Employer asking for Social Media login?

  • I've never experienced this but found it bizarre. If I was ever asked to provide access to my social media accounts I would treat it the same as a request for my banking information: 1) No ! and 2) You'll be hearing from my attorney.

    http://www.infoworld.com/t/internet-privacy/new-laws-keep-employers-out-of-worker-social-media-accounts-210150

  • I would never give any of my social media accounts to somebody else.

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  • No.

    Everything I do publicly, my employer actually has some interest in. That's especially true for me, being a public rep for a company. But what I do privately, whether in meat space or online, is none of their business. Period. So, I would provide them with my public persona in social media, but no, no passwords or private connections.

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  • I can respect that, especially if the salary is commensurate with the responsibilities.

  • If an employer (or potential employer) wants to know about my private life that badly, hire a PI. At least then, digging into my private life is going to:

    A) Cost them money

    B) Not get them everything unless the PI follows me around for a year or two

    The closest equivalent I can think of for something like this would be me asking a potential employer for the password to their Sharepoint / Wiki / company electronic bulletin board system / internal forums. After all, if they want to poke through my personal information before deciding to hire me ("We really like you, but those drunken photos from your spring break at that Hedonism II resort just don't fit with our corporate image. We know those were taken 15 years ago on your first spring break, but...") then I should be able to look through their "personal" information ("Well, I was really looking forward to working here, until I saw the posts on your forum from the staff of the department complaining about the constant direction changes, projects being cancelled one day then started back up two days later, and regular 16 hour marathon work days.")

    I take keeping my work and private lives quite seriously, I do not "friend" anyone from work on Facebook, and I do not post anything on LinkedIn that I wouldn't want co-workers to see (considering I don't think I've ever posted anything to LinkedIn...)

    As it is, I really only use Facebook to keep up on what the rest of my family is doing, and while I've got some photos up on Facebook, they're of things like family get-togethers for X-Mas.

  • Facebook terms of service states: -

    Safety


    We do our best to keep Facebook safe, but we cannot guarantee it. We need your help to keep Facebook safe, which includes the following commitments by you:

    <snip>

    You will not collect users' content or information, or otherwise access Facebook, using automated means (such as harvesting bots, robots, spiders, or scrapers) without our prior permission.

    <snip>

    You will not solicit login information or access an account belonging to someone else.

    <snip>

    Registration and Account Security


    Facebook users provide their real names and information, and we need your help to keep it that way. Here are some commitments you make to us relating to registering and maintaining the security of your account:

    <snip>

    You will not share your password (or in the case of developers, your secret key), let anyone else access your account, or do anything else that might jeopardize the security of your account.

    Which pretty much knocks this all on the head, even if it wasn't creepy as hell.


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  • jasona.work (1/14/2013)


    If an employer (or potential employer) wants to know about my private life that badly, hire a PI. At least then, digging into my private life is going to:

    A) Cost them money

    B) Not get them everything unless the PI follows me around for a year or two

    The closest equivalent I can think of for something like this would be me asking a potential employer for the password to their Sharepoint / Wiki / company electronic bulletin board system / internal forums. After all, if they want to poke through my personal information before deciding to hire me ("We really like you, but those drunken photos from your spring break at that Hedonism II resort just don't fit with our corporate image. We know those were taken 15 years ago on your first spring break, but...") then I should be able to look through their "personal" information ("Well, I was really looking forward to working here, until I saw the posts on your forum from the staff of the department complaining about the constant direction changes, projects being cancelled one day then started back up two days later, and regular 16 hour marathon work days.")

    I take keeping my work and private lives quite seriously, I do not "friend" anyone from work on Facebook, and I do not post anything on LinkedIn that I wouldn't want co-workers to see (considering I don't think I've ever posted anything to LinkedIn...)

    As it is, I really only use Facebook to keep up on what the rest of my family is doing, and while I've got some photos up on Facebook, they're of things like family get-togethers for X-Mas.

