Facebook, social media passwords, and job interviews

Just a short post. Wanted to let people know that The Eyeopener, Ryerson University's student newspaper, has posted an interesting article on social media passwords and job interviews. I'm quoted extensively in it and state that "With the weight of the financial crisis and the recession, we're in a period where jobs are hard to come by, especially for young people. Employers appear to have taken this as a carte blanche to violate people's rights and plunge into their personal information, which they have no right to look at." Asking for access to personal social media accounts is an illegal practice that should not be tolerated by job applicants or executives overseeing human resources departments - frankly, it's one of many invasive practices that have been pioneered by HR professionals who are ignorant of the legal implications of what they're doing.

This is an emerging issue within the field of workplace law and not a lot has been written about it. It's a fascinating area that stands at the intersection of workplace rights, technology, privacy, and the changing role of communication in our lives; furthermore, it's an areas that has a disproportional impact on young workers as they're the main users of social media websites. In the coming months I'll have more to share with you as I'm currently researching this topic in preparation for writing an academic paper for one of my courses. In the meantime, check out some of my previous articles on social media, see: here, here, and here. Also, check out this recent video about the practice of asking for social media passwords, see: