your account. You will not transfer your account (including any Page or application you administer) to anyone without first getting our written permission.

also seems that if the law passes that makes it illegal for your boss to ask fb will help sue the crap out of them possibly www.zdnet.com...

"Facebook takes your privacy seriously," Egan said in a statement. "We'll take action to protect the privacy and security of our users, whether by engaging policymakers or, where appropriate, by initiating legal action, including by shutting down applications that abuse their privileges. While we will continue to do our part, it is important that everyone on Facebook understands they have a right to keep their password to themselves, and we will do our best to protect that right."

so hopefully this practice is made illegal but i would assume with the cavat that if your on fb at work for some reason they will know as your using their network then they might get to legally snoop

idealab.talkingpointsmemo.com...

For example, if an employer sees on Facebook that someone is a member of a protected group (e.g. over a certain age, etc.) that employer may open themselves up to claims of discrimination if they don’t hire that person. Facebook’s overall approach appears to be one of zero-tolerance when it comes to the idea of letting someone else access a user’s profile: “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. “ The bottom line: Facebook says it will do what it takes to stop people from peering on user’s profiles, whether that means leaning on lawmakers to slapping employers with lawsuits.

seems that any employers doing this are just gonna open them selves up to massive and damaging litigation

Total invasion of privacy and freedom. Would never ask for or give that info to anyone.

It's not just social media,it's anything you put out over the net.

A few years ago,I was posting on this forum that had nothing to do with my job or anything like that.I didn't even use my real name.I was bitching about my company alot on there,business practices and how they treated employees.

A week or so later,my boss calls me into his office and shows me all the posts I had made.They had put two and two together.
My jaw dropped and I was speechless.

We set there for awhile discussing my displeasure with the company and he let me go with a warning.Thought for sure I was fired.From then on not a word about the company I worked for.

reply to post by Hopechest


You would be the one to cheerlead this intense invasion of privacy from an employer.

My GOSH, what DOES your personal life, and what you do on facebook, have ANYTHING to do with how you are on the job, if you do your job properly, etc????

This is utter B.S. We are not slaves, we are not chattel owned by our corporate masters, who seem to want to have every right to snoop into what we do when we're not at work!!

The right to privacy has always been an American ideal. You may be willing to throw all your rights away as you worship the corporate Golden Calf, but a lot of us feel that this is a big steaming pile of dung and we see it for what it is: The creation of a slave mentality, where our life outside of work is not our own, and we are owned, body and soul, by our employers.

Yet, whatever our employers do, and whatever corporate crimes they commit, are somehow none of our business??

I wonder if you actually think about what you write before you press "reply"!

Originally posted by Hopechest
After all, they are calling people and snooping for personal information about you, your ethics, I just had a friends prospective employer call me as a reference and ask if my friend was in any money trouble.

Probing references is one thing, going through data or your life (to which many don't have 1000's of friends; only family) and snoop through pictures, messages, etc, is overboard. Like I asked before, what is to stop them from demanding from the Government access to monitor your phone calls? Your personal mail? Your every waking moment (if you are not a "social media" user?)

I'm glad I started such a good debate.

In my opinion, my new boss only needs to know the following:
Education
Work history
Criminal history (not arrest, but conviction)
They don't need to know my credit history, or that I like death metal and japanimation, while cosplaying as a klingon at comicon, searching for evidence that 9/11 was actually a coverup for an alien experiment gone wrong because you know Bush is a Saurian. (for example)

Most companies place you on 90+ day probation where you can get fired for anything.
So long as you are cookie cutter and straight laced at work, your off hours should be none of their business.

Originally posted by stormson
They don't need to know my credit history

Agreed to most but this could be determined depending on the job; but businesses should be upfront with it. If I run a company that handles heavy cash flow, I would want to know if the person I am hiring is beholden to debt (not just nonsense, everyday debt such as credit cards; real debt...you owe tens of thousands of dollars or are prone to other activities). Outside of that, I agree with you.

So long as you are cookie cutter and straight laced at work, your off hours should be none of their business.

And a vast majority of companies operate this way, but the media and the Government is trying to say it is not that way. I mean, I am not good with money, I have a poor history of credit (due to personal circumsatances) yet, I am working with sums of money because those are not threatening debts or ones that are willing to 'turn the screws' to get it back.

