Big Brother Alert

[monk222]

HELENA, Mont. - Job applicants with the city of Bozeman are finding that their private Internet discussions and pictures may not be so private after all.

The city is asking job seekers for the user names and passwords to Internet social networking or Web groups to which they belong. The decision is sparking an outcry from those who say the policy goes way too far.

-- Associated Press

I'd tell them to get their own porn, cripes! Is nothing sacred?

Though, I must say, I've thought of this issue before the Internet got big and popular. It used to freak me out when government jobs and investigations might demand your pen & paper diary. The prospect of such a thing frightened me. I fancied that there should be something like a confessional privilege when it comes to diaries - like talking to your priest. But I suppose such a privilege could be abused. In the post-1984 world, everything is fair game, and even being a mild-mannered diarist can have its hazards.

Comments

[tookhernowhere.livejournal.com]

Well, that's ludicrous. Even from a pragmatic, pro-employer standpoint. If anybody is dumb enough to put their login details on a job application, then they should never be hired for any job where they'll encounter anything you don't want told to random people. They're obviously not the kind of person you could trust with a work login, the code for the keypad on the door, any kind of database . . .

And then there's the ridiculous nosiness angle. It's one thing if an employer is checking for opinions, behavior, etc. that have a direct bearing on the job or your organization. E.g., a prospective meat packing plant manager who routinely Twitters in support of PETA, an accountant who brags on her LJ about how her last job hasn't yet discovered that embezzled money, a NAMBLA member applying to work at a daycare center.

It's quite another thing if you're going to turn down a tax accountant with a degree from Harvard, a great resume, glowing references, many presentations at professional conferences under his belt, a marvelous interview, etc., etc. . . . just because his Myspace reveals that he's a polyamorous kinky bisexual who smoked pot twice in high school.

Unless the hiring organization is Focus on the Family, then none of that has anything to do with this guy's job performance.

One day--hopefully within my lifetime--employers will realize that there are very few expectations you can reasonably place on employees outside of work hours.

That, and eventually they'll run out of applicants who don't have some unprofessional thing or another floating around the interwebz. Then all employers can afford to care about is a person's actual job performance. :P

[hardblue.livejournal.com]

And you'd think Montana would be glad to have any applicants. On the other hand, maybe they are justifiably afraid of getting more Unabomber types. :D