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Employers asking for Facebook passwords

Should it be illegal for employers to ask for Facebook passwords?


  • Total voters
    35
I completely agree with you. Facebook is not just another place to socialize, it's a window to the soul -- like a journal. The person who thought up this little piece of privacy invasion, should be shot.

No offense but that is kinda sad...
 
Personally I don't get why these employers want people's passwords to begin with. It's not like Facebook users don't already throw everything out there on their profile page to begin with.
 
I do not have a FB account and had never heard of any employer with such a policy. I do know companies that read what is written or imaged for public viewing on the internet ...yet requiring a person to relinquish a PW is over the top and an unconstitutional invasion of privacy.

I could not work for a company with such a policy. How would that differ from an employer asking to ransack an employee's cupboards and drawers of their home or look in their purse or read their personal correspondence.
 
Okay, now I'm mad. I just did a google search for my FB page and found it even though I thought I had set my privacy to have my page not show up. It wasn't possible to read any of my wall posts or look through my photos while not logged in, but you could see my interests, political organizations, what tv shows I like, etc., all things that I feel are none of the business of a potential employer. If I need to apply for a job, I'll just deactivate my account. I can always reactivate it after I have a job.
 
Okay, now I'm mad. I just did a google search for my FB page and found it even though I thought I had set my privacy to have my page not show up. It wasn't possible to read any of my wall posts or look through my photos while not logged in, but you could see my interests, political organizations, what tv shows I like, etc., all things that I feel are none of the business of a potential employer. If I need to apply for a job, I'll just deactivate my account. I can always reactivate it after I have a job.

You're doing something wrong. There are settings that make your profile private and inaccessible to anyone who's not a friend.
 
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You're doing something wrong. There are settings that make your profile private and inaccessible to anyone who's not a friend.

I'm going to have to google this. No one other than friends and family has any business seeing my account.

....

I thought of another thing that's scary. What if you're applying for a job and maybe you don't even have a FB account, but someone with your same name does. The prospective employer finds the other account and thinks it's you, and that person is a real jerk, a member of extremist groups, a drunk, a drug abuser, etc.
 
Hell, this should be illegal for no other reason than they will find out extremely personal information about other people, friends and family. The idea is ridiculous.

Which is my problem with it. I don't care if they see the crap I post because it's mostly nonsense. The fact that it gives them access to my friends, that's a hell no. I'm applying for a low level job I'm probably going to hate, leave after a couple months, and don't even need anyway, not a career in Homeland Security, or the CIA.
 
What's frightening to me is not so much that some agents of employers have bought into this entitlement attitude where they've lost sight of the distinction between being ABLE to get away with massive unwarranted invasion of privacy and potential discrimination (which they frequently are)...vs. being ethically justified in doing so (which they are not).

Really, what's needed is a pitched, committed societal battle to defend a standard by which ALL non-performance-related issues are effectively barred from being used as a basis for discrimination in hiring and promotion. I'm not especially picky about how it might happen, even though I'd prefer it be the result of a widespread grassroots effort...but one way or another, employers need to rediscover some humility and even some good old-fashioned healthy fear of well-informed active worker solidarity.
 
I happen to think it's stupid to bear ones soul for all to see on the internet. You're just going to get trolled, and be called a "fag" in most cases. The internet is unrelenting in its judgment.
I agree. But it's still wrong for employers to demand Facebook passwords.
 
As some of you may have heard, some employers are starting to ask their employees or potential employees for their Facebook passwords, in order to "do a background check" on them. Some have implemented this practice as a condition for employment, a condition for promotion, or even as a condition to not be fired. Obviously this is a huge invasion of privacy, but it also seems to walk a very fine line when it comes to existing anti-discrimination laws. If a potential employer browsed someone's Facebook, they could find out a lot more than their drinking habits...they could reasonably be expected to find out the person's religion, race, sexual orientation, whether they are expecting a child, what their political views on unions are, etc.

Is this really a road that we should go down? Do we need legislation preventing this? What happens if an employer views someone's Facebook, sees that they're a member of a group typically associated with a certain race (e.g. NAACP or ADL or La Raza), and then decides not to hire them? Who knows if that was the actual reason they weren't hired, but I think the person could reasonably make the claim that they were discriminated against.

