Senators ask feds to probe requests for passwords

[Julian Englis]

Source: BusinessWeek/Associated Press

Two U.S. senators are asking Attorney General Eric Holder to investigate whether employers asking for Facebook passwords during job interviews are violating federal law.

Democratic Sens. Chuck Schumer of New York and Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut said Sunday that they are calling on the Department of Justice and the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission to launch investigations. The senators are sending letters to the heads of the agencies.

The Associated Press reported this week that some private and public agencies around the country are asking job seekers for their social media credentials. The practice has alarmed privacy advocates.

Facebook warned employers on Friday not to ask job applicants for their passwords to the site, saying protected information is often displayed on profiles.

Read more: http://www.businessweek.com/ap/2012-03/D9TNFQMG4.htm

[Liberty Belle]

1. Asking for any passwords should be illegal, for several reasons.

People often use same passwords for many accounts. What if someone's Facebook password is also their bank account password, for example?

Also, while some things are publicly available on Facebook, others are not. With a password, the employer could get to posts reserved only for friends or family, and even into personal account details.

[woodsprite]

5. Yes, if you pay for something through Facebook

gaming stuff, whatever, it keeps the association to your payment type. If you use Paypal, all you need to do is click 'buy' and 'confirm purchase'. It doesn't ask for any of your personal paypal info, but someone could clean you out.

[trusty elf]

2. That the NSA is monitoring email, web browsing, FB, etc, doesn't bother them?

The fourth amendment seems pretty tattered to me.

I guess it's ok if the gubmint does it, but not the private sector? No, what am I saying? Hasn't domestic spying already been contracted out to the private sector?

[Cirque du So-What]

6. I was thinking along these lines as well

True, domestic spying has been contracted out to the private sector, but it's to companies of their choosing - not just any ol' company that demands access to private info.

[Ian David]

4. How long until Fox "News" decries this infringement on freedom? n/t

[IDemo]

7. As I posted earlier,

Facebook user agreements are "clickwrap agreements", and are legally enforceable contracts:

Are Clickwrap Agreements Enforceable?

While they are not like a traditional contract in that they do not involve someone verbally indicating their acceptance of the terms, or signing their name to something, clickwrap contracts are still enforceable in a court of law just like any other contract. In ProCD, Incorporated v. Zeidenberg et al (1996), the Court stated about the similar "shrinkwrap" license, "Shrinkwrap licenses are enforceable unless their terms are objectionable on grounds applicable to contracts in general (for example, if they violate a rule of positive law, or if they are unconscionable)."

Google was involved in an actual clickwrap case, in which the Court stated, "Absent a showing of fraud, failure to read an enforceable clickwrap agreement, as with any binding contract, will not excuse compliance with its terms." (Feldman v. Google, Inc. (2007))

It's clear that just like a normal contract, as long as the terms are not unconscionable or otherwise against public policy, a clickwrap agreement is enforceable once formed.

Part of that agreement is that the user will not give out their password. An inducement by another party to surrender a password (voluntarily or otherwise) constitutes "Tortious interference" and presents grounds for legal action.

http://legal-dictionary.thefreedictionary.com/tortious+interference

[BlueIris]

8. Asking Eric Holder to stop people from breaking the law is like

asking Dick Cheney to stop paramilitary mercenary groups from waging war. Pointless.