US city requires Internet account passwords from employees
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US city requires Internet account passwords from employees
by Nathan Awrich
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http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2009/06/19/us/AP-US-Internet-Background-Checks.html
New employees, and perhaps current ones (?), are being asked to provide details of all web-based accounts, including forums and social networking sites. Details are meant to include usernames and passwords. Maybe we should have a user category of "Public employees in Bozeman, Montana" just in case... I doubt this turns into a new wave of intrusiveness, at least in the near future, but its disturbing even as an isolated case. For the legal types, any caselaw on whether employers (public or private) can demand this sort of information without violating the "implied right to privacy"? Nathan _______________________________________________ WikiEN-l mailing list WikiEN-l@... To unsubscribe from this mailing list, visit: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikien-l |
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Re: US city requires Internet account passwords from employees
by Thomas Dalton
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2009/6/19 Nathan <nawrich@...>:
> http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2009/06/19/us/AP-US-Internet-Background-Checks.html > > New employees, and perhaps current ones (?), are being asked to provide > details of all web-based accounts, including forums and social networking > sites. Details are meant to include usernames and passwords. Maybe we should > have a user category of "Public employees in Bozeman, Montana" just in > case... I doubt this turns into a new wave of intrusiveness, at least in the > near future, but its disturbing even as an isolated case. For the legal > types, any caselaw on whether employers (public or private) can demand this > sort of information without violating the "implied right to privacy"? "[The city] says it won't hold it against anyone for refusing to provide it." If it's not compulsory, I don't see a problem, as long as that fact is made clear to people. I don't see the point in asking if it isn't compulsory, though, unless they intend to trick people into thinking it is. Who would voluntarily give up that information? _______________________________________________ WikiEN-l mailing list WikiEN-l@... To unsubscribe from this mailing list, visit: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikien-l |
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Re: US city requires Internet account passwords from employees
by Nathan Awrich
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On Fri, Jun 19, 2009 at 11:59 AM, Thomas Dalton <thomas.dalton@...>wrote:
> > "[The city] says it won't hold it against anyone for refusing to provide > it." > > If it's not compulsory, I don't see a problem, as long as that fact is > made clear to people. I don't see the point in asking if it isn't > compulsory, though, unless they intend to trick people into thinking > it is. Who would voluntarily give up that information? > > against you if you leave it blank.)" on the form. That's why the laws against hiring discrimination don't simply empower job-seekers to refuse to answer questions, but bar them from being asked at all (even with the caveat that "I'm going to ask you if you're old or disabled, but you don't have to tell me."). ~Nathan _______________________________________________ WikiEN-l mailing list WikiEN-l@... To unsubscribe from this mailing list, visit: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikien-l |
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Re: US city requires Internet account passwords from employees
by Ray Saintonge
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Thomas Dalton wrote:
> 2009/6/19 Nathan <nawrich@...>: > >> http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2009/06/19/us/AP-US-Internet-Background-Checks.html >> >> New employees, and perhaps current ones (?), are being asked to provide >> details of all web-based accounts, including forums and social networking >> sites. Details are meant to include usernames and passwords. Maybe we should >> have a user category of "Public employees in Bozeman, Montana" just in >> case... I doubt this turns into a new wave of intrusiveness, at least in the >> near future, but its disturbing even as an isolated case. For the legal >> types, any caselaw on whether employers (public or private) can demand this >> sort of information without violating the "implied right to privacy"? >> > "[The city] says it won't hold it against anyone for refusing to provide it." > > If it's not compulsory, I don't see a problem, as long as that fact is > made clear to people. I don't see the point in asking if it isn't > compulsory, though, unless they intend to trick people into thinking > it is. Who would voluntarily give up that information? personal information is as much proof as we need to show that people would voluntarily give up the information. Colour these requests with an air of apparent authority and the rate of compliance will go up significantly. While it's likely true that the city cannot make these requirements compulsory, there's more than one kind of compulsory. A person who fails to give this information may be seen as not a team-player, and suffer consequences accordingly. Ec _______________________________________________ WikiEN-l mailing list WikiEN-l@... To unsubscribe from this mailing list, visit: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikien-l |
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Re: US city requires Internet account passwords from employees
by Amory Meltzer
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I doubt it'll last. The ACLU is correct on the page when they say "I
liken it to them saying they want to look at your love letters and your family photos," it's just excessive. It's also largely against the TOS for most of these sites. It's an interesting view at the sort of importance and clout the Internet has these days, but I'll laugh if it lasts the summer, what with all the employees, legislature, ACLU, and the Internet against the city of Bozeman. As you say Ec, there's no such thing as "not-compulsory." It's like taking the Fifth - theoretically it's a clean, meaningless gesture, but in practice you'd be hard-pressed to find anyone who doesn't take it as a sign of guilt. ~Amory _______________________________________________ WikiEN-l mailing list WikiEN-l@... To unsubscribe from this mailing list, visit: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikien-l |
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Re: US city requires Internet account passwords from employees
by Siobhan Hansa
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Amory Meltzer wrote:
