Posted on 03/20/2012 7:18:33 AM PDT by bjorn14
When Justin Bassett interviewed for a new job, he expected the usual questions about experience and references. So he was astonished when the interviewer asked for something else: his Facebook username and password.
Bassett, a New York City statistician, had just finished answering a few character questions when the interviewer turned to her computer to search for his Facebook page. But she couldnt see his private profile. She turned back and asked him to hand over his login information.
Bassett refused and withdrew his application, saying he didnt want to work for a company that would seek such personal information. But as the job market steadily improves, other job candidates are confronting the same question from prospective employers, and some of them cannot afford to say no.
(Excerpt) Read more at nydailynews.com ...
agreed
>> That’s not bunk, that’s grounds for losing a security clearance.
It is conceivable in this life that there *might* come a time when a security clearance is about the least of your or my concerns. Would you agree?
>> YOU NEVER GIVE UP YOUR PASSWORD TO ANYONE, for any reason, no matter how temporary.
That’s a great rule of thumb, but it’s dogma. Remember it though if someone ever puts a gun to your loved one’s head and demands your password; I’m sure quoting it will cause them to reconsider their position. Sorry, I’m being snide (to make a point).
>> This isn’t ‘I [the great kevkrom]’ (I note how you keep resorting to snide comments to try and defend your weak position, though), this is simple common sense.
I’ll cop to snide; you deserve it. And I note with confidence that my position isn’t weak merely because you insist it is. But thanks for acknowledging that common sense plays a role. Common sense is what I’m leaning on to insist that there might exist a situation in which giving up a password or personal information in exchange for employment might be the best (or only) acceptable course of action.
>> if providing this password was a condition for employment, I sure don’t want to work there, because the company clearly has no clue of how confidential information is to be treated.
That’s fine, and I agree, but it’s not relevant to our original point of contention. I’ll remind you of that point of contention: I say your claim that *anyone* who gives up their password *automatically* renders themselves untrustworthy and unemployable is dogmatic, high-handed, and absurd; you say otherwise. Please stick to the argument, ‘k?
>> You will never build a proper working relationship with someone if your first major interaction involves someone being forced into a breach of trust.
Again, that’s all well and good — I agree with that statement, even — but it’s irrelevant to our point of contention. If you want me to take you seriously you need to stick to the argument at hand and not try to change the subject.
I order to apply for a job you have to put your SSN and birthdate on hte application so they have this info before they make an offer or reject you anyway.
Should be illegal
You probably mean the browser feature, not the Windows feature. Of course I'm aware of that, and I also know how to clear that data with a few keystrokes.
I smell a Class Action on the horizon.
Riiiggghhhttt, and you would insist to your interviewer that they clear their cookies immediately.
It’s still a lame argument.
That's another thing I was thinking, but forgot to include in my earlier posts. I deal with a lot of sensitive information in my work. I do other work besides practice law where confidentiality is codified, but even in that other work, there's bad consequences when things are leaked, both to me, and my clients. If I'm going to cave at the first sign of pressure information like that, then how can you trust me? The only way I'd leak anything is through a court subpoena and even then I'd spin it the best I could in an attempt to dodge it.
In Firefox, you can clear just an hour's worth. I don't know about the other browsers. If they object, I walk -- since it proves bad faith on their part.
Then again, all I really need to do is change my password as soon as I walk out the door.
Who needs who more - the employer or the employee?
Really.
I'm the owner of a coal mine; I've made enough money and no longer need the headaches associated with unions - so I decide to close my mine. What are you as the miner going to do about it?
/hypothetical
No doubt. But the question was: who needs who more (”more” being the operative word)?
“Access” is a stupid excuse to violate privacy. They are hiring me to perform a job not to be their gaurdian of their life. Jeez you’re really a liberal about this aren’t you?
To you an employer has the right not to hire based on political affiliation, personal activities, not liking your freinds, marital status, etc. To you there are no personal privacy or property rights. To you the employer is your slave master. Sorry there sweet pea, but we don’t have slavery any more. You have right to privacy. You have the right not to have someone demand your personal life be what they want or else they do not hire you.
We have laws in this country to protect ourselves from fools like you. If you suck that bad at hiring people, then go out of business like the rest of the idots that do.
“but how would they even know about forums w/ anonymous usernames?”
They could just as easily demand that you bring in all computers that you own and trace everything on it. Any attempt to erase that information would be easily detected.
I think any company demanding such information deserves a return treatment. Find all information about all executives and owners of the company and destroy thier lives by making their entire life public.
“- so I decide to close my mine. What are you as the miner going to do about it?”
Go to the federal government and lay claim to the mine that is no longer being used and re-open it. Rare is it that a mine is completel on private property or on property that cannot be claimed once the mine shuts down.
My family owns a gold mine (for real, no kidding) and if we do not mine it per federal schedule then the claim can be jumped.
“but those are NOTHING compared to the pain of letting an evil corporation peek at your sacred Facebook account.”
You mock private property rights and personal privacy but I bet you’d cry like little school girl if a law were made that stated the same employees get to see the company books and all your personal information.
What’s next, a company representative in our bedrooms so we don’t do anything the employer finds nasty?
You still don’t get that you are hiring someone to do a job and that doesn’t entitle you to anything and everything. Because if it does, then the employee is extending you credit as the employer and can demand the same rights of investigation for credit purposes.
“Knowledge is power. And if you’re the smart business owner, you protect yourself first and foremost by the accumulation - and wise use of - the knowledge of who are your employees”
Sure, but there are laws about the collection and use. Violate it and you won’t be an employer anymore.
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