Media Issue- Employers Invading Facebook Privacy

While procrastinating on my homework, I came accross an article about employers demanding facebook login information from their employees. The second link shown contains a more extreme case where current employees were forced to surrender their facebook passwords and usernames, or face termination. The employers could freely read personal messages, not otherwise available to the general public. The first link shown lists possible pros and cons to the situation, but only deals with employers viewing content available to the public.

One of the main arguments in these articles is that this invasion of privacy may cause employers to favor candidates based on personal beleifs and choice of lifestyle. This could act as a distraction from good work ethic, experience and skills. Although this is true, I see a bigger problem that was not mentioned....

I think that this could also create a new method of identity theft/scamming. The employers being contacted are complete strangers. Most people would not even think about giving their bank account info to friends, and definitely not to a stranger. Our society is very reliant on technology. With access to a facebook account, someone could easily get your phone number, email, security questions.... (you get the idea.) There are many ads on job listing websites that warn against scams requesting SIN numbers, credit scores, credit card numbers, etc. Facebook may not be government regulated, or the key to your life savings, but it still contains YOUR personal information.

The "smart" candidates who would not even consider giving away such valuable personal information are the ones who will not benefit from this new screening process. I think that this will increase the odds of employers hiring people who make short sighted decisions, and are not up to date, in terms of social media. Facebook is a way for people to stay connected to others in their life. Though we must work to live, employers seem to be forgetting that work is NOT life.

A tip for employers: Vital information is encoded in the 127th tagged picture of the candidate. The brand of the alcoholic beverage sitting on the table in the background of the image should be the deciding factor when hiring a new employee.

http://www.businessweek.com/debateroom/archives/2008/03/employers_get_outta_my_facebook.html

http://www.zdnet.com/blog/facebook/employer-demands-facebook-login-credentials-during-interview/327