Some Employers Asking For The Keys To Your Facebook Page
CHICAGO (CBS) -- You already bring your resume, references and a good attitude to your job interview. Now, some employers want your Facebook password, too.
But bosses aren't the only ones looking to Facebook for personal information, CBS 2's Dorothy Tucker reports.
Robert Collins says he was shocked when employers asked for his Facebook login information. The Corrections officer had been on leave from his job at a Maryland prison. When he reapplied, he found new rules.
The Facebook request is an infringement on a person's rights, according to the ACLU, a civil-rights watchdog organization. Maryland state officials said the information was part of its background checks to make sure workers were not affiliated with gangs.
But Chicagoans thought the state had gone too far.
"If I can't allow my parents onto my Facebook account, I'm not sure why I would allow my boss," Tommy Bennett says.
Chicago Jury consultant Alan Tuerkheimer has used Facebook to gather information for lawyers or prosecutors looking for sympathetic jurors. He thinks asking for personal login and password is not only an invasion of privacy, but unnecessary.
Tuerkheimer says he can learn everything he needs to know just by analyzing an individual's page and his or her posts.
"It can show groups that they belong to, it can show strong beliefs," he said.
Tuerkheimer says the lesson here is to think about everything you put on your Facebook page. Remember, even an innocent joke can be misinterpreted and come back to haunt you.
