"Facebook Doesn't Want Employers Asking For Users' Passwords"

Facebook has officially taken a stand on the controversy  over the Maryland Department of Corrections and other employers asking job applicants to hand over their Facebook passwords so they can peruse private content to ensure no red flags before hiring. The Maryland DOC, for example, was looking at private photos and wall postings to ensure that wannabe guards were not affiliated with gangs. (Poked by a gang leader? No job for you!)

 

Sen. Richard Blumenthal has plans to draft a federal law that would make the practice illegal. He can count on support from Facebook. In response to the “distressing increase in reports

of employers or others seeking to gain inappropriate access to people’s Facebook profiles or private information,” the company’s director of privacy Erin Egan says in a blog post today that Facebook will “take action to protect the privacy and security of our users, whether by engaging policymakers or, where appropriate, by initiating legal action.”

TechCrunch optimistically assumes this means Facebook is going to start slapping nosy employers with lawsuits. I think it’s unlikely the big blue social giant would actually sue an employer greedy for applicants’ passwords. Perhaps they’d send a cease-and-desist letter, but I think it’s more likely the company will be working its PR and lobbying magic to bring a halt to the privacy invasion. Update: Given the many reputable news sources that interpreted this to mean that Facebook was going to sic its lawyers on snooping employers, Facebook’s PR team sent out a clarification to Egan’s blog post:

We don’t think employers should be asking prospective employees to provide their passwords because we don’t think it’s right the thing to do. While we do not have any immediate plans to take legal action against any specific employers, we look forward to engaging with policy makers and other stakeholders, to help better safeguard the privacy of our users.

Egan reminds users that Facebook policies forbids them from giving their passwords to anyone else (try telling that to a nosy employer) and that you’re compromising not just your privacy but those of your friends, as any content they’ve given you access to is then exposed to your snoopy employer. (Interestingly, Facebook doesn’t object to this same practice when it comes to applications on the site, which when downloaded, have access to your friends’ info as well, which the site’s new Terms of Service makes crystal clear.)

Egan also points out that it could get employers into legal trouble if they stumble upon information prohibited from consideration in the hiring process:

We don’t think employers should be asking prospective employees to provide their passwords because we don’t think it’s right the thing to do. But it also may cause problems for the employers that they are not anticipating. 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.

via Protecting Your Passwords and Your Privacy.

I suspect that the practice of asking for job applicants’ passwords will come to an end soon, whether because a law is passed or because the shaming campaign sweeping the nation this month will give most employers pause. Sorry, employers, but you’re going to have to stick to good old-fashioned Facebook stalking.