The controversial business tactic that's been getting more widespread in the U.S. – of asking for Facebook account passwords during the vetting process for job applicants – has met further resistance in Nova Scotia.
The new democrat N.S. government is looking to adopt a Liberal sponsored bill that would make it illegal for bosses to ask for Facebook passwords.
Much like anyone with a shred of a conscience, they've realized that asking for the password to someone's private Facebook page is an absurd request.
From the CBC story, Andrew Younger, the Liberal MLA who tabled the bill:
“We don't accept that kind of stuff in Canada and I think this is a matter of having the Labour Act catch up with the digital age.”
This adds yet another voice to the crowd shouting down this practice.
A few weeks ago, Facebook itself spoke out in defence of employees being asked for their passwords. Spokepersons for the social networking site said the company was considering going after terms of service breakers themselves in court if no legislation was enacted to stop it.
I still can't believe this even has to be entered into law. Who thinks it's alright to look at information you can't find in a Google search?
If your potential employee has the propriety to manage their privacy to the point that you can't find anything incriminating without using their own password to hunt it out, chances are they pose no risk to your organization anyways.
In reality, this just looks like snooping for snooping's sake. And bully-ish when that employer knows a candidate feels compelled to say yes rather than forfeit their chance at a job.
Gross.