Posted by Angela | 0 Comments

“Stick ‘em up! Now Gimme Your Facebook Passw...

Looking for a job has turned in to a real struggle these days. But with networking sites like Facebook, LinkedIn, and others, it is getting easier to meet other people, some of whom may be in authoritative positions. Job seekers in Bozeman, Montana, have been faced with a difficult decision between privacy and job seeking. The city of Bozeman created a policy asking all job seekers in the area to hand over their usernames and passwords for social networking sites such as those listed above.

The policy has created much uproar against city officials who support it. Announced just two days ago (Wednesday) on a local TV station, the news caused concerned citizens to bombard city officials with e-mails and phone calls. The city defends itself by saying that it would only be for verifying information listed on an application and that they don’t expect everyone to follow through with the request. They believe it will be most helpful in the hiring of public officials, police officers, and other positions of public trust.

The only thing that makes this situation a little less serious than it seems is that citizens are not held to this. They don’t have to do it. And the city won’t hold it against those who decide to not take part. I can say that I, personally, would not be one to hand over such information to city officials. That’s for sure. It’s a form of censorship at an early stage, which could lead to who knows what.