Let’s keep this Tweet between you, me… and your boss?

There’s no question that the Internet and ascendance of social media substantially blur the division between public and private. What’s shared online, even when “restricted” to acquaintances or a select few viewers via privacy preferences, is just a few mouse clicks away from being in the public sphere. Just ask Anthony Weiner.

With so much being shared online, it’s unsurprising that employers, hiring managers and admissions officers have begun looking up their employees’ and applicants’ Facebook and Twitter feeds. While many might consider this an overstep in itself, public accounts on social media sites are readily available, and presumably contain only information that the user is comfortable having widely (if not universally) known.

tweetBut some companies, schools and government agencies have taken the exercise a step further, going so far as demanding social media passwords from their employees and applicants. Several media reports this year suggest that the practice is becoming increasingly popular.

One Washington Post editorial aptly reflected,

“People ought to be outraged. Employers have lost their minds — and their sense of what privacy means.”

The same editorial included an analogy from George Washington University law professor Orin Kerr, a former federal prosecutor: “It’s akin to requiring someone’s house keys.”

In an interview with Business Week, a spokesperson for the Virginia State Police, which requires all applicants to actually sign into their social media accounts as an administrator looks over their shoulder, suggested that requirements of this kind are “virtual character checks.”

Many would argue instead that moves like these are better described as “egregious privacy violations,” to quote Professor Kerr once more.

Employers, organizations and schools have a right to protect their reputations, which includes some oversight on individual behavior (both virtual and otherwise) to the extent that it is public. Poking around the private accounts clearly crosses this boundary, and comes dangerously close to thought policing.

It would seem that many share this sentiment. The National Association of Colleges and Employers issued a categorical statement in April that decried these practices as ethical violations:

Employers should not require or request that job candidates provide password/login information to their personal social network accounts as a condition of employment or as a condition of consideration for employment.

Facebook, its own stance with regard to personal information being rather murky, issued its own statement:

As a user, you shouldn’t be forced to share your private information and communications just to get a job.  And as the friend of a user, you shouldn’t have to worry that your private information or communications will be revealed to someone you don’t know and didn’t intend to share with just because that user is looking for a job.  [….] We don’t think employers should be asking prospective employees to provide their passwords because we don’t think it’s the right thing to do.

While statements like these from professional organizations and social media sites themselves are critical steps toward marshaling public opinion against coercive hiring practices, they provide no recourse for those who have been pressured to reveal their passwords as a condition of employment.

In response, a number of state legislatures have considered legislation in 2012 making it illegal for employers or other administrators to demand access to private social media accounts. Maryland and Illinois have passed laws covering employers, while Delaware enacted a statute barring higher education institutions from requiring social media account information from students. 11 other states have considered similar bills over the past year.

For privacy legislation to be enacted across the country at the state level will take time that could clearly be saved with a national bill. While unease at SOPA/PIPA and the recent Cybersecurity Bill has barely settled, measures like the Social Networking Online Protection Act (SNOPA), submitted in April to the House, would go a long way toward ensuring the privacy of employees, job applicants and those applying to college.

We need solid safeguards to protect against coercive hiring and admissions practices, and to maintain a sane sense of personal space beyond the prying eyes of our bosses and administrators. As social media continues to solidify as routine means of communication and expression, the importance of these protective measures only increases.

About David Matson