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Job applicants asked for social media logins and passwords
The Associated Press has found that some applicants have been asked to hand over their Facebook passwords and login information during interviews.
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Kai Ryssdal: Even in an economy with 8.3 percent unemployment, being a job applicant still isn't easy. Especially if you're on Facebook, which means pretty much most people.
You've heard about employers and human resources type looking through job applicants' Facebook page and other social media sites, right? Now they're going one better. The Associated Press reported today that some companies have been asking applicants for their Facebook usernames and passwords during job interviews.
Manuel Valdes co-wrote the AP story today. Welcome to the program.
Manuel Valdes: Thanks for having me.
Ryssdal: So my first question is: Can they do that?
Valdes: I guess they can. There's no legal groundwork for this. Employers are free to ask for your Facebook password and login, according to legal experts.
Ryssdal: Are we free to say no?
Valdes: You are, but it depends, you know, if you really want the job, you may be forced to say yes.
Ryssdal: Yeah. You know, the last time I talked to our HR people as part of an interview process here for new applicants, I wasn't even allowed to ask if they had kids, for crying out loud.
Valdes: It seems this is more prevalent in public agencies, specifically law enforcement agencies -- police officers, correctional facilities and 911 dispatchers.
Ryssdal: It does sort of make sense for public safety agencies, right?
Valdes: Yeah, I mean, they're looking for character traits that would not bode well for law enforcement personnel. People seem to be pretty OK with it if you're applying for a police officer. It's sort of implied that you give up a little of your privacy if you want to be a police officer. However, we did see this at some private employers.
Ryssdal: What kinds of companies?
Valdes: Well, we had a person who applied to be a cashier and was asked this over the phone by an HR manager. Unfortunately this person, he was to be fired.
Ryssdal: We're piling on Facebook, because you know, it's Facebook, and that's what happened when you're the biggest, but what about things like Twitter and other social media sites?
Valdes: One of the people I talked to was asked for his Twitter; again, he had a private Twitter account, so he was asked for his password and login information.
Ryssdal: And what did he do?
Valdes: He refused. But luckily for him, he could afford to do it.
Ryssdal: What other things might employers ask that in the world of social media, you wouldn't want to give up? I can think of passwords, I could think of friending people -- what else is out there?
Valdes: There are also non-disparagement agreements. That is when after you get hired, you get a contract saying you will not speak in any negative form about your employer on a social media site.
Ryssdal: Can they do that? Wow, I'm asking that question a lot -- can they do that?
Valdes: I guess they can. But the ACLU is looking into it; we've seen cases in Seattle and other places in the country of employers doing this. I was reached out by a woman who worked at a shoe store and was forced to sign one of these agreements.
Ryssdal: So let me ask you this: What happens if the AP comes to you and says 'Listen, I need your Facebook account information.'
Valdes: I would probably say no.
Ryssdal: Yeah, I'm thinking me too. Although my Facebook site's pretty boring.
Valdes: Well you know, my Facebook profile's just basically Instagram pictures of sunsets.
Ryssdal: Sunsets? Is that your thing?
Valdes: Sunsets and puppies.
Ryssdal: Manuel Valdes, he's a reporter for the Associated Press. Manuel, thanks a lot.
Valdes: Thank you for having me.
Aside from privacy concerns, I'm sure the cyber security people are going nuts over this. One of the biggest concerns of security is that employees may give their passwords through social engineering. And these companies are selecting new hires who will give their passwords? Any organization that practices this has only itself to blame when its computers get hacked through social engineering.
One more comment. Expand the story and play it on April Fools day. Maybe a story where the hiring officer logs onto the Facebook account and finds out that the applicant is a child they never knew they had and has posted tortured blog stories about the parent they never knew! Or get people more creative than me to come up with something just as bizarre and unbelievable. It could work!
I just graduated with a bachelors degree in Business Administration with a Management minor, Cum Laude, and am currently unemployed but if I'm asked by an interviewer for my Facebook username and password I'll say no and tell them that it's a good thing since I refuse to give out sensitive information for money. Another reason why not is that it will not guarantee me a job and could only result in identity theft which is rampant nowadays which is another reason I can tell the interviewer that it is a good thing that I refuse to do it. As far as the Police and 911 agencies requiring people to do it, my dad used to work at the defense contractor Northrop and he used to tell me about spies that used to offer a lot of money to the people there to give them sensitive information or secrets and if the Police are stupid enough to hire people like that they can't complain when they find their secrets on Wikileaks, in drug cartel, mafia, spy, etc. computer databases to be used against them. Also, legally, I feel that it is a violation of the Privacy Act since nobody should be required voluntarily or involuntarily to give up the kind of sensitive information that can lead to public slander, blackmail, etc. If I ever make it into Management and have hiring authority I'll remember to ask candidates for this kind of information, if it is still legal, to make sure that if they do give it to me I'll immediately remove that person from the hiring list for the reasons I mentioned above.
Anyone asked for their facebook password has an obvious and legal reason to refuse. It is an unequivocal violation of Facebook's EULA (end user license agreement) to do so.
https://www.facebook.com/legal/terms
[Quote] 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.[/quote]
Gelogenic beat me to it. I just about jumped out of my car seat when I heard this story. I believe that if you really believe in responsible journalism you need to follow up on this for all your listeners. Take it to your legal folks if you think that offers any value but my interpretation of the legal terms of ANY site you log in to is that it is your responsibility to keep it private.
So a trick question at an interview for a responsible employer would be "Please give me your Facebook username and password". When they say yes you either terminate the interview or hand them a short piece on your company's ethics policy and inform them that under no circumstances would they hire someone who would do this at their company.
If you come back and tell us that indeed this is legal behavior I will know that the apocalypse has come.
