Quite honestly I would probably do more than leave the interview if put in this position. In my company there are many employees that I am friends with on Facebook. I have made it a policy to never friend anyone who is higher on the corporate food chain. Managers, supervisors, etc. It is none of their business how I spend my free time or what I wish to opine about. If ever asked for access I would deny and deny and deny. My ID, password and privacy are mine.

The truth is that these websites open you up to anything. I think that we should stop thinking of these social websites as our personal space or property. They are not. They are there to collect info on the users and nothing else. That is their business model and they even tell you that.

Next,They will want to see your bank statement so they can figure out how much to pay you.Where does it stop?

I don't think they have any right to ask for my facebook password anymore than they have the right to ask for my personal email password.

I am a boss with many employees and I am surprised that people are so unable to see both sides of this issue. As an employer, I want to know that I am hiring the best possible employees, and their character matters to me. I think that I should have full access to all employee and prospective employee Facebook and email accounts. It shocks me how ungrateful some employees can be for the fact that I have "created" their jobs. Without me they are nothing... just mindless wandering zombies without direction or any productive in life to do. If things were really fair I would be able to monitor every of my employees moves via remote camera, or perhaps brain chip implant. After all, its a free country and they can all go get a job somewhere else if they don't like it.

Listen, there are no such things as morals. And all this talk of "rights" is so passé. As any economist can tell you, there are only "interests." There is no such thing as right or wrong, but only what is right and wrong for me and what is right and wrong for you. So there is nothing wrong with me doing whatever I want that supports my interests.

Ridgewood, What I do after my 9 to 5 job with the "Bride of Frankenstein" is none of your G** D*** Business! As long as i am productive and do my job,what i do is NONE OF YOUR BUSINESS! Glad i don't work for you.Must be just one happy office.

passwords only keep honest people out

Like Don (who I assume is an attorney) said, they can ask you for anything so long as it's lawful. If you don't want to provide it then you don't have to work there. How about providing urine for a drug test or submitting to background and credit checks? Are these things any less invasive than revealing stupid Facebook comments?

Hey Ridgewood Mom

So I suppose if you feel that way, you won’t mind sharing your Facebook user name and password with us here, just in case any or us “mindless wandering zombies without direction or any productive in life” wonder into your shop for a job! We's want to know every thing about you too. You know?

Do you have doors on your restroom facilities? Or do you prefer the open look, so you can quickly discover if one of your employees is really doing a human function, or just goofing off on your dime?

It is people like you that create need for Unions, and massive government regulations.

Please, also, tell us the name of your company, because believe me, I want to make sure not even so much as a penny of mine makes it in to your place!

Curt,Probably has a camera in the restroom,I kmow that is illegal but not for mindless wandering zombies that have had a brain chip implanted.

If you're doing something you wouldn't want the world (including your employer) to know about, why post it on Facebook anyway? I will never understand the new fascination with posting the sordid details of ones life online and maintaining any expectation that it remain private. I'm guessing the day is not far off when many will regret the amount of information they've revealed about themselves online.

Guess what Wayne. They run a credit check on you that is better than a bank statement. They can tell how many bank accounts you have, how much you make and what you spend it on, and if you paid your bills on time.

Toddalax, Must of had the brain chip implant! Anybody who would want to work for MOM, must have reinvented the square peg to fit into the round hole.MUST be a government job.

For most non-union jobs, as long as an employer doesn't practice discrimination, they can choose not to hire someone for any reason. This is no different than requiring a drug test for employment. If you don't want to submit to the test, don’t seek the job.

Union jobs have predetermined condition that may impact the conditiions by which a candidate may be evaluated, so this pratice could be prohibited by collective bargining.

The irony is that people don't seem to mind that facebook violates their privacy all the time. It follows you around so if you read an article and are considering on commenting on it, your facebook profile is already attached so that your FB photo is already sitting there next to the comment box.

That if you click you "like" an article, photo or video you cannot control if you want anyone to know you "liked" it. All of your friends are sent on their newsfeed your "like". Only they are able to block you. You cannot block who sees your "likes".

The can ask all they want - they will be talking to the wall.
My comment would be next question with a big smile.
At times like this you take the highroad in time you will be respected for it.
If they dare to ask under no condition tell - next thing they might want the key to your car and house. *Smiles.

Step 1. Change your name on Facebook. Step 2. Say you don't have a profile. Problem solved

It's a simple question of what information potential employers are forbidden by law to ask about. A typical Facebook profile contains most of those: Age, ethnicity, religion, marital status, etc. Whether they can ask for it directly or via your Facebook profile is moot.

So for the truly paranoid, expand on Eric's suggestion:
1. Change your name on Facebook to some random thing they'll never search for (try feeding your name into an anagram generator).
2. As a second defense, lock down your account so that only friends can see it at all.
3. Create a new email account.
4. Create a new Facebook account associated with that email address. Have the name on that account exactly match the name you put on your resume and employment applications.
5. Set up the profile on that account with nothing but protected information: Race, ethnic background, sexual orientation, and all the other things they can't ask about.
6. Allow that account to be searchable and visible to everybody.
7. Friend nobody, except possibly your lawyer.
8. Use that email account exclusively for your job search.
9. As soon as a potential employer starts poking around, drop the hammer.

