Facebook Warns Employers Not to Ask Job Applicants for Log-in Credentials

Facebook on Friday warned employers about trying to gain inappropriate access to Facebook accounts to check out private information about potential employees, citing possible legal liability.

In recent months, Facebook has seen a "distressing increase" of reports about employers trying to access user accounts in the U.S., Erin Egan, Facebook's chief privacy officer, said in a post. "The most alarming of these practices is the reported incidences of employers asking prospective or actual employees to reveal their passwords."

A user should never be forced to share private information just to get a job, she added. According to Facebook, these practices undermine the privacy expectations and the security of users' and their friends' accounts. Employers who ask job applicants if they can log in to their Facebook accounts or reveal log-in credentials are potentially subject to unanticipated legal liability, Egan warned.

Facebook announced it has changed its Statement of Rights and Responsibilities, making requests to share or solicit a Facebook log-in a violation of the social networks' rules. Egan also cited possible legal action from Facebook against violators of these rules: "We'll take action to protect the privacy and security of our users, whether by engaging policymakers or, where appropriate, by initiating legal action, including by shutting down applications that abuse their privileges."

The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) stated on Tuesday that employers asking for Facebook log-in credentials are out of bounds and are invading people's privacy. ACLU attorney Catherine Crump emphasized on the ACLU website that asking for someone's password is equal to asking job applicants to open their postal mail to get a job.

Crump made this remark in reply to an Associated Press report about a job applicant who was asked to log in to his Facebook wall, to show the interviewer his private profile.

Loek covers all things tech for the IDG News Service. Follow him on Twitter at @loekessers or email tips and comments to loek_essers@idg.com