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I just read this article.  What are these people thinking??  What is the world coming to?? 

This article, as circulated by the Associated Press, absolutely horrifies me.  It says that some employers, while interviewing prospective employees, turn to the person they are interviewing and ask them either to give over their Facebook password or log in to the site at that moment so that the interviewer can view the interviewee’s Facebook activities. 

I don’t know about you, but I feel that Facebook is private.  I understand if your employer doesn’t want you complaining about how much you hate your job or how incompetent your boss is, but that’s your right as provided by the United States Constitution.  If your employer wants you not to name them by name in any way on your page or in your posts, they can ask you to do that, and I don’t object to that.  A simple “my job sucks” will update your friends about how your life is going without implicating the culprits regardless of any non-disclosure agreements. 

But for an employer to expect to receive your password or to have access to your private messages to your friends and family is a violation of your rights!  I love that the gentleman who is the focus of this article said NO.  He should say no, and lawyers and constitutional rights activists everywhere should fight for the answer to be no nationwide. 

Is there nothing that is sacred anymore?

I use Facebook to post my status, follow causes, track celebrities and to keep up with my friends.  Granted, I hardly ever see any of my Facebook friends in real life, but I still feel that they are my friends.  I talk about Facebook happenings around the dinner table.  Facebook helps me share pictures and videos of Auggie.  Bragging about my kid is one of my main interests and Facebook helps me do that 24-7-365.  None of this is earth-shattering.  None of this should affect my potential employability. 

I think what bothers me the most here is someone asking for your password.  If you want to give away the keys to the kingdom, give out your Facebook password.  I would estimate that 95% of all Facebook users have the same password for their email and Facebook accounts, and probably their online banking and credit card statements, etc., etc.  (Why don’t you just make your password “hellohackers” and call it a day?)  Anyway, the point is, giving someone your password is something you should never do.  I’ll be honest, I may be married to the guy, but I don’t know any of Frank’s passwords.  I’ll be damned if his boss gets to know it and I don’t!

There are plenty of people out there who conduct themselves in ways that are wholly inappropriate and that carries over into their life on Facebook.  There are also just as many people out there who are boring – I’m one of them.  I’m not doing anything on Facebook that would shock or scandalize anyone.  But that doesn’t mean that I want anyone logging into my Facebook account.  And you shouldn’t either. 

You should read that article up there and speak up about it.  This practice is wrong and these employers need to be taken to task!  What better way to call them out than to raise a big fuss about it on Facebook?  Since they don’t have our passwords, they’ll never see the tide coming back in on them!