Some bosses now asking for workers' Facebook passwords: report
In the breakneck world of consumer tech, common sense is often a few years behind.
For instance, Facebook began in 2004, but only around 2006, 2007, you’d say, did it become widely-known that it wasn’t a good idea to friend your boss or upload photos of you wielding a samurai sword.
Yet it’s 2012 now, and a disturbing trend has begun on the social network we really don’t know what to do with just yet.
We very well may in a few years, but for now many consumers are bewildered when the unthinkable happens: their bosses asking for their Facebook login and password.
Apparently, such a ruthless tactic is underway in workplaces today, a time when many employees don’t have the leverage to raise much of a fuss.
*Bing: What should you never upload to Facebook?
According to the Star, some employers (or would-be employers) are now making it commonplace to insist upon the login info for their workers’ (or would-be workers') Facebook profiles, a nasty practice that’s toeing the line between what’s ethical and what’s not.
In most parts of Canada and the U.S., there are no laws prohibiting employers from demanding social networking information, and while there are similarly no laws stating employees need to actually give their passwords, in this work climate there’s not much many can do.
“If you need to put food on the table for your three kids, you can’t afford to stand up for your belief,” said one New Yorker who was asked for his Facebook info.
Indeed, many prospective employers aren’t in a place today where they have the luxury of waging such philosophical wars against their bosses. Instead, they just swallow hard and hand over their info so they keep their jobs.
Though, would you?
Would you ever give an employer your Facebook login information to get/keep a job? What would you say to your boss if they asked you for your social network password?
By Jason Buckland, MSN Money
Posted by: J. Moore | Mar 22, 2022 9:02:59 AM
I'll say to my boss: sure her is my password and what's your password?. Then login into his/her account and write nasty stuuf on his/her profile. The point is that if my boss knows my password, hi/her can use that against me.
Posted by: Al-man | Mar 22, 2022 11:56:31 AM
Sure boss, her's my password. And while I'm at it, here's my credit card and bank account password too. I think they can take the express elevator to hell before I tell them anything like that.
Posted by: Screw that | Mar 22, 2022 1:59:32 PM
Who said I have an account?
Posted by: SP | Mar 24, 2021 7:11:10 PM
Go for it. Any company that asks for that information is demonstrating that it doesn't understand boundaries.
This is a good thing, no really. Just as they view your personal communications as their business you are then allowed to view the company assets as yours.
So sure on the downside, you have a gossipy HR employee reading all your taudry FB messages, emails etc. But on the upside the company will understand when you steal from the company or share their private information with others.
"It's No Boundaries Time ! "
Posted by: J Gilles | Mar 28, 2021 12:28:12 AM
I would never give anyone my password for anything. If this causes me to lose my job, then my boss will get a bullet in his head while he is sleeping his bed.
Posted by: Bonny | Mar 29, 2021 1:49:08 AM
I wouldn't hand over my password, but I would invite my employer to sit beside me while I have my facebook open. I will consent to clicking on anything s/he wants to see, open all pictures, open all "notes," allow him/her to look at all the comments on all my photos, anything on my wall, etc. In short, I will allow the employer to take a thorough look, but not disclose my password.
There's no reason an employer can justify having a password to your account. If a pre-employment peek is what the employer wants, then that's what I'll provide. If occasional (even unannounced check-ins are required, I'll comply with that, too, but a password allows the holder of that password to make changes to the account). I have no objection to an employer seeing what I post, but I'm not allowing anyone to make changes to the account.
Posted by: Darcy P. | Mar 29, 2021 5:04:19 AM
It would be a cold day in hell before I gave anyone my password to anything.
I am positive I would win a lawsuit where I sue them for not hiring me. In the end they would either have to hire me anyways and pay back-wages or they still would not hire me but would be forced to pay punitive damages.
I don't care how long the process would take.
People need to stand up their rights!
Posted by: David R. | Apr 10, 2021 2:11:02 AM
This is so ridiculous. What morons would agree to this? If an employer ever asked me this, I'd say "okay, but first lets go to your house right now and let me go through it without you being there" and if they said no I'd immediately turn around and walk out the door.
Posted by: Dave S | Apr 10, 2021 1:16:55 PM
Any boss that would fire you if you did not give them your FB password is just ASKING for a lawsuit. While I don't find it hard to believe that some would try to ask for it, I would however find it hard to believe they would be stupid enough to try and punish you if you did not.
While I would still consider it intrusive, I think the most any employer could reasonably expect would be for you to add them as a 'friend' on FB so they could see what you are posting. Even then, it's easy enough to block your content with the privacy settings. Or perhaps more and more people will create a secondary alias accounts where they post with their real friends.
Posted by: William | Apr 22, 2021 7:41:27 PM
Hello people, Have an alternative FB set up and add some of your friends on there and have it set up for the most stringent limitations.