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Third Parties Want Access to Personal Facebook Accounts...

Over the past several years Facebook’s revolving privacy policies have been the source of controversy and angst amongst some users and privacy watch dogs.  Users claims that jobs have been lost, identities stolen and lives turned upside down because the postings they made and assumed were private but were, in fact, available for general viewing have frequently been published.   

Over the past few weeks, however, the privacy issue has been taken to a new level.  We now learn that many third parties such as employers and government agencies are circumventing privacy features built into social media sites such as Facebook by asking that employees, potential employees and even political candidates freely give up their passwords so their accounts can be inspected. 

Last month, Maryland’s Department of Public Safety & Correctional Services practice of asking job applicants to reveal their passwords to their Facebook accounts lead to an intervention by the American Civil Liberties Union.  A complaint made by a Correctional Services officer on leave got the ACLU involved when he was told that re-instatement was contingent on providing his Facebook password.   The practice is now suspended, but only for 45 days pending a review.  The Secretary of the Department of Public Safety and Correctional Services said in a letter to the ACLU that “The department’s efforts to explore an applicant’s behavior on social media networks stems not from  a desire to invade personal privacy, but rather from a legitimate and serious concern with the infiltration of gangs into our prisons”. 

This sentiment is echoed by the Norman, Oklahoma Police Department who want their police officer candidates to provide password information as well.  Captain Tom Easley representing the force states “We are actually hiring based on the quality of a person and you judge that through a variety of tools including a background investigation that talks to previous employers to friends to relatives to neighbors and up to and including their Facebook account."

Ditto in Bozeman, Montana.  If you apply for a city job there you will be asked to turn over a list of your social media site memberships as well as your passwords so they can conduct a thorough background check.

Here in Canada, the NDP party demanded that British Columbia MLA Nicholas Simons provide all his passwords to his social media accounts as a condition in running for the party leadership. The party’s viewpoint was that this was necessary in order to uncover any posts that were potentially damaging to the candidate and to the party.  B.C. Information and Privacy commissioner Elizabeth Denham saw it differently and has launched an investigation to determine if any laws have been broken by the demand.  She explains “At first blush I think the idea of a political candidate having their full social media profiles examined and vetted appears to be problematic from a privacy perspective.”  On Monday it was announced the parties have come to an agreement and the demand was retracted.

So, would you give up your passwords to a potential employer? Or say, to a police department that is conducting an investigation? Or to a government agency that says access to your Facebook page is crucial for security reasons? Are you considering closing out your social media sites because of these developments?  Please drop me line, I look forward to hearing your POV.