(Huffington Post) - In response to the controversy surrounding the practice of employers requesting Facebook log-in information from both current and prospective employees, the social network has made itself perfectly clear: Facebook will protect your privacy — even if it means going to court.
In a March 23 note on the social network’sFacebook and Privacy page, Chief Privacy Officer for Policy Erin Egan addressed the issue directly, explaining that the practice ”undermines the privacy expectations and the security of both the user and the user’s friends. It also potentially exposes the employer who seeks this access to unanticipated legal liability.”
The “legal liability” of which Egan speaks could arise from claims of discriminationagainst an employer who may have seen that a prospective employee is part of a specific “protected group (e.g. over a certain age, etc.)” and consequently does not hire them, or if an employer is exposed to certain information (e.g. suggesting that a crime has been committed) and is unaware of how to proceed.
Futhermore, according to Sam Favate of the Wall Street Journal’s Law Blog, it’s still unclear whether the practice is entirely legal.
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