(Reuters) -
Facebook and lawmakers have warned employers against requesting Facebook
passwords while screening job applicants, a controversial practice that
underscores the blurring distinction between personal and professional lives
the era of social media.
The
practice has reportedly grown more commonplace as companies increasingly regard
profiles - or embarrassing photos from wild nights out - as windows into a
prospective employee's character.
On Friday,
Facebook Inc's Chief Privacy Officer, Erin Egan, posted a note warning that the
social networking company could "initiate legal action" against
employers that demand Facebook passwords.
Also,
lawmakers in several states and in Washington said they would introduce bills
to prohibit companies from vetting employees by demanding access to private
accounts.
Leland Yee,
a California state senator, told Reuters on Friday he introduced legislation
that would prohibit companies in the state from soliciting Facebook passwords
from job applicants. The Associated Press reported that lawmakers in Illinois
and Maryland were also considering similar moves.
"Employers
can't ask in the course of an interview your sexual orientation, your age, and
yet social media accounts may have that information," Yee said.
"Employers
have legitimate questions about a person's job performance, but they can get
that information the regular way, without cutting corners and violating
people's privacy."
Egan said
in a post on Facebook's website published on Friday that the social networking
company has seen in recent months "a distressing increase in reports of
employers or others seeking to gain inappropriate access to people's Facebook
profiles.
"We
don't think employers should be asking prospective employees to provide their
passwords because we don't think it's the right 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."
OPEN UP
YOUR MAIL
The issue
bubbled up this week after the Associated Press reported that employers are
increasingly asking to look at content job applicants have uploaded to their
digital accounts, regardless of whether that content is shared or not.
In the case
of the Maryland Department of Corrections, job applicants were asked to browse
through their own Facebook accounts with an interviewer present, the AP
reported.
The ACLU,
which previously criticized the Maryland state government's online vetting,
called the practice "an invasion of privacy" in a statement this
week.
"You'd
be appalled if your employer insisted on opening up your postal mail to see if
there was anything of interest inside," said ACLU attorney Catherine
Crump.
"It's
equally out of bounds for an employer to go on a fishing expedition through a
person's private social media account."
Facebook's
outspoken stance on the issue cast it in an unfamiliar but welcome role.
Hundreds of
users cheered Egan, applauding a company that has been repeatedly criticized
for bungling privacy issues over the years, especially when changing privacy
settings without duly notifying users.
By Friday
afternoon, close to a thousand users had "Liked" Egan's post and many
users left positive comments.
Yet there
were still a few cynics.
"FB
you're talking out of both sides of your mouth," wrote Facebook user Ron
Carrubba. "Now how about fixing your other privacy issues in the
application itself?"
(Editing by Andre Grenon)
No comments:
Post a Comment