You shouldn’t be forced to share your Facebook in order to get a job.
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| Lockdown: handing over passwords to employers is wrong, says privacy chief. |
That’s according to The Social Network’s Chief Privacy Officer who has criticised recent reports employers are seeking passwords of potential employees to trawl their account before they are given a job.
“As a user, you shouldn’t be forced to share your private information and communications just to get a job,” Erin Egan, wrote Friday on a blog.
“And as the friend of a user, you shouldn’t have to worry that your private information or communications will be revealed to someone you don’t know and didn’t intend to share with just because that user is looking for a job.”
It is now a violation of Facebook’s Statement of Rights and Responsibilities to share or solicit a password from a user, he added.
“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.”
And such practices may “may cause problems for the employers that they are not anticipating” Egan also warned.
Bosses demanding “inappropriate access” to private Facebook accounts are in danger of being sued for discrimination if he/she sees that someone is a member of a protected group and doesn’t hire that person on that basis.
The employer may also have to assume liability for the protection of the information they have seen or responsibilities that may arise based on different types of information they have seen (e.g. if the information suggests the commission of a crime).
And Facebook has also pledged “action” to protect its users, including legal action.
“We’ll take action to protect the privacy and security of our users, by engaging policymakers or, where appropriate, by initiating legal action, including by shutting down applications that abuse their privileges.”
