37 
A worrying new trend over in the US is seeing recruiters start to ask for full access to the social networks of potential applicants, with some organisations asking would-be staff to sign in and let bosses have a good poke around in their non-public posts and messages.
One such crazy instance of the practise has been implemented by the Department of Corrections in Maryland, where applicants are asked to login and page through their accounts while the interviewer watches. The process is optional, so they say, but obviously you’d feel rather under pressure to agree to the request when in a job interview.
Meanwhile, some US schools are also asking students to allow a compliance officer to access to their accounts, in an invasion of privacy that one lawyer says might be acceptable “if you live in a totalitarian regime.”
If it was to happen here, would any of us ever work again? [MSNBC via Jezebel]
Exotic Wild Animals Are on the Loose in Ohio, Police Asking People to Protect Themselves With Twitter
Black SMS, BiteHunter, Shazam, and More
DARPA's Next Sub Hunter Won't Need Us Puny Humans
If my employer became that totalitarian I’d probably just get rid of my Facebook account… my private life is none of my employers business. If going through an interview you should be judged on the strength of your skills and what you can offer the business, rather than how pissed you get on a weekend in your own time
Same here – though they’d probably think you were lying to them and judge accordingly.
There’s a word for people that want to snoop like this. A$$holes.
This is so wrong, and should be made illegal.
Say no. If they deny you the job because of it, it inevitably would have been pretty miserable anyway with that kind of boss.
Wasn’t this show as a kill question for the application?
Theory being if someone is stupid enough to give over private information that easy it’s probably not the best idea to hire them,
Simply tell them you don’t have a facebook account and make sure that anything you post is only visible to friends. Better still,just dump Facebook entirely. This is a huge invasion of privacy and someone needs to take any company that tries this over here to court asap so that it gets ruled illegal before it becomes common practice.
In return, you can always ask to view detailed information on the state of the business you’re joining ie the books! quid pro quo
That could turn it in your favour…
“but obviously you’d feel rather under pressure to agree to the request when in a job interview.”
I wouldn’t. I’d just tell them where they can shove their job.
I’d tell them to screw themselves (well I wouldn’t say that but you know…) and I don’t even really use my facebook account.