TRWTF - There I said it



  • I told myself I wouldn't but this one really is a case of 'TRWTF is...'

     

    I've been browsing around on el-reg and came across a couple of stories about employers looking at your facebook before they hire you, nothing new there but this time it was linking to an article about prospective employers asking for logins AND PASSWORDS for social sites, email etc..

     

    So TRWTF is that these organisations actually prefer to hire people who tell other people their passwords.

     

     



  • I saw that on another forum site. It quickly went off-topic and became a flame war between people who think it's absolutely ridiculous and a breach of privacy that employers will look at your public facebook profile as part of the hiring process and people from the business world talking about how important it is that you manage your social media profile well because you won't get hired if you post stuff like "my boss is sooo stupid....told him Ihad a funral to go to bcuz my grandma died actlly I was supr hung over bcuz of that awesum party last nite"



  • Easiest way to get fraped whilst simultaneously giving new employers a "reason" to not hire someone, y'know, just because...



    Mr Employer: Can I have your Facebook login?


    Fred Newbod: Yeah, sure, I trust you!



    Later that night on Facebook.....

    @facebook said:

    Fred Newbod had a job interview today. New boss seems like a c*ck

    Mr Employer: We won't hire you because of what you said on Facebook

    Fred Newbod: thinks WTF?!!? I last went on Facebook three weeks ago to post pictures of my new baby!!?!



  • @article said:

    Chief Deputy Rusty Thomas defended the practice, saying applicants have a right to refuse. But no one has ever done so. Thomas said that "speaks well of the people we have apply."
    Yea... speaks well as in they are mindless idiots that will be highly susceptible to social engineering attacks.  And what if the person does their face book account under an alias (like me), then  in my case the employer wont find mine and I could say I dont have one (and now they hired a liar).  Not to mention my face book account is empty since I never use it, so nothing even worth seeing.



  • @EncoreSpod said:

    'TRWTF is...[snips] social sites

    I never understood the allure they have on some people



  • Yes this is a breach of privacy, I don't care what anyone else says.

    Let's put it this way, You can come to my house, see my lawn, look at the car parked out front, see how nice or crappy it is and judge me on that.  This is my public image, and relates to seeing the public information on anyones facebook profile.  Put stupid stuff in your lawn and get judged by it, deal with it.

    But say you need the key to my house, to walk in when you want, look around, take things, leave things, listen to my messages on my answering machine, etc, is going to far and is known to be illegal.  This relates to employeers asking for your password and looking at those things you want to keep private.  It is an invasion.

    If anyo9ne asks, I would say turn it around on them, if they want to see your private information remind them it is an interview is a two way street and you want the password for the profile of your future boss to see if that person is someone you want to work for.  Trust me, I will be asking for it and right after they give it to me I will let them know I do not have an account on facebook or any other social networking site; that is unless you consider this one social networking.  I would also remind them that while not against the law it is against facebooks terms of service to hand out account passwords.

    Nuff said.



  • In addition to a breach of privacy, it is generally against the TOS as well. Not that I think Facebook really cares about its TOS



  • @serguey123 said:

    I never understood the allure they have on some people
    With family and friends on 4 continents social networking sites do fulfill my need to keep in touch with what is going on in my social circle that is outside my immediate physical location. OTOH I have two nieces that don't self censor before they post and you get and endless stream on inane comments from them.



  • @OzPeter said:

    my need to keep in touch with what is going on in my social circle that is outside my immediate physical location

    Oh, that, call me weird but if I want to communicate with somebody outside my immediate physical location I use email or a phonecall.

    @OzPeter said:

    you get and endless stream on inane comments from them

    That's basically why I don't keep in touch with anybody or pay attention to advertisement.



  • @serguey123 said:

    @OzPeter said:

    my need to keep in touch with what is going on in my social circle that is outside my immediate physical location

    Oh, that, call me weird but if I want to communicate with somebody outside my immediate physical location I use email or a phonecall.

    Social networking is an implementation of the observer pattern and it collects all of the received messages in a single location, with the ability to prioritize how they are viewed. This makes it far more efficient to propagate information than a continual stream of emails bouncing around n^2 connections, continually asking "What are you doing?" or "I am doing X".

    It also engenders collaboration - something that point to point emails or phone calls cannot easily do. Not that such methods are not in my family/friends communications toolkit.


  • This is wrong! An employer should never ask for a Facebook password! They should use Facebook's API!



