Facebook has fired back at reports of employers requesting “inappropriate” access to employees' Facebook profiles, saying the practice undermines privacy and is illegal.
Facebook's chief privacy officer for policy, Erin Egan, says in an official blog post: “As a user, you shouldn't be forced to share your private information and communications just to get a job.”
According to Egan, it is a violation of Facebook's statement of rights and responsibilities to share or solicit a Facebook password. Egan says it is important for all Facebook users to know that they have the right to keep their password private, and that Facebook will “do our best to protect that right.
“We'll take action to protect the privacy and security of our users, whether by engaging policymakers or, where appropriate, by initiating legal action, including by shutting down applications that abuse their privileges.”
Several US lawmakers have also come out in support of Facebook and said they would introduce Bills to prohibit companies from vetting employees by demanding access to private accounts.
According to Reuters, California state senator Leland Yee is quoted as saying: “Employers can't ask, in the course of an interview, your sexual orientation, your age, and yet social media accounts may have that information.”
Yee is said to have introduced legislation on California to prohibit companies soliciting Facebook passwords from job applicants. The New York Times also reports that senator Charles Schumer, of New York, and senator Richard Blumenthal, of Connecticut, have called for investigations into the matter.
obviously doesn't know what privacy actually means.
