Employers demanding Facebook passwords from staff... told off finally

I didn't realize that employers had the balls to actually demand a workers facebook login information - when i first read about it a few days ago i was seeing red lol - it just seems so ridiculously over the line of acceptable employer practice to demand personal information - FINALLY there has been an official backlash to this frankly ridiculous practice... so demanding FB info ok or not ok for employers?

article below
http://www.theoffshoreonline.com/articles/2012/03/27/employers-warned-against-demanding-facebook-details-staff

Reply 1

Darkphilosopher

16

If somebody asked for my facebook password I would tell them to **** off :colonhash:

Reply 2

Annie72

17

Original post by Darkphilosopher

If somebody asked for my facebook password I would tell them to **** off :colonhash:

Me too!!!.No one has the right to know my FB password, least of all my employer.

Reply 3

Tokyoround

16

Personally, I wouldn't mind as I don't do any creeping on girls on there or anything embarrassing. It is a bit too far though.

You could argue I guess that if a person was being hired to be in charge of a business or professional account then it's sort of, possibly, maybe, within reason.

Reply 4

Dwayne Hicks

2

Original post by Tokyoround

Personally, I wouldn't mind as I don't do any creeping on girls on there or anything embarrassing. It is a bit too far though.

You could argue I guess that if a person was being hired to be in charge of a business or professional account then it's sort of, possibly, maybe, within reason.

No it's not. No one has a right to that sort of information except yourself.

Reply 5

Cardiff Kook

1

I would like to see one try

Reply 6

Clare~Bear

15

Why didn't they jsut look at their profile from the perspective of a stranger/ FB friend?

Reply 7

Jono404

13

Ridiculous, these employers should stop worrying so much about employees slagging them off on facebook and instead look at why and focus on improving morale, I'll wager it's because they are terrible places to work.

Reply 8

screamaimash

A password is like a toothbrush. You change it regularly and don't let anyone else use it. Simples.

I'd simply refuse.

Original post by Clare~Bear

Why didn't they jsut look at their profile from the perspective of a stranger/ FB friend?

probably because many people have wised up to their employers snooping and as such set their security settings so they cant see a damn thing on their profile if theyre not friends with them and what friend would give out their password for their employers to snoop on their colleagues?!
thats just a guess though :rolleyes:

Reply 11

Darth Stewie

15

This seems to be more of an American thing that people are worried could catch on over here but as the article says it won't because of our data protection laws.

Even in the US can employers actually force an employee to hand over their facebook password? or do they ask for it before they hire someone?

Reply 12

Psyk

16

Original post by Tokyoround

You could argue I guess that if a person was being hired to be in charge of a business or professional account then it's sort of, possibly, maybe, within reason.

Then that should be a separate account from their personal one.

Reply 13

Tokyoround

16

Original post by Psyk

Then that should be a separate account from their personal one.

What I mean is, someone being hired to be in charge of a celebrity account or one representing a large company. You might want to see how they behave on their own account to ensure they can be trusted to represent the celebrity/company.

I'm not in any way trying to say I agree with asking people for their passwords, just trying to see some reasoning behind it besides "being nosey".

Reply 14

Intriguing Alias

16

That is way out of line. If they need some sort of social networking for business then the employer should create it, facebook is for personal social networking and I'm pretty sure in facebook terms and conditions it says do not tell your password to anyone else.

Massive invasion of privacy, even if you have nothing to hide why should they have access to your facebook acount?

Reply 15

TheHistoryStudent

11

Pfft...idiots. What on earth they would find on a Facebook page which was of any value to them I don't know (either because I have a really boring social life, or because I just didn't think people posted anything of worth on there anyway...)

If the idea is to have their own business account on FB, then they can just do that themselves.

If they idea is to snoop on their employees activities, opinions etc, then thats an invasion of privacy.

Reply 16

Psyk

16

Original post by Tokyoround

What I mean is, someone being hired to be in charge of a celebrity account or one representing a large company. You might want to see how they behave on their own account to ensure they can be trusted to represent the celebrity/company.

I'm not in any way trying to say I agree with asking people for their passwords, just trying to see some reasoning behind it besides "being nosey".

I don't think that would be any justification. I don't think the way people use their own personal profile necessarily reflects how they would act professionally. By all means judge them by what they put out there for all to see, but if they keep it private it's none of their employers business. Except perhaps for high security jobs (e.g. MI6).

Reply 17

Manitude

20

Original post by Psyk

Then that should be a separate account from their personal one.

That's what's linkedin is for: professional networking.

Facebook is and always was SOCIAL networking. It has no place in a workplace. I would avoid contact with colleagues and especially managers unless I had genuinely become friends with them.

Reply 18

Psyk

16

Original post by Manitude

That's what's linkedin is for: professional networking.

Facebook is and always was SOCIAL networking. It has no place in a workplace. I would avoid contact with colleagues and especially managers unless I had genuinely become friends with them.

I think we're talking about facebook pages for PR purposes, not for professional networking. For example a celebrity might have a public facebook page to communicate with fans. A lot of the time they employ people to run those pages for them. Also companies often have a facebook page to represent the company. That's the sort of thing I meant.

I have the same attitude to facebook. The only colleagues I have on facebook are ones who I socialise with outside of work as well.

Reply 19

fourdigit

15

Either employers are sick to demand such a request.

Any passing of this ridiculous request is unacceptable and I would imagine most would delete/deactivate their account before giving someone else the control of their account.

Linkedin almost asks for personal information, read the T&C for more depth. Anyone who think their personal information is safe on the internet should rethink.

I don't see the point of this thread, as I don't see the request being passed. Is this just another cyberwar?

Employers demanding Facebook passwords from staff... told off finally

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