That didn't take long.
Officials in the city of Bozeman, Montana have beat a hasty retreat on demanding that job applicants cough up all their online usernames and passwords. The surrender comes after citizens -- and the Internet community -- basically told them what they could do with their ridiculously intrusive background-check policy.
From a city press release:
The extent of our request for a candidate's password, user name, or other Internet information appears to have exceeded that which is acceptable to our community. We appreciate the concern many citizens have expressed regarding this practice and apologize for the negative impact this issue is having on the City of Bozeman.
Effective (June 19) the City of Bozeman permanently ceased the practice of requesting candidates selected for City positions under a provisional job offer to provide user names and passwords for the candidate's Internet sites.
The erosion of privacy rights in this country has been steady and pernicious, so it's gratifying to see public pushback attain even a small victory.
The Leader in Network Knowledge
Already changed my vacation plans
Darn. I already changed my vacation plans. But I will contact the Bozeman City Council and thank them for rethinking this issue.
Bozeman is infested with Uh-Bama supporters
Coincidence? I think not. Typical ill-thought out liberal idea, poorly researched, no concern for unintended consequences.
Disclaimer: I'm not a Republocrat.
Raargh
Step back, take a deep
Step back, take a deep breath and realize that stupidity knows no party lines. In fact many times stupidity like this is not motivated by any political agenda. Some people need to consider that not everything is motivated by politics. Anyone blaming this on Republicans or Democrats is just looking for an axe to grind, and distracting us from the real issue: the slow and steady erosion of privacy.
How about that attorney?
Does an attorney who doesn't know black-letter federal law really need to continue their employment for the city? It seems to me that having someone like that working for the city is a really bad idea....
As for invasion of privacy rights being a Democratic party idea, how's about that PATRIOT act? FISA warrants? Don't get me started.
What about the data they collected
It's good to see the policy change go into effect, but there's always another issue to consider anytime a privacy invasion occurs. What happens to the data that was collected?
Recently the FTC entered into an agreement with Sears that required they stop collecting private consumer data in a certain manner, but also that they destroy the data which had been collected that way.
This gets even trickier, however, when government agencies are the ones collecting private data as there are Freedom of Information Act and other sunshine laws that can give citizens access to government records.
While it's good to see a policy change in Bozeman, it would be even better to see legal standards in place that go beyond self-policing or self-regulation.
- Kevin Whitaker
http://www.PrivacyLawAndPolicy.com
I agree.
You bring up a good point. In fact, Bozeman does not know what to do with the data they have gathered up to this point. Turns out it may be illegal for them to destroy it. So they have evidently decided to just sit on it. If you work for the city government of Bozeman Montanta, it may be a good idea to change your passwords to everything. Who knows what could happen to all that data.
On the down side
Now anybody applying for a city job posted FB pics of themselves holding up shovels or working side jobs while on disability for nothing...
Scary and Sad in America
What's scary and sad about this episode is that anyone actually living and raised in America even came up with this completely un-American idea in the first place. This is something worthy of having been devised in 1930s Germany, 1950s USSR, or even today in China or Korea, but not in the land of the free.
Re-read that again. They didn't admit they were wrong!
Don't be fooled. These people didn't admit they were wrong to require such details from candidates. In fact, they probably still believe they were perfectly right to demand such information.
Let's read that first line again:
"The extent of our request for a candidate's password, user name, or other Internet information appears to have exceeded that which is acceptable to our community."
Focus on this part:
"...appears to have exceeded that which is acceptable..."
Clearly if there hadn't been such an outcry and backlash, they would have continued to demand these logins and passwords. In their view, if no one complains, then they must not be doing anything wrong!
And no, they didn't apologize for being wrong. Re-read this part again:
"...and apologize for the negative impact this issue is having on the City of Bozeman."
They're apologizing for the _negative impact_ caused by their demand for the logins and passwords, not for them being wrong _for demanding the logins and passwords_!
Don't let people like this in such position of power fool you. They want all the power they can get, and they aren't going to let anyone stop them. To them, this is only a small setback. Believe me, they will find another way to force such information out of those they reign over.
evil empire Bozeman
John, you are right. They have not really changed. They are probably trying to figure out a way to sneak it all back in without anyone noticing. I also read from some other sources that they intend to keep the information they have already gathered.
I'll say it again. If you work for Bozeman, change your passwords.
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