bozeman, MT, the newest addition to the police state

[bobdea]

I thought red states were called red as in GOP not as in red like china.

then again, they both hate freedom of speech.

Want to Work for the City of Bozeman, MT? Hand Over Your Social Network Logins and Passwords

Written by Frederic Lardinois / June 18, 2009 10:40 AM / 15 Comments « Prior Post Next Post »

We have written quite a bit about the pitfalls of disclosing too much in your social network profiles, especially when it comes to employers accidentally stumbling over your party pictures on Facebook and MySpace. The city of Bozeman, Montana, however, is taking this to a new level by actually asking prospective employees to disclose not just that they have profiles on Facebook, MySpace, Yahoo, Google, and YouTube, but by also asking for the usernames and passwords for these profiles.

The form (PDF) is a standard waiver that allows the city to perform a background check, which is obviously a routine procedure, but in addition, the city asks prospective employees to "please list any and all, current personal or business websites, web pages or memberships on any Internet-based chat rooms, social clubs or forums, to include, but not limited to: Facebook, Google, Yahoo, YouTube.com, MySpace, etc." The form provides three lines for entering this information.

A local Montana TV station picked this story up after receiving an anonymous tip about this requirement. We can see why the City would be interested in this information, but obviously, this raises serious privacy concerns. According to city attorney Greg Sullivan, who was interviewed by the local TV news station, the city has "positions ranging from fire and police, which require people of high integrity for those positions, all the way down to the lifeguards and the folks that work in city hall here. So we do those types of investigations to make sure the people that we hire have the highest moral character and are a good fit for the City."

According to Sullivan, the City won't look at "the things that the federal constitution lists as protected things," but we find it hard to believe that somebody with full access to a user's profile would be able to completely overlook all the information in those profiles, including ethnicity and religious affiliation, that simply shouldn't play a role in the hiring process but could easily influence a hiring manager.

Sullivan also states that nobody ever removed his or her name because of this requirement, but we wonder how many applicants just decided not to apply for these positions because they preferred not to disclose this information.

Do you think the City has the right to ask for this information? Would you give it to them if you wanted to apply for a job there? Or have you seen a similar requirement when you applied for a job? Feel free to let us know what you think in the comments.

We would like to thank our reader Diego L. Bejarano for alerting us to this story. Diego used our handy new bookmarklet to forward this tip to us.

« Prior Post Next Post » Posted in NYT, News and tagged with bozeman, employment, montana, privacy, social networks

[Justin A.]

I don't care if a prospective employer googles my name and comes up with my facebook page or academia.edu page or anything, but I would flat out refuse to GIVE them that information as a requirement of consideration. It's password protected for a reason.

Next thing is that they'll want your online banking information so they can see how you spend your money. Nope, can't hire this guy, he ordered something from a sex toy site to use in his private business. Oh no! Look here! He pays his car off weekly instead of monthly!

Give me a break Bozeman.

[D-Sub]

wow. I have several friends in bozemen and was considering moving there

[LeeW]

well congratulations to bozeman -- they have officially landed on my ca-ca list. Ive always been wanting to move to Bozeman, but with this user/passwd thing? Pass.

[patmoore]

Bozeman was the #1 choice on our list of possible retirement spots. We even took a trip out there to check it out.

It just got scratched from the list.....

[www.oldsnowboards.com]

Links to reports:

Link One -/mondoglobo

Link Two -/newwest

In addition to the privacy aspects—which would enable city employees to post items under the applicant’s name, and make or delete friends—some social networking sites consider passing on passwords to be a violation of their terms of service, which some judges have ruled is a criminal act.

[Dr D]

There are 19 cities in MT that are self governing munincipalities. They have all sorts of weird hinky **** going on. Whitefish is another one. Privately owned corporation with a city charter that they don't bother following. 24 years of city court without becoming a court of record. MT law calls courts that aren't courts of record, inferior and it also states that they do not have the power to imprison or fine. Guess what the fish has been up to for 24 years. unlawful detainment and fines.

[Dr D]

JUST SAY NO:biggthump

[Jack M]

I thought red states were called red as in GOP not as in red like china.

then again, they both hate freedom of speech.

McCain-Feingold was bipartisan.

Anyway, I'm 100% sure this will not stand up to the constitutionality test. 4th and 5th amendments cover this explicitly.

[Dr D]

They will do whatever they want unless someone stands up and complains loud enough.

MT is probably low on the list of states doing this kind of **** tho. ITs common enough to be considered normal in someplaces. We have had to deal with it for a relatively short period of time. most of the chicanery has been in the last 10 years or so. neatly coinciding with the influx of people from New Jersey and California etc. no offense intended to those of you from these places. culturally you think differently than we do. Snowboarders are usually enough anti establishment that they fit in ok.

[Dr D]

Along with Federal Money, comes increased Federal Control…. And this takeover will be wrapped in threats of laying-off police officers and anarchy on the streets. They always use fear to obtain their goals, and this time will be no different.

What can you do, as citizens, to stop this? It may sound cliché, but its as simple as the old saying, “Support Your Local Police”

Encourage your Sheriffs and Police Chiefs to get out of the Federal Lunch Line….. Send them copies of Sheriff Mack’s Book, The County Sheriff: America’s Last Hope. Encourage your Commissioner’s Court and City Councils to return their police departments to their original intent, which is being Peace Officers…. It is the transformation of the police officer from one of being a peace officer to one of law enforcement officer that has engendered a god complex in a select few, and an “us versus them” mentality in most.

We must return our police to being IN the community, not OVER the community…. Officers need to be reminded that Community Policing is not new, it’s actually what being a peace officer was all about 100 years ago…. In the name of efficiency and response times, officers no longer know the people or businesses they serve. They are discouraged from getting out of their cars and meeting business owners, citizens, or pastors, in the name of “productivity”…

I encourage citizens to get to know their local police officers by name….. Invite your officer’s to a block party…. Have them over for coffee… Let them know that you appreciate the hard job they have. The more that local officers feel like they’re a PART of the community and not only there to “take out the garbage”, the less likely they are get the “bunker mentality”.

These men and women are the real last official line of defense between you and tyranny…. Because it doesn’t matter how many laws come out of the State Capitol or Washington D.C. What matters are the public servants that are out in the community choosing whether to serve the government or serve the people.