News
Increase in Employers Requesting Facebook Passwords
March 27, 2012 Nicola  |
US reports reveal there is a growing trend of employers demanding job applicants provide passwords to their private Facebook accounts.
In the US more employers are demanding to access interviewees’ username and passwords from their Facebook accounts to check for embarrassing or damaging information.
US senators Richard Blumenthal and Charles E. Schumer have requested a federal investigation from the US Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) and the US Department of Justice (UDJ), to determine whether employers demanding interviewee usernames and passwords to social networking sites and email accounts are a violation of federal law.
Mr Schumer told Computer Business Review (CBR): “Employers have no right to ask job applicants for their house keys or to read their diaries - why should they be able to ask them for their Facebook passwords and gain unwarranted access to a trove of private information about what we like, what messages we send to people, or who we are friends with?”
He went on to say: “In an age where more and more of our personal information - and our private social interactions - are online, it is vital that all individuals be allowed to determine for themselves what personal information they want to make public and protect personal information from their would-be employers. This is especially important during the job-seeking process, when all the power is on one side of the fence.”
He added that it was essential to launch an investigation before the practise becomes widespread:
“Facebook agrees, and I’m sure most Americans agree, that employers have no business asking for your Facebook password.”
Both senators agreed that while it is necessary to have thorough background checks for individuals seeking a job, having access to Facebook passwords would give employers access to information that they are not usually allowed to have when deciding who to hire, such as age, religion and marital status.
By Kate Wilson
[Image courtesy of upnapitism]
