Personal privacy: In the digital age, how much of a right do we really have to keep our social networking information private? Recently the city of Bozeman Montana sparked controversy with its policy requiring job applicants turn over their usernames and passwords. After nation-wide outrage, the city has backed down.
But is this the new norm?
Computerworld says that although screening applicants’ online profiles is acceptable, the city went too far.
“[T]easing out information from the vast Internet about prospective employees ought to be the responsibility of Human Resources, but I can also argue that it’s more efficient to just ask people to provide it. But passwords? You have to be kidding me.”CNN brings in a more old-fashioned view, saying people should be wiser about handling private information… because their parents told them so….
“You want it to be private? Write it in a diary, lock it up, and don’t make copies of the key. See when I was little my mom said that if you want it to be private, don’t even write it down. Keep it up here. You know what, my mom read my diary. Mine did too… Well certainly don’t put it on the internet.”To the American Civil Liberties Union, this constitutes a major invasion of privacy;
MSNBC highlighted their opinion…
“On cue you can imagine the outrage started flooding into the city. Amy Cannata of the ACLU of Montana was quoted as saying “I liken it to them saying they want to look at your love letters and your family photos. I think this policy certainly crosses the privacy line.” Tech blog
The Register has this reminder: just by signing up for sites like Facebook and MySpace, users have already agreed not to share access to their accounts…
“Facebook told us on Thursday it would be contacting the City about the requirement, calling it a breach of privacy. Which it is.”So what do you think, is privacy a thing of the past or do we still have the right to keep our online lives to ourselves?
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