Facebook has condemned the practice of selected employers in the US who have started to request the Facebook log-in details of potential employees during their recruitment process.
In recent months it has emerged that some employers and government agencies have started to request that job seekers provide log-in details to their personal Facebook profile to the employer so they can log into the social network as that person and see what they’ve been doing online.
While it has become common place for employers to view a potential employee’s Facebook profile as a fellow social network user, asking for the log-in details and to go online as that person is a breach of privacy rights argues the social network.
In a blog post today, Facebook’s chief privacy officer, Erin Egan, points out that requesting the log in details of a Facebook account is a violation of the social network’s privacy regulations. The Privacy officer for Facebook added that anyone who solicits these details, and anyone who provides them, will be in breach of Facebook’s Statement of Rights and Responsibilities and Facebook will reserve the right to drop such people from the network or delete their account.
Many legal experts have branded the practice intrusive, with one legal professor comparing the acquisition of Facebook account log-in details to that of requesting a person’s house keys.
Have you ever been asked for your Facebook log-in details in a recruitment process? Do you think the practice is intrusive or an effective method for employers to find out more about a potential employee? Let us know your thoughts by dropping us a comment below.
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