Employer Demands Facebook Login From Job Applicants 434
Hugh Pickens writes writes "Alex Madrigal reports in the Atlantic that the ACLU has taken up the case of Maryland corrections officer Robert Collins, who was required to provide his Facebook login and password to the Maryland Division of Corrections during a recertification interview so the interviewer could log on to his account and read not only his postings, but those of his family and friends too. 'We live in a time when national security is the highest priority, but it must be delicately balanced with personal privacy,' says Collins. 'My fellow officers and I should not have to allow the government to view our personal Facebook posts and those of our friends, just to keep our jobs.' The ACLU of Maryland has sent a letter to Public Safety Secretary Gary Maynard (PDF) concerning the Division of Correction's blanket requirement that applicants for employment with the division, as well as current employees undergoing recertification, provide the government with their social media account usernames and personal passwords for use in employee background checks. After three weeks the ACLU has received no response."
Re:Why the password? (Score:4, Informative)
Founding Fathers (Score:3, Informative)
I can only imagine how many of them would be in Gitmo or prison for treason, domestic terrorism or "other".
When the people fear their government, there is tyranny; when the government fears the people, there is liberty.
The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants.
A wise and frugal government, which shall leave men free to regulate their own pursuits of industry and improvement, and shall not take from the mouth of labor the bread it has earned - this is the sum of good government.
All tyranny needs to gain a foothold is for people of good conscience to remain silent.
Conquest is not in our principles. It is inconsistent with our government.
Experience hath shewn, that even under the best forms of government those entrusted with power have, in time, and by slow operations, perverted it into tyranny.
I believe that banking institutions are more dangerous to our liberties than standing armies.
Those Who Sacrifice Liberty For Security Deserve Neither.
Lets not forget this Gem.
That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, — That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security.
Re:Privacy is so 20th century. (Score:5, Informative)
Bullshit. Lots of it.
Your statements can only be true if and only if the employement is a sellers'market (there is more demand for employees than supply). Else, the situation is "You don't want to give me your FB login? Fine, the next applicant will and you won't get another interview"
Add to it that corporations are really out of hand for everything that they can control, and you'll see that soon everywhere you go will demand not only you FB login to check it but also to post praises to your employer and ask your friends to buy their products (and beware of befriending "known radicals" or visiting "non-adequate" sites). The more power they can get over you, the more power they can get. The only constraint would be the money they need to spend to control you.
Your employer already has a lots of power over you. Give him more, and you'll end being your slave. What is fine for me if that only applied to idiots willing to comply with it, but soon they will think everyone is an idiot thanks to people like you.
Simple solution (Score:4, Informative)
Re:False dillema (Score:4, Informative)
No. The National Guard has always has dual missions, state and federal. National guard troops even get extra training during their basic training, to cover dealing with riots. The feds fund the majority of the costs so that the guard is available in case of need, but they still have to request the guard from the governor. They get around that "nicety" by threatening to take away federal funding.
What they were not intended for was long term recurring deployments outside of declared wars.