Your Facebook password should be none of your boss' business

This is a great "I don't want to work here" filter. If I was asked for my password during an interview I would probably leave. I can easily afford to do that because there is such a demand for software engineers (and I'm not even looking!). Unfortunately for others who aren't in the same position I think it is absolutely disgraceful for some stranger to go through your personal stuff just to get a job.

If I ever had someone demand this, I would update my account to show my sexual orientation as homosexual, my religion to Islam, and my political views to whatever the opposite of my boss's were. Then if they ever tried to lay me off, or not give me a raise, I would point out that the only useful information they possibly could have gotten from demanding my Facebook account were these protected statuses.

I wonder what the implications would be if facebook introduced a feature that allowed a potential employer to "buy" temporary access to a potential employees facebook data?<p>For example you apply for a job somewhere and the next time you log into facebook you get a message that reads something like.<p>"InitTech PLC has requested read only access to your account for 48 hours, please be aware that compliance with this is a condition of employment with InitTech PLC Allow/Deny"

Is there a list somewhere of the companies that do this? If i knew a company required it's applicants to do this, i would be much less likely to shop there.

My idea of an appropriate response to this:<p>Interviewer: Ok then, we'll just need your facebook login information and we'll be all set.<p>Applicant: Sure thing, but first I'll need a key to your house.<p>Interviewer: What? Why?<p>Applicant: I'd like to go in when you're not there and rummage through your stuff, to make sure you're the kind of person I want to work for.

I think the whole topic is silly.<p>If your potential employer asked you for passwords to your bank accounts, stock managers or asked you to hand over your journals, why would you comply?<p>I know the job market is still tough out there for people, but why would you want to work for a company that won't trust you based on your face to face interview, the documents you submit, your references and a due diligence web search?<p>Were people compelled to give out their AOL passwords for jobs in the 90's?

Facebook is such a small part of my online activities that its almost inconsequential. But I would still object to the request as inappropriate on the grounds of personal security (which I prefer to cite over privacy).<p>I'd be much more concerned if they asked for my userids &#38; passwords for email accounts, Skype, MSN, IRC, domain names and 'Hacker News' (especially if they just went by the name &#38; not the content)!!

Facebook should try and do something about this, because it's in their best interest. If this keeps going, people will either simply quit Facebook, or start making mock-accounts to show to the employees.

I would set up a fake Facebook account if I were very desperately in need for a job. Or just say I don't have one, which is true at the moment. Otherwise, No and Goodbye.<p>Sharing my password, any of them, is simply totally unacceptable. No way. I'm not giving them the key to my front door either am I? Or my ID card with my boss' face on it so that he can impersonate me, because that's also what this is (though that probably won't happen, so they key example is better, but that doesn't make this less true).

Is this really becoming common? I agree that it's absolutely wrong, but, every headline I've seen gives the impression this is becoming a common practice. I've never heard of it actually happening anywhere but the few cases cited in the articles.

As I saw commented elsewhere, giving up your password / access to another person appears to be a pretty clear violation of Facebook's TOS (terms of service). So, my first response might be to ask whether they are soliciting me to breach a legal contract that I've entered. (I'll leave my thoughts on the actual legality or interpretation and reasonableness of claimed legality on the part of the service provider, here Facebook, as a separate question for another time.) At a minimum, this might be enough to ensure e.g. that the unemployment agency decides in my favor with respect to unemployment insurance, if things happen to go that way.<p>I also recall another comment where someone pointed out that their friends on Facebook have an expectation of privacy in their own communications and that s/he will not compromise (betray) that expectation. That seems to me to be a pretty clear ethical argument. As a reasonable person, I would have a hard time challenging the ethics of such a response.<p>Finally, personally, I agree with other comments here, that the access and information is none of their business.<p>What perhaps some (not all) in the preponderance of relatively privileged professions represented on HN may not fully realize, is that for many people in the workforce there is effectively little or no choice. Jobs -- especially with decent pay and benefits -- are hard to come by, and many do not have the financial means to risk an episode or continuance of unemployment.<p>For the sake of those people, as well as ourselves, we need to band together in opposition to this behavior. Even for ourselves, if the practice becomes commonplace, that sets a precedent that may subsequently box us in.

Is there anything in facebook's terms of service that would permit their users to share login info with third parties?

A company asking for this potentially opens themselves up to a huge amount of legal liability since a typical Facebook profile can contain an enormous amount of data that they are not allowed to ask during the interview process.

Isn't this illegal during the interview process since Facebook reveals practically every protected status?

If someone asked me for my facebook password I would ask for theirs. If they think it's important to see my personal information, they should be fine with me seeing theirs.

This issue isn't an <i>ought</i>, it's an <i>is</i>. Every job is a negotiation, and if your negotiating position and skills are good enough then you won't have to comply with your boss's request for your Facebook passoword. Otherwise, you will.

It definitely crosses the line to ask or require your employees to access their private information. In cases such as this, employees are being treated more like company property than as free individuals. That's not cool.

Instead I would advice them to buy me a beer or two I bet they will get to know more of me than by watching all of those imgurl links I cross post from reddit.

I worked at a social media marketing agency for a few months, when I went out of town I gave my manager my login information because my clients would sometimes direct message me instead of email (annoying). A few weeks after returning, some of my new messages would already appear open, and Facebook asked me if I logged into my account from a PC ( NEVER!!) at a different location than normal ( near my managers house). I was upset and went to her boss, they said she was just doing her job and that she had every right to check up on company communication.

How is this different from asking for your Gmail password?

If I had a boss who ever asked me for my facebook password, I would first change my password to a string of about 100 random numbers and letters. Here is an example:<p>sd0w34hd8yjddghaJHj323HDa6GassGa79AsSFlk889FfSDFGd8AS78<p>Then, I would print this password out on a sheet of paper and give it my boss.

The argument can be made (at least in our industry) that someone who uses Facebook isn't someone you'd want to hire, anyway.