Job Applicant Forced to Give Up His Facebook Password
When reapplying for his job at the Maryland Department of Corrections Robert Collins was told that he had to give up his Facebook username and password as part of a background check. Oh, hell no!
The ACLU turned Collins' story into a video. The ACLU argues it's an invasion of privacy, but a rep for the Maryland Department of Public Safety and Correctional Services claimed that they didn't ask him for his password. We're sure it's a matter of course now for prospective employers to look at an applicant's Facebook page, but asking for a password? That's just dirty.
The agent doing the background check said it was to make sure Collins wasn't engaging in illegal activity. If you need to figure that out via Facebook, then the investigator probably isn't doing his job. And seeing all that horrible but innocuous Facebook detritus like someone's shirtless vacation pictures and extensive beer bong photo gallery is probably a whole lot more dangerous to everyone involved.