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 Linda Thomas
twitter: @TheNewsChick
About Linda
Linda is the morning news anchor and features reporter for KIRO Radio. This is her local news blog, with an emphasis on social media, technology, Northwest companies, education, parenting, and anything else that grabs her attention.

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A unanimously passed bill in the state senate sounds like a good solution to a problem that seems to be urban legend. (AP Photo/File)

Are we on a Facebook privacy witch hunt?

March 14, 2013 @ 9:28 am (Updated: 5:49 pm - 3/14/13 )

On a unanimous, 49-to-nothing vote, the state Senate has passed a bill that would make it illegal for any employer or potential employer in the state to request a password or any related account information for the purpose of gaining access to any social networking site maintained by a current or prospective employee.

The bill also establishes a fine of up to $500 and court costs for violating the law.

This sounds like a good solution to a problem that seems to be urban legend.

If you have ever had an employer ask for your personal social media passwords, please send me a message through the Lynnwood Honda inbox at MyNorthwest.com.

A single Associated Press story last year mushroomed into a fear that companies all over America are asking for Facebook passwords as they consider job applicants. U.S. Senators were outraged too and proposed similar legislation to what's going through Olympia.

I fact checked the original AP story, written by a Seattle journalist. He cited a single case of an unnamed private company that requested an applicant's password.

The story says Justin Bassett, a New York City statistician, had a woman ask for his Facebook login information during an interview. Beyond that anecdote, all of the examples related to jobs in the field of law enforcement, where more invasive background checks are common.

I talked to the reporter directly who said, "My sense is that it happens, but it's not widespread. It's more prevalent among public agencies involved in security."

A seed of a story grows into a bean stalk that really isn't rooted in reality.

By LINDA THOMAS

Read more:
Everett school forces teen to reveal Facebook page

More from Linda Thomas

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Comments (9)


  • Add A Comment

  • Stevebo wrote...
    RE: Chuck
    December 31, 2001 4:38 pm
    Not all social media is publicly viewed. On Facebook, for example, you can make it so that your profile can only be viewed by family and friends who are also on Facebook. My profile is set up that way (not that I would have anything to hide on Facebook as it is... my Facebook would be VERY boring for anyone to read).

    But I do agree with you, it is strange in today's day and age that people feel a need to "document" their entire lives for people to see... and what you do post on social media can (and in many many examples has) come back to bite people in the keisters.

    I like the point Linda is making though, because I do remember the hubbub about this about a year ago - that so many people were "outraged" at the idea of employers forcing people to give up their passwords for private accounts... yet, it may be nothing more than an "urban legend" (as Linda put it) in the end.

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  • The Dude Abides wrote...
    Good story, Linda.
    December 31, 2001 4:39 pm
    Take a lesson from this, people. Perhaps employers wouldn't be compelled to check your FB page if you didn't feel compelled to post every moronic thing you've ever done. How many stories come out that mention criminals being caught because they bragged about their crimes on FB? How many stories do hear about people being fired because they posted something slanderous or offensive about their employer or fellow employee on a public site, only to have their employer find out about it through the grapevine?

    Maybe if we as people were more responsible with what we put on our FB, then maybe employers wouldn't be paranoid about being publicly humiliated or roped into a criminal investigation, and thus wouldn't feel the need to inspect your FB page. I'm not saying that it's right to demand your password, but I can at least get where they're coming from.

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  • Chuck Gould wrote...
    So who needs a password?
    March 14, 2013 9:52 am
    Can't you pull up just about anybody's page just by typing in their name?

    People who are getting through life by selling their hours and skills to somebody else (employees in general) should give more thought about what they post on social media sites.

    Let's say I need to hire a manager. Two candidates seem to have exceptional resumes. One publicly available profile is filled with dozens posts like "Oh, we got so wasted last night! What a giant hangover this morning! Too bad it's only Thursday morning- 36 hours to the weekend and then we'll really party down, non-stop until Monday!"

    The other publicly available profile tends to run, "Had a great visit with Mom and Dad over the weekend. Enjoyed going back to the church where I grew up."

    If I had any difficulty discerning a difference in personality during the interviews, those social media pages would dispel any doubts. Depending on the type of job that needed to be done, it would then be easier to make a choice between the candidates.

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  • Citizen of Krazy Town wrote...
    I don't see why employers need to do this at all...
    March 14, 2013 9:54 am
    The majority of people who use social media don't do much, if anything, to hide their profiles or manager their reputation. Aside from the major search engines like Bing and Google, there are deep-web crawlers like PIPL and Intellius that do a pretty great job of ferreting out all kinds of information on just about anyone, with very little initial data to go on. A prospective or current employer has much more than that initial data to go on. I have personally witnessed cases where managers have fired employees based on what they found on their unsecured Facebook and Myspace pages as well as seen potential candidate resumes tossed in the garbage based on twitter feeds.
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  • mnpat wrote...
    Well the media created a story and the government jumped on it
    March 15, 2013 6:49 am
    To save us all.
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  • Splinge wrote...
    Not relavant at all...
    March 18, 2013 9:05 am
    Good story, but the notion of privacy and social media is an oxymoron. The best way to protect your privacy is not say or do anything publicly you don't want known. DUH! To me, the bigger problem is the idea that our lawmakers are spending even one second on this kind of tripe when they have got more than enough work in front of them reining in our states budgetary crisis, and it's unfriendliness to small business and commerce. Why not stick to the main problems at hand and stop with the sophomoric drama.
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