Bozeman, Montana changes its mind about job applicants' social networking passwords
The city announced in a meeting (PDF) on Monday that it had suspended the practice as of Friday, June 19 and that it would update its hiring procedures within 30 days to determine a more appropriate level of screening for employees...Bozeman apologizes, backs down over Facebook login requestIt's clear now, however, that the city has gotten a major whiff of its own bad PR and has decided to back off. In its meeting yesterday, city officials clarified that no candidate was ever disqualified for not disclosing the login info, and that the only staff to review password-protect information was the HR department. Still, the city is red-faced over the incident. "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," City Manager Chris A. Kukulski said in a statement.
"This was an honest mistake," he continued. "Human Resources, our Police and Fire Departments were doing something they believed was consistent with our core values. I take full responsibility for this decision and we will work hard to regain the trust and confidence of the City Commission and our community."
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To be honest, if handing over all my logins as part of a background check could ever be considered consistent with a city's core values, then I would think twice about even living there, let alone applying for a job.
This was not an honest mistake. This was a stupid mistake. They seriously need to rethink their core values.
Quite interesting... Which set of Core Values (t) implies editing MySpace profiles and read coworkers private mail?
It was an honest mistake -- in the sense that they honestly thought they could get away with demanding access to applicants entire personal lives.
Can anyone translate "My entire life is not my job" and "I'm not your slave" into HR-speak?
Small-town "core values" are indeed consistent with such measures, as anyone who lived in a place like that knows all too well.
People there can't wait to snoop around, gossip and pass judgment "for the good of the community".
We had a similar local problem here in Ann Arbor regarding some data transparency issues recently. I'd suggest most of the previous commenters may be working with some cultural biases.
First, you seem to be assuming that folks with little or no personal experience of social networking sites, or the Net in general, understand and appreciate the importance of privacy or security in these matters. There is plenty of room for honest mistakes from simple ignorance there; how accurately do you think these people could answer a simple question like, "What is MySpace exactly?"
Second, recall that in many of the most progressive jurisdictions (let alone our backwards Michigan government) there's something like our Open Meetings Act, which demands that every communication regarding deliberation is a matter of public record. If, say, members of a City Council or Zoning Board were having a public meeting under those restrictions, but having a private conversation at the same time on a back-channel, they would be violating the law.
Finally, you've got to laugh at the notion that people "like us" don't snoop around, gossip and pass judgement. You're made of meat too.
"honest mistake" = "we got caught when the stuff hit the fan and we couldn't talk our way out of it"
Vaguery, I'm not saying I'm not "made of meat". It's a fact that, in small communities, public and personal issues tend to overlap, and usually get quite confused in the process.
It was a mistake to think they could get away with such a deliberate violation of privacy. Like requiring applicants to strip down to their skivvies to make sure they don't have any tattoos. Get real.
but instead of standing up for your basic human dignity and what is right, isn't it better to pretend to accept their terms and then do as little as possible while taking as much as possible?
Honesty and destructive arrogant ignorance often overlap.
Somehow this whole fiasco doesn't surprise me, coming from Bozeman. The only other contact I have had with anyone from that city was in a grant-writing workshop I was sent to as part of my job. The company that does these workshops is from Bozeman, and they are so technologically backwards that the only way to communicate with them is by snail mail or fax. And this is a company that (apparently) does contract training for the US government!
@TAKUAN
#11
Yeah, you know, you start out trying to change the system from within, and you wind up BECOMING the system from within.