> I doubt it'll last. The ACLU is correct on the page when they say "I > liken it to them saying they want to look at your love letters and > your family photos," it's just excessive. It's also largely against > the TOS for most of these sites. It's also pretty dumb from a security perspective for them. If they give the impression that requesting account and password information on official forms is reasonable they can hardly be surprised if their employees give out access to their council systems in this manner. Looks like a policy thoughtlessly adopted by people who haven't considered the big-picture view of what they are asking for. From Wikipedia's perspective it's interesting but largely a non-event. The few people who have accounts and apply for jobs there who would actually pass on their Wikipedia accounts must be very marginal. Not the biggest security concern I would think. (Though if anyone notices a bunch of accounts suddenly making positive and suspiciously similar entries about Bozeman we'll know what their real plan is...) Helen _______________________________________________ WikiEN-l mailing list WikiEN-l@... To unsubscribe from this mailing list, visit: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikien-l |
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Re: US city requires Internet account passwords from employees
by Ray Saintonge
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Siobhan Hansa wrote:
> Amory Meltzer wrote: > >> I doubt it'll last. The ACLU is correct on the page when they say "I >> liken it to them saying they want to look at your love letters and >> your family photos," it's just excessive. It's also largely against >> the TOS for most of these sites. >> > It's also pretty dumb from a security perspective for them. If they > give the impression that requesting account and password information on > official forms is reasonable they can hardly be surprised if their > employees give out access to their council systems in this manner. > > refuse to answer. ;-) They are the ones with the courage and integrity to be trusted with sensitive information. Ec _______________________________________________ WikiEN-l mailing list WikiEN-l@... To unsubscribe from this mailing list, visit: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikien-l |
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Re: US city requires Internet account passwords from employees
by Amory Meltzer
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> Hmm! Maybe the people they should be hiring are the ones who openly
> refuse to answer. ;-) They are the ones with the courage and > integrity to be trusted with sensitive information. Heh, not how I thought you were gonna end that. I thought it would read more like this: "Hmm! Maybe the people they should be hiring are the ones who openly refuse to answer - They're the smart ones!" ~Amory _______________________________________________ WikiEN-l mailing list WikiEN-l@... To unsubscribe from this mailing list, visit: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikien-l |
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Re: US city requires Internet account passwords from employees
by AndrewRT
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Story has now been updated:
>> A flood of criticism has prompted a Montana city to drop its request that government job applicants turn over their user names and passwords to Internet social networking and Web groups.... http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2009/06/19/us/AP-US-Internet-Background-Checks.html ----- "Nathan" <nawrich@...> wrote: > From: "Nathan" <nawrich@...> > To: "English Wikipedia" <wikien-l@...> > Sent: Friday, 19 June, 2009 16:12:59 GMT +00:00 GMT Britain, Ireland, Portugal > Subject: [WikiEN-l] US city requires Internet account passwords from employees > > http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2009/06/19/us/AP-US-Internet-Background-Checks.html > > New employees, and perhaps current ones (?), are being asked to provide > details of all web-based accounts, including forums and social networking > sites. Details are meant to include usernames and passwords. Maybe we should > have a user category of "Public employees in Bozeman, Montana" just in > case... I doubt this turns into a new wave of intrusiveness, at least in the > near future, but its disturbing even as an isolated case. For the legal > types, any caselaw on whether employers (public or private) can demand this > sort of information without violating the "implied right to privacy"? > > Nathan > _______________________________________________ > WikiEN-l mailing list > WikiEN-l@... > To unsubscribe from this mailing list, visit: > https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikien-l > WikiEN-l mailing list WikiEN-l@... To unsubscribe from this mailing list, visit: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikien-l |
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Re: US city requires Internet account passwords from employees
by Nathan Awrich
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On Sun, Jun 21, 2009 at 10:38 PM, <WJhonson@...> wrote:
> A little silly when the article quotes someone saying that you could find > out a person's religion. > > I think most of us would clearly be wary of it because you could find out > what sort of *porn/sex* I like. I don't care if you know my religion (I'm > the spawn of Satan.) > > I mean just imagine if some insider dropped images of the city manager > dressed up like a sheep. > > Will Johnson > It's a reference to protected information; employers are prohibited from considering race, religion, sex, age, etc. To ensure they don't, they aren't allowed to solicit such information. I think the main problem was privacy, but from the potential access to information that an employer may not legally use is also problematic. _______________________________________________ WikiEN-l mailing list WikiEN-l@... To unsubscribe from this mailing list, visit: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikien-l |
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Re: US city requires Internet account passwords from employees
by AndrewRT
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----- WJhonson@... wrote:
> From: WJhonson@... > A little silly when the article quotes someone saying that you could find > out a person's religion. I don't put my religion on my CV and would not want any prospective employer knowing about it - not because I'm ashamed about it, just that it's private information which isn't relevant to how good (or otherwise) a job I'll do. Andrew _______________________________________________ WikiEN-l mailing list WikiEN-l@... To unsubscribe from this mailing list, visit: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikien-l |
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Re: US city requires Internet account passwords from employees
by Amory Meltzer
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> I don't put my religion on my CV and would not want any prospective employer knowing about it - not because I'm ashamed about it, just that it's private information which isn't relevant to how good (or otherwise) a job I'll do.
That's the point. Giving them your usernames and passwords to places like Facebook, dating sites, etc., would give them a way to find out information they normally wouldn't. ~Amory _______________________________________________ WikiEN-l mailing list WikiEN-l@... To unsubscribe from this mailing list, visit: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikien-l |
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