A company that wants my FB, email, or even any other, can get tossed in the "not going to work for them" category.

Very silly

Originally posted by Starwise

Originally posted by Hopechest

Originally posted by SloAnPainful
It's personal information. They can't demand anything personal from you. That's just BS.

...and if you don't want to give it up don't use social media or just don't give them anything.

-SAP-

edit on 23-4-2013 by SloAnPainful because: (no reason given)

Its the exact same thing as having to provide a list of references to an employer, do you have a problem with that also?

After all, they are calling people and snooping for personal information about you, your ethics, I just had a friends prospective employer call me as a reference and ask if my friend was in any money trouble.

Same thing, its a tool for employers to find out information about somebody they are bringing into their company. Wouldn't you want to know about people if it was your company?

I sense a lot of hypocrisy in this thread.

Are you defending the ability for employers to demand your FB login?
Because that is what it sounds like.
If you are...may I ask....who do you work for?? You must be making enough $$$ to bring up such a BS response.

I would never ever ever ever give anyone my FB or other social media login info. That's just nutz....

I think its actually against FB T&C to give your login details to a third party.

If your profile on any social networking site is public, then you cant stop them viewing it and they can get what they think they need from that, they do not need your login details.

Any social networking sites that I have are all private, why? Some of my friends have extreme views that I do not share and these show up un my profiles. I wouldn't want to be judged on remarks made by other people.

I probably also wouldn't want to be judged on opinions I held as a teenager. Not so relevant to me as there was no tiniternet when I was a teenager, however kids of 14 are posting things now that could prevent them from getting employment in 20 years time.

Originally posted by RalagaNarHallas
pretty sure at least facebook has said that asking for this is a breach of Facebook terms and conditions and that they might just sue/help people sue their employers for asking such things

www.facebook.com...

You will not solicit login information or access an account belonging to someone else. You will not bully, intimidate, or harass any user.

You will not share your password (or in the case of developers, your secret key), let anyone else access your account, or do anything else that might jeopardize the security of your account. You will not transfer your account (including any Page or application you administer) to anyone without first getting our written permission.

also seems that if the law passes that makes it illegal for your boss to ask fb will help sue the crap out of them possibly www.zdnet.com...

"Facebook takes your privacy seriously," Egan said in a statement. "We'll take action to protect the privacy and security of our users, whether by engaging policymakers or, where appropriate, by initiating legal action, including by shutting down applications that abuse their privileges. While we will continue to do our part, it is important that everyone on Facebook understands they have a right to keep their password to themselves, and we will do our best to protect that right."

so hopefully this practice is made illegal but i would assume with the cavat that if your on fb at work for some reason they will know as your using their network then they might get to legally snoop

idealab.talkingpointsmemo.com...

edit on 23-4-2013 by RalagaNarHallas because: (no reason given)

For example, if an employer sees on Facebook that someone is a member of a protected group (e.g. over a certain age, etc.) that employer may open themselves up to claims of discrimination if they don’t hire that person. Facebook’s overall approach appears to be one of zero-tolerance when it comes to the idea of letting someone else access a user’s profile: “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. “ The bottom line: Facebook says it will do what it takes to stop people from peering on user’s profiles, whether that means leaning on lawmakers to slapping employers with lawsuits.

seems that any employers doing this are just gonna open them selves up to massive and damaging litigation

edit on 23-4-2013 by RalagaNarHallas because: (no reason given)

Beta me to it,

..and in a much more informed manner.

Well done, star 4 u

Originally posted by stormson
reply to post by DarthMuerte

 

and then if you get caught with one, youre fired for lying.

Nope, You just say you didn't create it.

one way to deal with the issue. ask them how they could be able to trust any individual that actually gives them their log in info?

first off giving the log in info goes against the terms and conditions of the site. so anyone that gives it has shown they are not adverse to breaking policy and rules when it seems to benefit them. hardly a trait you want in a worker.

if they claim ignorance to knowing that rule. it shows that they are not a person who is "detail oriented". will they also claim they "didn't know" when caught breaking a companies rules and policies? can also be a sign that they don't pay attention to the "little details" about anything. again is this something you want in an employee?

by giving this information out they have broken "confidentiality" with their "friends" who may be expecting privacy as stated within the site rules. so how do you think they will handle any "confidential" material at work? they have admitted that "confidentiality" is not something that they care about. will you find later that such an employee has released and talked about such confidential material?

all in all anyone who gives this info has proven their non reliability about certain things and should actually be a RED FLAG stating they are not trustworthy and thus SHOULD NOT BE CONSIDERED for hiring.

