I know I know. This is not SCOM or Posh related, but I feel it is of too note.
I will not go into the long boring details, instead, I will just paste the email I sent which has more then enough information.
——————————————————————————————
From: Jason M. Rydstrand
Sent: Thursday, June 18, 2009 3:42 PM
To: gsullivan@bozeman.net
Cc: aclu@aclumontana.org; BJ@KISW.com; newstips@king5.com; bethg@privacyrights.org
Subject: Breach of Privacy Rights and Terms Of Service
Sent: Thursday, June 18, 2009 3:42 PM
To: gsullivan@bozeman.net
Cc: aclu@aclumontana.org; BJ@KISW.com; newstips@king5.com; bethg@privacyrights.org
Subject: Breach of Privacy Rights and Terms Of Service
Hello Greg,
I am writing you in response to the news article I stumbled across.
After doing some research at the City website, I confirmed that the background check asks for Website Addresses as well as User Names and Passwords that the applicant utalizes.
http://www.bozeman.net/bozeman/humanResource/forms.aspx
The part that has the form in question:
Consent and Release to Conduct a Criminal Background Check (Notarized Version)
The problem with asking for this information is three fold.
1. The laws state that a employer can not ask for age, race, creed, and many other points of information of a applicant.
The problem is, a facebook profile commonly contains this information, and by asking for the said profile, one is also asking for the protected information.
2. Please list any and all, past and present, personal or business website or web pages, memberships on any Internet-based chat rooms, social clubs or forums, to include but not limited to: Facebook, Google, Yahoo, YouTube.com, MySpace, etc
Now, if one was to take this literally, you are also asking for Internet Banking information. That would set a applicant up for identify theft, and in turn the City would be liable. This also includes email accounts, as YouTube and GMail utalize the same passwords, and private communications protected.
3. Terms Of Service (TOS)
Many providers of these sites specificly state that one can not share their login credentials with other parties. This means, that by requiring this information in a background check, you have opened the applicant to a lawsuit from the Service Provider.
You will notice that I have CC’d the ACLU and a couple media outlets in regards to this.
Thank you for your time,
Jason Rydstrand
Pretty good post. I just came across your blog and wanted to say
that I have really enjoyed reading your blog posts. Anyway
I’ll be subscribing to your blog and I hope you write again soon!