Of course there are ways to find those things out. My point (and I'm not conjuring this out of thin air--I've talked to several HR professionals about this) is that when you're applying/interviewing for a job, they can't ask *you*. If they can't ask you directly what your religion, marital status, etc. are, they also can't ask you to provide them with a source for that data. The laws against discrimination still stand.

As for higher security jobs, you know going in that they're going to run a more extensive background check, and that you might be subject to ongoing surveillance during and possibly after your employment in the secure position (I've had a security clearance so I know this firsthand). But it's up to the hiring party to make you aware of these added requirements beforehand, and you always have the choice to opt out before the investigation begins. And they *still* can't deny you the position just because of what church you do or don't go to.

I guess it hasn't occurred to you that I've been speaking in the abstract. I am not currently looking for work, as you would have known if you had really *read* job.html (you seem to share that disability with legions of fly-by-night recruiters). Everything you were able to find out about me in two minutes with The Google is information I am well aware is available to anyone who cares to look. Post something that I haven't decided to make available to everyone on Earth and then maybe I'll be impressed.

Seeing as how I am not looking for work, and right now do not have an immediate need for an employment lawyer, are you offering to pay for one who can set me straight just to prove you're right? If not, then this conversation is over.

So are my friends and family expected to waive their right to privacy based upon my employment options? Should I have the expectation that my friends employers will be able to read and monitor private messages authored by me? Why stop with facebook? Perhaps I can also give them my personal phone passwords so they can monitor my messages there as well.

Unless your position requires a security clearance, where your loss of privacy is generally financially compensated, then it really isn't your employers business what you are discussing in your off time.

They can have my facebook/e-mail password. I have nothing to hide. If it's worth getting a job and getting somewhere far in life take it. So what they look at my personal messages about meeting up with my pals for a beer and cigar events and pen pals. Big deal.

Simple answer, dont be sheep and use facebook, it is stupid and you open yourself up for tons of scrutiny

They can't force you to give your password and they can't force you to work there either.

The story says "the woman interviewing him had searched for his Facebook and, upon discovering that it was private, asked him for the password." This makes no sense. You don't need to know someone's Facebook PASSWORD in order to view their profile. If they have secured it so that only their "Friends" can see it, then you just have to be their "Friend". So I think the question, as written in this article, is bogus.

But anyway, if a prospective employer asked to monitor my Facebook activity, I would ask to see a copy of the employee handbook. It would probably say something like "Anything you do on company computer equipment is the property of the company, and can be accessed by the company." And so my answer to them would be: "You are welcome to monitor all of my activity on the company computer, within the terms outlined in the employee handbook." And I would simply never access Facebook from the company computer, end of discussion.

If the employer was REALLY asking for the interviewee's Facebook PASSWORD, then, as the interviewee, if the above answer wasn't good enough, I'd say: "OK, I'll give you my Facebook password if you first give me YOUR Facebook password as well as the Facebook passwords of everybody else at the company who is going to be given access to mine." And then when I got home from the interview, I'd change my Facebook password.

Has everybody gone crazy and let this site take over their pathetic lives that they need to brag about everything they do and every move their kids make - Get a life everybody, could care less what you just thought or are about to do on a daily basis - Facebook is basically for people who dont get any attention or want to make things seem better than they really are - Thumbs up for employers who ask for this information, it is related to the background check on nuts they are about to employ

I've heard 2 sides to this story. I for one don't post anything using my name or image in FB that I wouldn't want my worst enemy to know. If you search my name on Google you might find a few articles about college awards that I won, that actually apply to me. I don't have my phone number linked to my FB or twiiter or Google account. Personal pictures belong on my personal PC. I think they youth is way too loose with their information but I'm a little old-fashioned that way.

On the other hand our online personas are slowly creeping into the business world more and more. More and more business have FB accounts it's not just for college kids anymore. I think a person should have a "professional" FB page. Add your co-workers and your friends who have enough sense to only link SFW things. Employers want to know what kind of person you are. Do you get out and have fun, do you enjoy knitting, did you see the Avengers, things like that who cares if everyone gets to see that. A lot of places want people who mesh with the team more than someone qualified (tons of people are qualified for the job. If they just wanted the most qualified person they wouldn't hold interviews). With certain jobs you could even bump up your chances, posting "sample work" (look at this idea I thought up while in the shower)

Just like in the past it was customary to create a professional e-mail address to put on your resume maybe it's time to have a professional FB account to give out to employers

Here's and interesting question. Is it morally okay ( I think it's perfectly legal ) for an employer to use software to obtain your username and password if you log on to facebook using your work, or better put, employers computer.

Should an employee expect any level of personal privacy while using equipment provided to them by their employer for the sole purpose of performing the job they were hired for. Can you imagine the collective amount of time wasted by employees on the internet at work.

Sorry, "an interesting question".

Sounds like Nazi Germany

The whole point of the password is so you can get into your account and everyone else can't...period. If the company should happen to hire you, the first thing they'll make you do is sign a form stating that you won't give your business passwords to anybody.

It's almost like when I go on job interviews. They want to see the work that I've done for others, but they won't want the work I do for them shown to others.

Just tell them that you don't have a facebook account.. just change your face book name and remove your profile picture, only tell your close friend & family your secret user name...

facebook is best