5 ms·

Facebook says it may sue employers who demand job applicants' passwords

66 points by ch0wn 15y ago

ch0wn 15y ago
Official Facebook press statement is here: https://www.facebook.com/notes/facebook-and-privacy/protecting-your-passwords-and-your-privacy/326598317390057 https://www.facebook.com/notes/facebook-and-privacy/protecti... HN discussion: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3745484 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3745484
j_baker 15y ago
It's certainly great that Facebook is taking a stand for privacy. But this is clearly more of a PR move than anything else. I mean, will Facebook really sue someone for demanding an applicant's password during an interview?
- carguy1983 15y ago
  This isn't a PR move. They are protecting their market share. If employers accessing facebook accounts become common, the cool kids will simply switch to another site while leaving a decoy FB profile. And we all know what happens when all the cool kids leave your social network...
  - excuse-me 15y ago
    Every reasonably tech savy college student already has a dummy facebook account. Along with 'N' dummy Gmail accounts if they use Android.
- robgough 15y ago
  It would be awesome if they did. When you hand over your password it isn't just your privacy that you're giving up, but that of all your friends too. Though technically Facebook should be suing the users who hand over their passwords. I should imagine that would have the opposite PR effect.
  - onemoreact 15y ago
    They have grounds to sue someone that logs into / uses their service using someone else's password even if that person gave them the password. It's also a felony, but the feds rarely take up such cases. It's probably OK for your boss to tell you to log in and then tell you where to click over your shoulder, but IANAL.
- mhb 15y ago
  What standing to sue does Facebook have?
  - waterlesscloud 15y ago
    Unauthorized access to their servers.
  - jleader 15y ago
    "Tortious interference with contract rights can occur where the tortfeasor convinces a party to breach the contract against the plaintiff" (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tortious_interference http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tortious_interference). In this case, the employer would be the tortfeasor, who convinces the employee ("a party") to breach their contract (the employee's agreement to abide by Facebook's acceptable use policy in exchange for access to Facebook), and Facebook would be the plaintiff.
  - nokcha 15y ago
    Facebook may sue under 18 USC § 1030(g) for unauthorized access to its computer systems if the employer obtains another person's password and then accesses that person's account using said password. It may also sue under state law for tortious interference for inducing users to breach their contract with Facebook. (It is against Facebook's TOS to share one's password.)
  - smokinn 15y ago
    jleader's tortious interference is a good candidate but given the fact that many "hackers" have been strung up on very flimsy charges I'm sure Facebook lawyers could find something. "Computer hacking" laws are so bad and vague that touching any computer any way that someone somewhere doesn't like is basically illegal.
  - lotu 15y ago
    Other have mentioned that Facebook could sue under hacking or tortious interference, but I bet if the employer or the employee giving the interview has a Facebook page, then Facebook could sue them directly for breaching the terms of service that they agreed to when they created a Facebook account.
j45 15y ago
I wonder if Facebook might partially be doing this so people don't hesitate to use their service. On the other hand, it's nice to see happening if a result actually comes from it. Too often announcements are like activity -- confused with lasting results.
- lotu 15y ago
  > I wonder if Facebook might partially be doing this so people don't hesitate to use their service. Of course that's part of the reason, don't act like Facebook wanting to have happy users who aren't afraid about their information being misused is bad because it is essential for them to make money.
  - j45 15y ago
    Who was acting :)
choward93 15y ago
If Facebook is serious about setting an example with prodding employers, they should take it a step further and expose which employers have asked for this information and make it public. I am sure Glassdoor.com would love to add this information to their database of reviews and having this viewable by those looking at prospective employers could be good metric to see how the company or management actually values their employees. It would be a deciding factor to me to work somewhere if a company I was interviewing for was trying to gain access to employee accounts and they were flagged publicly.
imr 15y ago
I can't wait until Facebook issues a press release instructing people to not log in as their parents when said parents are unable to change their profile picture or other basic tasks. That is such a bother.
vannevar 15y ago
Facebook's statement doesn't actually say they'll sue employers as employers. It says they'll initiate legal action "where appropriate", "including by shutting down applications that abuse their privileges." That sounds more like shutting down an app publisher that was collecting employee logins in order to gain access to social graph data, for instance. Grounds to sue an employer who wasn't a Facebook API user would be pretty tenuous at best.