    +1

    Employers here in the UK (as I guess elsewhere) do try to find out what they can on Facebook etc about their potential employees, but only by using their own accounts set up for this purpose. I would give an employer (real or potential) this information as much as I would give them my on line banking details!

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  • I guess I'm lucky because I have nothing to provide! I haven't had any interest in Facebook, Twitter or other social media sites; although SSC is somewhat social.

    I suppose if I was in FB, my profile would be set to private, and private means private, so I wouldn't provide a potential employer that information.

  • That's a very disturbing question. I'd be torn between two responses:

    I honor the contractual agreement with the social media sites I use not to divulge those credentials, just as I will honor the contractual agreement we make should you hire me. I don't give you my login credentials to their site anymore than I give them my login credentials to your network.

    and

    Good question! No, in the interest of security, I never give my personal login credentials to anyone else, whether they're for a government account, a corporate account for this or any other company, or a personal account.

  • Maybe the larger question is why an employer would have the gall to request this.

  • I really don't respect this. 😉

    I would never ever share any of my social media account access.

    "Employers in Illinois and California are now barred from asking for usernames and passwords for social media pages of workers and job seekers" as stated in your referral link, I strongly agree with it.

    Social Media Management
    [/url]

  • Indianrock (1/18/2013)


    Maybe the larger question is why an employer would have the gall to request this.

    As a screening question? If you have someone wanting to work with SQL Server, and says yes to the question, then it's an instant rejection as a security risk/to much cluebatting required. OTOH, the really good candidates would probably terminate the interview at that point.

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  • Fortunately, I live in a country where such a request would constitue an offence for which a potential employer could be prosecuted.

    Moreover I never had, have not and will never have a Facebook account.

  • Nadrek (1/18/2013)


    That's a very disturbing question. I'd be torn between two responses:

    I honor the contractual agreement with the social media sites I use not to divulge those credentials, just as I will honor the contractual agreement we make should you hire me. I don't give you my login credentials to their site anymore than I give them my login credentials to your network.

    This is the best response. The requestor will have to admit that you are being asked to do something illegal if they push any further.

  • lptech (2/7/2013)


    Nadrek (1/18/2013)


    That's a very disturbing question. I'd be torn between two responses:

    I honor the contractual agreement with the social media sites I use not to divulge those credentials, just as I will honor the contractual agreement we make should you hire me. I don't give you my login credentials to their site anymore than I give them my login credentials to your network.

    This is the best response. The requestor will have to admit that you are being asked to do something illegal if they push any further.

    Thank you; I'd be sure to make the point that exactly the same contract law that governs the agreement between you and [Social Network] also governs the employment contract between you and [Potential Employer]. If you break the one when someone simply asks, isn't that an indication that you might also break the other if someone asks?

    As a slightly more detailed reference to what Cadavre had already posted, here's the Facebook EULA section 4 subsections 1, 8, and 9, which very specifically and explicitly prohibit allowing anyone else to access your account:

    4 Registration and Account Security

    1 You will not provide any false personal information on Facebook, or create an account for anyone other than yourself without permission.

    ...

    8 You will not share your password (or in the case of developers, your secret key), let anyone else access your account, or do anything else that might jeopardize the security of your account.

    9 You will not transfer your account (including any Page or application you administer) to anyone without first getting our written permission.

    The LinkedIn EULA has a similar section, also numbered 4:

    4 Sign-In Credentials.

    You agree to: (1) Keep your password secure and confidential; (2) not permit others to use your account; (3) refrain from using other Users’ accounts; (4) refrain from selling, trading, or otherwise transferring your LinkedIn account to another party; and (5) refrain from charging anyone for access to any portion of LinkedIn, or any information therein. Further, you are responsible for anything that happens through your account until you close down your account or prove that your account security was compromised due to no fault of your own. To close your account, please visit LinkedIn’s customer service site.

    And on a purely security basis, I wouldn't type my password in on a machine they control, either.

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