Social Media Snooping

[Nancy OShea]

If you were asked, would you give your social media usernames & passwords to anyone who asked for them -- employer, US border agents,  etc...?

Would you feel this is an invasion of your privacy or does privacy stop at the social media gates?

Nancy

[Szalam]

Username, yes.

Password, no.

I don't feel my public posts are private at all (since they are public). But private conversations and things shared with certain groups (things one needs a password to access) are definitely my right to keep private.

[pziecina]

Again -

Username yes, password no.

Giving anyone your password to anything would be like inviting identity theft. No government, person or agency, has the right to ask for what amounts to access to your social media accounts, I don't use facebook or other popular social media anymore.

Would the Adobe user forum be considered as social media, though? As this would also give the person asking access to your CC account, address, credit card details etc.

[Barb Binder]

Same, but that we even have the think about this possibility is frightening.

[Nancy OShea]

BarbBinder wrote:

Same, but that we even have the think about this possibility is frightening.

Yes, I agree. 

http://www.valuewalk.com/2017/01/immigration-ban-us-checking-facebook-social-media/

Complaints Describe Border Agents Interrogating Muslim Americans, Asking for Social Media Accounts

http://www.ncsl.org/research/telecommunications-and-information-technology/employer-access-to-social...

Nancy

[John T Smith]

I have read that some companies/schools REQUIRE full access to an applicant's history before they will be considered for employment/admission (no, I don't have any links to the news article I read a year or so ago)

If I was applying for a job/admission, I personally wouldn't have a problem with that... as long as I was sure that my login information would be secure with the (small) group doing the review (disclosure... I am retired and not looking)

However, it does seem that some (most?) of the current generation have NO boundaries when it comes to posting to social media, so even just using their name to see their public postings has (again, no link to the article I read) caused some to not be hired or accepted by a school

In general, I think that it is the right of a company/school to investigate before hiring/accepting... and if someone doesn't like that, they need to apply for a job/admission at a different company/school

[99jon]

Social media yes. Passwords no.

Sometimes it is difficult to avoid unless we cut ourselves off completely. We had a story reported last year of a British man arrested in Morocco because of photos of him and his gay boyfriend on his cell phone!

[Ussnorway]

most people give away their private IP address to browsers without knowing it when they use torrents or allow adds to play... if you don't take the time to lock down your system then you get only what you allowed to happen

[OldBob1957]

Name: Yes

Password: No

I don't know about the rest of the US, but here in Michigan schools and potential employers legally DO NOT have the right to demand passwords to private accounts (those accounts not provided by that organization) as a prerequisite to enrollment / employment. Nor are they even allowed to ask for them, request them, suggest you supply them, or any other potential end-run around the law. Trying to do so can get them hefty fines and lawsuits.

--OB

Edit to add: Any employer who demanded such information, is no-one I would be willing to work for anyway. I have never stayed with any company / employer which thought they in any way 'owned' me, and I am doing quite fine, thank you.

[Nancy OShea]

Some employers argue that access to personal accounts is needed to protect proprietary information or trade secrets, to comply with federal financial regulations, or to prevent the employer from being exposed to legal liabilities.

Michigan is one of the lucky states who passed legislation to protect social media usernames & passwords. accounts.  Unfortunately, many states have not yet joined that trend.  So it depends on where you live.

The 3rd link I posted in reply #5 above gives more info if you're interested.

[OldBob1957]

Nancy OShea wrote:

The 3rd link I posted in reply #5 above gives more info if you're interested.

LOL! Of course that was the one that just spun and spun and never opened for me. I'll try again later. The other two were interesting, BTW. Thanks.

--OB

Edit to add: It finally opened. Good article.

[Erica Gamet]

Definitely would never give anyone passwords to social media accounts (unless the service was one I was using as a rep of the company/entity requesting it). I get that companies want to vet potential employees, but to me, asking for passwords to see private conversations, etc. is akin to asking to come rifle through my desk drawers at my home or reading my diary before hiring me.

Anything public-facing should be open to scrutiny. Like requesting them to make their Twitter or Instagram not private for them to review. Luckily, I don't have to deal with this scenario. Yet, anyway.

[Chuck Uebele]

I wouldn't give passwords either. As far as social media goes, I used to work for a company that did government contracts. I had to go though a 5 year update, which included an agent coming by and interviewing all my neighbors. I retired before I was subjected to this new thing they were doing on checking FB, but many of my coworkers said that during the interviews, the agent brought up things mentioned in their FB that were not public, and that were private. So I don't see why they would need your password, as they seem to have already gotten around that. This was happening during Obama's term, so it's not new due to Trump.

[bookoflife_org]

Password , Never, Email = yes, it is a standard practice now all over the world, tech companies use it to cross platform. But I say, do not give password, but log in and allow  Employer to search, if you have nothing to hide. But log out afterwards.

#arcmichael

[e.reed.rogers]

Who on earth would give that information out willingly? Granted hackers can get anything but why would you willingly give that out? I'm self employed (have been for almost 3 decades) so maybe I'm out of the "loop" but if any prospective client/employer were to ask me that I would diplomatically and  unequivocally tell them to shove it up their https://hole.

quote OldBob1957​ " Any employer who demanded such information, is no-one I would be willing to work for anyway. I have never stayed with any company / employer which thought they in any way 'owned' me, and I am doing quite fine, thank you."

That should sum it up for everyone.

[Nancy OShea]

No,  I would not willingly give out anything to anybody.  These days, depending on where you live and your situation, it's becoming less & less an option to say "no."

Nancy

[e.reed.rogers]

Maybe you can elaborate what is meant by: "These days, depending on where you live and your situation, it's becoming less & less an option to say "no."" because I honestly don't understand that point of view?

[Nancy OShea]

It's not my particular point of view.  It is what it is.  Read the links further up in this discussion in Reply #5.

It's nice to pretend these things don't happen until it actually happens to you or someone you know.

Nancy