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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 s
by 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 agoThis 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 agoEvery reasonably tech savy college student already has a dummy facebook account. Along with 'N' dummy Gmail accounts if they use Android.
- robgough 15y agoIt 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 agoThey 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 agoWhat standing to sue does Facebook have?
- waterlesscloud 15y agoUnauthorized 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 agoFacebook 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 agojleader'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 agoOther 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.
- loverobots 15y agoMaybe pay for someone's lawyers to make an example?