No i simply dont believe an employer has that right. Being an employer you HAVE to take risks with who you employ and you might not get it right all the time. That's why people submit CVs/Resume's, cover letters and attend interviews, that's everything a potential employer has to go on and that is GOOD ENOUGH.

They dont need to know how drunk you get on a weekend, If you argue with your family & friends over stupid things, if you like a certain band/movie, if your publicly declaring you cant wait to retire from the world of work. Its nothing to do with them.

Employers need to realise that they're buying your time and not your soul. If you fail to do the job adequately then that's another thread.

How about my PayPal password? Or my 2nd grade teachers name? Or my ATS user name? Or my favorite porn sites?

Unless I work in a privacy sensitive industry (medicine or R&D for an engineering firm), I see absolutely no reason for my password to be shared with an employer.

Unless he shares EXACTLY the same info with me.

the boss didn't agree to t&c for me so that would open a new can of worms.

Originally posted by Hopechest

Originally posted by SloAnPainful
reply to post by Hopechest

 

No it is not like providing a list of references. Why wouldn't you just provide the list? Why would they ask for my social media information?

-SAP-

Well if it were my company I would prefer the social media because that is more likely to represent the real portrait of the person I'm thinking of hiring.

Do you ever give a reference without knowing the person will speak favorably of you?

Of course not, so this is not the best way to get an idea of what the person is like. Remember that employers are responsible for thier work environment and all the employees operating within it. To hire someone that might not fit in or cause disruption is always a potential risk but the more information they have the better they can fine tune their hiring process.

What else do you really think they are going to do with your Facebook information beyond that? Make posters of you drinking beer on a pool table and plaster them around town?

As an employer you should trust your experience with people if you want to hire someone, not use what they do in their free time as a guideline. There are people who lead pretty wild lifestyles, yet when they go to work they are top notch employees. Someone you may have missed out on if you had gone by their private status.

And of course the other way round. You may find that someone is as boring as hell [sorry YOU would say 'trustworthy'] and if you hire them, they turn out to be thieves [Its not that they'd put that on FB].

Your argument is not only floored, it stinks and makes absolutely no sense. I happily give references [meaning: well written statuses about my work performance] but if I haven't made you a 'Friend' on FB there is a reason for that and the reason is that I want to swear and have opinions that no employer should ever see, just like every human being that is free. This does not make me a bad employee whatsoever.

YOU would probably love it if an employer came unannounced to your house/flat, because it would show him what you are 'really' like. Make sure you live in a showroom-like environment, hide all your books, never have a party or a beer...just in case. After all, it is the employers right to see everything about you? No?

Reps say your boss can demand your social media login info

So, simply say that you don't care for or use 'social media' because you are an antisocial person and if they stick their nose any further into your life, they will find out just how anti-social when they have to pull it back out, lol.

Originally posted by stormson
reply to post by DarthMuerte

 

and then if you get caught with one, youre fired for lying.

Yes, if you're an idiot about it. Just sign up under a nickname or alias and don't post your career info or too much personal info that could be easily traced back to your person. Keep a personal facebook and a professional facebook, what's so difficult about that?

reply to post by stormson


Yes they do, been doing it for a while, but as a request you are not forced to give away anything, even my husband on his last review of his clearance was asked to provide no only all his E-mail accounts but also my personal E-mail that I said it was not of their darn business.

Also any social media accounts, we do not have any beside his Gov, E-mail and my personal E-mail still his clearance keep coming back asking for my E-mail, I just create an E-mail and gave away that one that occurs I don't use.

even if it become a law, you can't because in sharing your password with someone else you're violating the terms of service for your facebook. You entered a legally binding contract with them when you signed up, and one of the terms of the contract is that you're not allowed to share your facebook password (or allow anyone else to log in as you) if your bosses demand it, then cite that specific part of the contract.