Police recruits screened for digital dirt on Facebook, etc. (demanding private passwords, more)

[The Straight Story]

Police recruits screened for digital dirt on Facebook, etc.

Law enforcement agencies are digging deep into the social media accounts of applicants, requesting that candidates sign waivers allowing investigators access to their Facebook, MySpace, YouTube, Twitter and other personal spaces.

Some agencies are demanding that applicants provide private passwords, Internet pseudonyms, text messages and e-mail logs as part of an expanding vetting process for public safety jobs.

More than a third of police agencies review applicants' social media activity during background checks, according to the first report on agencies' social media use by the International Association of Chiefs of Police (IACP), the largest group of police executives. The report out last month surveyed 728 agencies.

"As more and more people join these networks, their activities on these sites become an intrinsic part of any background check we do," said Laurel, Md., Police Chief David Crawford.

Privacy advocates say some background investigations, including requests for text message and e-mail logs, may go too far.

http://www.usatoday.com/tech/news/2010-11-12-1Afacebookcops12_ST_N.htm

[WinkyDink]

1. E-mail? Passwords? User Names? WAY over the line. Anonymous "LTTE" in days past never got this

scrutiny.

Just WTH do these agencies think they are, that they can "demand" to know passwords, etc?!

[The Straight Story]

2. meh, some folks think if the govt does it is ok, and if you complain you are a libertarian

I get called that a lot when I think gays should be allowed to marry and serve, abortion should be legal, etc standing up for personal choice and freedom is just a bad thing I guess :rofl:

[WinkyDink]

3. Cops are not "the government".

[The Straight Story]

4. They are the ones that employ them though (nt)

[crikkett]

5. They think they're hiring people who will then turn around to demand our passwords etc. n/t

[MadHound]

6. And in the next ten years you can expect this to spread to other jobs

Much like piss testing and other draconian, invasive measures. This is a trial balloon, and if a case involving this goes to court and is upheld, pretty soon your employer will be making the same demands.

[AldebTX]

7. Our HR Director floated the demand

For all city employee social media passwords. It was voted down but the reasoning was they wanted to insure we were not going against the organization'smission statement.

[AldebTX]

8. Our HR Director floated the demand

For all city employee social media passwords. It was voted down but the reasoning was they wanted to insure we were not going against the organization'smission statement.

[jmowreader]

9. There's two ways to look at this

Way 1: it's a total violation of these applicants' civil liberties

Way 2: I'd kinda like to know if my town's police officers were bragging about fucking underage girls, doing crack, shoplifting etc (and yes, some people are stupid enough to post details about their crimes on Facebook) on their social media pages.

[Posteritatis]

10. You don't need their account passwords to do that; also, Way 1. (nt)

[jmowreader]

11. You need SOME way to log into their accounts

You can make a Facebook account private, and the cops know it.

[Posteritatis]

12. A wholly private one completely defeats the point of such things

And no, you don't "need" some way to log into someone's personal accounts. If they want to do that, get a damn warrant.

It's obscene that we're even having a conversation where that's being considered a reasonable course of action!