Yeah, this is happening, we had to know it would. Imagine if real estate transactions weren't recorded publicly - a small number of real estate agents would cre

Yeah, this is happening, we had to know it would. Imagine if real estate transactions weren't recorded publicly - a small number of real estate agents would create a private database of all transactions, while everyone else would be limited to snippets of conversation and bits of unreliable info posted here and there on the web. The disadvantage to being an outsider to the information would be overwhelming. This is one reason why I favor making all salary information public. I know it freaks a lot of people out, but I work for a public university where all salaries are public, and while the earth shattering problems I hear about haven't materialized, the information it brings to the workforce is very positive (you can actually see what the university pays your future colleagues when you weight a job offer). The main disadvantage is that our info is public but private colleges keep it, well, private, which probably does put the publics at yet another disadvantage (Stanford can easily find out how much all the profs and staff at Berkeley and UCSF earn, but not the other way around). If this happened in the private sector, I think there would be a bit of a well deserved reckoning, but far more good would come of it than harm. If a blanket requirement would be too intrusive or unconstitutional, I think the gov't could make it a condition for H1B visas, which does have a nice consistency to it (if a corporate HR dept is going to be empowered to decide who does and doesn't get to work in the US - a massive power usually reserved for government - then it's very reasonable to ask for a high level of transparency). By this, I mean that if a company requests an H1B visa, they must make all salary info public the way public institutions are required to, not just for the particular job, and not anonymously.