And here is a great resignation letter from a man who had to ask potential employees for their Facebook passwords before he could hire them: I hereby resign - raganwald's posterous

I have no experience with this issue. No employer has ever asked to see or log into my Facebook. If asked, I would decline, and sue.
 
I don't have a problem with a [potential] employer being able to see my Facebook page. Damned if I'm gonna allow them administrative abilities to it though.

I would imagine you have to be pretty damn stupid to do something on the public side of your Facebook page to warrant not getting the job or losing it, like that guy who worked for the Philidelphia Eagles organization that went on his public Facebook page and trashed them/his job. You're begging to be fired when you do that.

I don't get how some people are stupid enough to think there is such thing as real internet anonymity, and that you can e-communicate without repercussion at any time in any place.

It's yet another example of people who think they have a right to anything and everything. You have no right to privacy on the internet. Period.
 
I picked "It's poor judgment on the part of the employers, but doesn't need to be illegal", as that pretty much sums up my overall feelings, but... on this issue I would not protest at all if a law were passed making it illegal.
After reading through this thread, and pondering the points made, I would like to change my vote to: "We need new legislation to make this illegal"
 
Facebook's TOS says to not share your password with anybody. If you refuse to share with an employer, that should be a sign to them that you take your obligations and commitments and loyalties seriously, and that you would protect them and their interests equally.

Ok, back to earth. :2razz:
 
Facebook's TOS says to not share your password with anybody. If you refuse to share with an employer, that should be a sign to them that you take your obligations and commitments and loyalties seriously, and that you would protect them and their interests equally.

Ok, back to earth. :2razz:

Wow. Someone actually read the ToS. :2razz:
 
I have issue with the statement that is in bold:

I've already commented on this thread that, as much as I don't think we need anymore laws, I think it should be illegal to ask for someone's Facebook password in order to get hired...or to ask to view their page. It's nothing more than blackmail, in my opinion.

Having said that, I want to comment on something else. When you post on Facebook under your real name, you should have absolutely no expectation of privacy. None. If you post something on Facebook, it's out there for "the duration," hell, eternity for all we know. Your BFF today? Maybe tomorrow notsomuch. You post something on your Facebook that would jeopardize your job or something you don't want certain people to know? Good luck with that.

You're a fool.

Facebook requires you to provide your real name

According to the Term of Service :

4. Registration and Account Security

Facebook users provide their real names and information, and we need your help to keep it that way. Here are some commitments you make to us relating to registering and maintaining the security of your account:

You will not provide any false personal information on Facebook, or create an account for anyone other than yourself without permission.
 
No, but they can require YOUR PERMISSION as a condition of employment. Essentially the only punishment here is loss of employment (or not employing at all) A person has no RIGHT to be employed by a company.

To what extent can a employer expect to take that? Can an employer ask for sexual favors? If the employer is not a minor should that be allowed? After all if the employee refuses that person has no right to be employed by a company.
 
sure. for example, if you were employed to be a character in a reality TV show.
In that situation I would argue that's it's why you're getting paid. It's not just a condition, it's the job itself - like a Hooter's waitress being in good physical shape. If there were a job for monitoring people on Facebook by interacting with them then I would say having a Facebook account with certain (job-specific) types of entries would be part of the job and, obviously, seeing the account would be justified; But only because that's a job qualification much like having a year of metal shop might be a qualification for being a tool maker's apprentice. But what Joe eats for breakfast or how often he goes to a bar or any other legal activities Joe may participate in while not at work has nothing to do with Joe being able to operate a lathe. School curriculum? Yes. Facebook account? No.

an employer does not have the right to force this, though they should have the right to make it a condition of employment.
I'm sorry but I fail to see the distinction here. What rights/force does an employer have over you if you quit - other than, maybe, non-disclosure or something similar? I can't really see how non-disclosure can equate to Facebook.
 
Which is my problem with it. I don't care if they see the crap I post because it's mostly nonsense. The fact that it gives them access to my friends, that's a hell no. I'm applying for a low level job I'm probably going to hate, leave after a couple months, and don't even need anyway, not a career in Homeland Security, or the CIA.

Yeah... a close family member has high government security clearance and gets an FBI back ground check every year... I can see that for him but he doesn't do anything like face book online and when I asked he said that nobody at his level does either. The entire thing is an invasion of OTHER PEOPLE's privacy. I have an account that I have logged into 4 times in the last year. All I put up was that I surf and like Metallica pretty much. Like you said, who cares about that? If you use the site as a window into your soul then I think you have bigger things to worry about than your boss finding out you innermost thoughts posted out to a billion strangers.
 
