We have a police officer that has a web site that delves into the corrupt underbelly of the City. City officials hated it and he got fired. He sued, got his job back and the web site is going stong.
I kind of like the idea that someone is making government a bit more "transparent". Don't know how that works for a privately owned company.
That is a little too much big brother. I mean, who is going to sit around and read up on someone's personal business? They just need to take the chance that someone will say something stupid and embarrass them. Oh well, freedom can be a little messy.
That's outrageous. I would never work for a city that requires that. I wouldn't WANT to work for anyone that requires that.
I honestly have no problem adding my employers on facebook, but the only people who know my password are me and my fiance and I fully intend on keeping it that way.
I don't think most companies will require this. For one, it's just too much time and effort. This is an extreme invasion of privacy, too.
I think I would split the position--anything that is visible to the public with a simple search is fair game. Anything that is made private and requires a password to access is NOT. Requiring such information is entirely too intrusive (and is it even legal??).
I suspect that these entities are responding to the embarrassment of views/statements etc. that sometimes come to light on the pages and in the emails of public officials. I can fully understand the police or fire depts. not wanting to be held accountable for any racist/sexist/other-ist content that may come to light and reflect badly on the organization. I do think, though, that only publicly accessible info. is fair game. ~berurah
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And who cares if you disagree? You are not me Who made you king of anything? So you dare tell me who to be? Who died and made you king of anything? ~Sara Barielles
Recently, a friend of my husband mentioned that he is part of the IT department of a large-ish city in So Cal.
They require all of their fire and police personnel to provide the city with their usernames and passwords of all social networking sites. They have the right to view this content for as long as the employee works for the city. If you change your passwords, you must provide them to the city so they can continue to monitor your accounts.
Do you think that more cities or companies will begin requiring this information as part of the terms of employment? Is this too much? (I think so.)
