Legal, Policies, and Ethics

We all know that employers these days are constantly using social networks to find out more about a potential employees character before hiring. It's become a new factor in the hiring processthat many of us might not even be aware of. Are your posts and pictures on Facebook, Twitter, and Blogger all professional enough that you wouldn't mind you boss seeing? Are you paranoid about an friend posting some embarrassing story of you that could potentially risk loosing your job? Well, if that wasn't bad enough, employers are now asking for potential employees account information, including their password in order to log into their account for a "background" check. What happened to finger prints and a drug test?!

In an article found on abclocal.com a story reads, "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 couldn't see his private profile. She turned back and asked him to hand over his login information.Bassett refused and withdrew his application, saying he didn't 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." A response to the issue also stated on the same website says, "It's asking to requiring someone's house keys," said Orin Kerr, a George Washington University law professor and former federal prosecutor who calls it "an egregious privacy violation."

Further, Facebook privacy officers don't agree with the issue either. In another article, Erin Egan, Facebook's chief privacy officer, addressed the start of an "anti-snooping bill" stating that the practice of requiring Facebook passwords in order to get a job is illegal. "never give your password to your employer. It's wrong and it's illegal for them to ask you. In fact, the US Senate is working on a bill to specifically ban this despicable tactic"

In recent years social media ethics and privacy are becoming more and more of an issue. Some opt out of having any affiliation with social media sites because of this reason, which could in return hinder their ability to get a job as well. Suddenly, it becomes more of a "what do they have to hide" issue, than a "what secret conversations do they have via Facebook messenger". Either way, seems like a dead end if employers really are factoring in personal life, and social media before hiring.