Bozeman backs down on demanding passwords

Flood of complaints prompts city to abandon intrusive background checks

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.

• privacy