It boils down to a person hiring a person. A business has rights associated with the owner. An owner has to have the right to fire people. The owner grants a person the privilege of allowing them on his property to perform a service for him. He can (or should be able) at anytime revoke the privilege to come on his property. In the current situation the owner stated he will grant the employee the privilege of employment if the employee grant him the privilege of a looksey into the facebook account.
As a society we have concluded that we are better off as a whole by putting some limits on a company's ability to indiscriminately hire and fire. If a business doesn't like those laws they are welcome to set up shop somewhere else. In short, what you're saying for business is what applies to society and it's labor laws, not the business. Nothing in the Constitution protects the right of a company to open it's doors or keep them open. In fact, if you look into the history of companies you'll find that our Founding Fathers were very leery of them and for good reason.
 
To what extent can a employer expect to take that? Can an employer ask for sexual favors? If the employer is not a minor should that be allowed? After all if the employee refuses that person has no right to be employed by a company.

I am sure the employer would have a law suit on his hands if he tried that. That is how the legal system is currently. Me personally, I have no problem with an employer asking for (to use your example) sexual favors (or facebook passwords).
#1 How many people are going to work at this place if a requirement of employment is sexual favors?
#2 If a person is willing to give sexual favors to get a job who am I to tell them they shouldn't be afforded the opportunity merely because someone else is offended by such a thing?
 
As a society we have concluded that we are better off as a whole by putting some limits on a company's ability to indiscriminately hire and fire. If a business doesn't like those laws they are welcome to set up shop somewhere else. In short, what you're saying for business is what applies to society and it's labor laws, not the business. Nothing in the Constitution protects the right of a company to open it's doors or keep them open. In fact, if you look into the history of companies you'll find that our Founding Fathers were very leery of them and for good reason.

That attitude has worked really well hasn't it? {{8.3% unemployed here}}
 
I'm going to have to google this. No one other than friends and family has any business seeing my account.

....

I thought of another thing that's scary. What if you're applying for a job and maybe you don't even have a FB account, but someone with your same name does. The prospective employer finds the other account and thinks it's you, and that person is a real jerk, a member of extremist groups, a drunk, a drug abuser, etc.
That's something that happens already with those "background checks". I recently had an experience like that - and for a low-paying PT job no less. It seems Toys-R-Us uses some company to check all their applicants. Even with an uninterrupted employment record going back over 25 years with same employer, this background check came back that I had been in prison for a year in the early '00s and my application was rejected on that information. Same first/last name but guy in prison had no birthdate information attached and no middle initial. Since my first/last name has 12 entries in the metro phone book - and who knows how many others using initials only or some combination? I suspect this will continue to happen and just get worse as time goes by. :(


BTW - I called the checking company but refused to their job for them. They wanted me to submit a written complaint with details, blah blah blah and I told them they were getting the only complaint they needed. I'm old enough I don't give a **** if their data is right or not. Let it get bad enough that it'll really count and I'll sue the bastards instead. :peace
 
That attitude has worked really well hasn't it? {{8.3% unemployed here}}
It's been as low as 4% often in the past 20 years. If all you can see is the last 3 years - and you're using that to make your point - then it's no wonder you have the poor outlook you do.



BTW - It's also those "owners" that created most of this mess. That's another fine example of business run amok. Business without regulation is like an engine without a governor - bound to blow up given enough time.
 
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I have issue with the statement that is in bold:



Facebook requires you to provide your real name

According to the Term of Service :

4. Registration and Account Security

Facebook users provide their real names and information, and we need your help to keep it that way. Here are some commitments you make to us relating to registering and maintaining the security of your account:

You will not provide any false personal information on Facebook, or create an account for anyone other than yourself without permission.

She didn't say a person should provide false info. She stated that when you post under your real name which is what you are required to do, you should not have an expectation of privacy. I agree.
 
It's been as low as 4% often in the past 20 years. If all you can see is the last 3 years - and you're using that to make your point - then it's no wonder you have the poor outlook you do.



BTW - It's also those "owners" that created most of this mess. That's another fine example of business run amok. Business without regulation is like an engine without a governor - bound to blow up given enough time.


I have no poor outlook sir. I just happen to believe that one person should not have rights over a business owner merely because they are a business owner.
 
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