66 points by ch0wn 15y ago

ch0wn 15y ago

Official Facebook press statement is here: https://www.facebook.com/notes/facebook-and-privacy/protecting-your-passwords-and-your-privacy/326598317390057 https://www.facebook.com/notes/facebook-and-privacy/protecti... HN discussion: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3745484 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3745484

j_baker 15y ago

It's certainly great that Facebook is taking a stand for privacy. But this is clearly more of a PR move than anything else. I mean, will Facebook really sue someone for demanding an applicant's password during an interview?

carguy1983 15y ago
This isn't a PR move. They are protecting their market share. If employers accessing facebook accounts become common, the cool kids will simply switch to another site while leaving a decoy FB profile. And we all know what happens when all the cool kids leave your social network...
- excuse-me 15y ago
  Every reasonably tech savy college student already has a dummy facebook account. Along with 'N' dummy Gmail accounts if they use Android.
robgough 15y ago
It would be awesome if they did. When you hand over your password it isn't just your privacy that you're giving up, but that of all your friends too. Though technically Facebook should be suing the users who hand over their passwords. I should imagine that would have the opposite PR effect.
- onemoreact 15y ago
  They have grounds to sue someone that logs into / uses their service using someone else's password even if that person gave them the password. It's also a felony, but the feds rarely take up such cases. It's probably OK for your boss to tell you to log in and then tell you where to click over your shoulder, but IANAL.
mhb 15y ago
What standing to sue does Facebook have?
- waterlesscloud 15y ago
  Unauthorized access to their servers.
- jleader 15y ago
  "Tortious interference with contract rights can occur where the tortfeasor convinces a party to breach the contract against the plaintiff" (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tortious_interference http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tortious_interference). In this case, the employer would be the tortfeasor, who convinces the employee ("a party") to breach their contract (the employee's agreement to abide by Facebook's acceptable use policy in exchange for access to Facebook), and Facebook would be the plaintiff.
- nokcha 15y ago
  Facebook may sue under 18 USC § 1030(g) for unauthorized access to its computer systems if the employer obtains another person's password and then accesses that person's account using said password. It may also sue under state law for tortious interference for inducing users to breach their contract with Facebook. (It is against Facebook's TOS to share one's password.)
- smokinn 15y ago
  jleader's tortious interference is a good candidate but given the fact that many "hackers" have been strung up on very flimsy charges I'm sure Facebook lawyers could find something. "Computer hacking" laws are so bad and vague that touching any computer any way that someone somewhere doesn't like is basically illegal.
- lotu 15y ago
  Other have mentioned that Facebook could sue under hacking or tortious interference, but I bet if the employer or the employee giving the interview has a Facebook page, then Facebook could sue them directly for breaching the terms of service that they agreed to when they created a Facebook account.

j45 15y ago

I wonder if Facebook might partially be doing this so people don't hesitate to use their service. On the other hand, it's nice to see happening if a result actually comes from it. Too often announcements are like activity -- confused with lasting results.

lotu 15y ago
> I wonder if Facebook might partially be doing this so people don't hesitate to use their service. Of course that's part of the reason, don't act like Facebook wanting to have happy users who aren't afraid about their information being misused is bad because it is essential for them to make money.
- j45 15y ago
  Who was acting :)

choward93 15y ago

If Facebook is serious about setting an example with prodding employers, they should take it a step further and expose which employers have asked for this information and make it public. I am sure Glassdoor.com would love to add this information to their database of reviews and having this viewable by those looking at prospective employers could be good metric to see how the company or management actually values their employees. It would be a deciding factor to me to work somewhere if a company I was interviewing for was trying to gain access to employee accounts and they were flagged publicly.

imr 15y ago

I can't wait until Facebook issues a press release instructing people to not log in as their parents when said parents are unable to change their profile picture or other basic tasks. That is such a bother.

vannevar 15y ago

Facebook's statement doesn't actually say they'll sue employers as employers. It says they'll initiate legal action "where appropriate", "including by shutting down applications that abuse their privileges." That sounds more like shutting down an app publisher that was collecting employee logins in order to gain access to social graph data, for instance. Grounds to sue an employer who wasn't a Facebook API user would be pretty tenuous at best.