Said honestly, when I first read this article, I thought it was a joke. I’m not kidding. I said to myself, "There is no way any organization would ask for your personal logins and passwords to the social media sites you use just to apply for a job."

The article asks if the City of Bozeman, MT (which the linked article is about) has the right to ask for this information on a job application.

The answer is flat-out NO, and here’s why:

I can understand if they ask for the URLs. That I could at least grudgingly tolerate. But to ask for your personal usernames and passwords? The line is drawn right there, particularly with the passwords. My passwords I use at home are mine and nobody else’s.

Several commenters on that article stated good alternatives, such as:

• "Friending" the City’s official social media profile so the City can examine your profile that way, which is just as effective.
• Allowing applicants to get the usernames and passwords of the City’s profiles as well. What’s good for the goose is good for the gander.
• Stating that giving out passwords for your profiles is a violation of the Terms of Use for, oh, I dunno, ALL social media networks?

The fact the City of Bozeman even asks for this information goes against every single web site’s policy about the sharing of login information, i.e. DON’T DO IT. They are literally asking you to completely disregard the privacy for your social media accounts and to trust them 100% with your passwords, because after all, nothing bad could happen, right?

Wrong. Very wrong. It’s a extremely gross conflict of interest.

Whatever genius in Bozeman that conjured this up should learn how to read the Terms of Service for social media sites and get a clue.

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