  • *Note this post only applies to USA*

    Currently there have been court cases over whether or not a defendent has to turn over their password for an encrypted hard drive so that law enforcement can search it for potential evidence that could be used to convict you. Many have gone the route of law enforcement cant force you to give up the password (hard to be conclusive since a number of the cases are still in appeal processes by both sides), if law enforment cannot get your password for criminal level evidence there is no way companies could deny a job opportunity based off of you not giving your password to your facebook account.

    here is one that is still getting appealed:

    Edit: Found an update on the status of the case:

    http://thenewamerican.com/usnews/constitution/11028-appeals-court-refuses-to-rule-on-laptop-encryption-case



  • @OzPeter said:

    a continual stream of emails bouncing around n^2 connections, continually asking "What are you doing?" or "I am doing X"

     I thought that was called a pest/stalker or an attention whore. I do not need to know what somebody is doing at every waking moment or let anybody else know and if somebody sent continous emails asking me about my well being I would  mark it as spam (like I do for most of my coworkers email, that way I avoid pictures of picnics,"funny" emails and chain letters).

    @OzPeter said:

    It also engenders collaboration - something that point to point emails or phone calls cannot easily do.

    With this I agree, I think that there are tools that do something like this for projects in work or school environments but other than that... they seem to produce more problems that the ones they solve.



  • @Anketam said:

    Currently there have been court cases over whether or not a defendent has to turn over their password for an encrypted hard drive so that law enforcement can search it for potential evidence that could be used to convict you.
    Doesn't TrueCrypt have hidden volumes just for this?

    "My password? Why certainly, it's 123. Why do I only have photos from my vacations in there? It's because Obama is spying on me and I'm trying to keep him out. What, other partitions? I don't understand, how is that possible? Oh you guys and your high-tech gizmos. You should talk to my nephew, he's very smart, he writes basic."



  •  Shit you mean keeping my porn in a hidden folder isn't enough?



  •  Facebook terms and conditions:

    4.8:
    You will not share your password, (or in the case of developers, your secret key), let anyone else access your account, or do anything else that might jeopardize the security of your account.

     

    So, you are asking me to violate a contract I have, in hopes of getting a contract with you?  And you'd hire me after I did that?



  • The facebook contract is more like "Sure babe, I'll call you tomorrow".



  • @dhromed said:

    The facebook contract is more like "Sure babe, I'll call you tomorrow".

    But.. but.. you said you'd call me tomorrow..



  • I agree: I would never agree to that (had I an active account!). Not only is it a breach of my privacy, but others would have sent information to me, in the belief that I would keep it private. I would then point out that, during my potential employment, workmates would likely send me the employer's privileged information, and I would look askance at any potential employee that would be so casual with their employer's confidential information.



  • @dhromed said:

     Shit you mean keeping my porn in a hidden folder isn't enough?

     

    You're naive if you think that will stop a computer expert. 

    What you need to do is write a batch file that changes the extensions of your porn.

    Imagine the confused look on the expert's face when he tries to open 2girls1cup.xls

     



  • @RTapeLoadingError said:

    Imagine the confused look on the expert's face when he tries to open 2girls1cup.xls

    Not as good as the look on the "experts" face when he does manage to open 2girls1cup.mp4...



  • @morbiuswilters said:

    @dhromed said:

    The facebook contract is more like "Sure babe, I'll call you tomorrow".

    But.. but.. you said you'd call me tomorrow..

     

    It was a facebookian contract.

     



  • @RTapeLoadingError said:

    Imagine the confused look on the expert's face when he tries to open 2girls1cup.xls
     

    That sounds like a challenge.  If you can [url="http://www.gamasutra.com/view/feature/3563/microsoft_excel_revolutionary_3d_.php"]use Excel for 3D graphics[/url], surely a cell-based video player isn't that far off.



  • @Cassidy said:

    @RTapeLoadingError said:

    Imagine the confused look on the expert's face when he tries to open 2girls1cup.xls

    Not as good as the look on the "experts" face when he does manage to open 2girls1cup.mp4...

    Someone didn't read the tags.


  • @Sutherlands said:

    @Cassidy said:

    @RTapeLoadingError said:

    Imagine the confused look on the expert's face when he tries to open 2girls1cup.xls

    Not as good as the look on the "experts" face when he does manage to open 2girls1cup.mp4...

    Someone didn't read the tags.

    Heh heh, but imagine what happens when somebody does get 2girls1cup.xls to open! I mean, that's some real filthy stuff!



  • @morbiuswilters said:

    Heh heh, but imagine what happens when somebody does get 2girls1cup.xls to open! I mean, that's some real filthy stuff!

    I can only imagine.

  • Discourse touched me in a no-no place

    @DOA said:

    @Anketam said:

    Currently there have been court cases over whether or not a defendent has to turn over their password for an encrypted hard drive so that law enforcement can search it for potential evidence that could be used to convict you.
    Doesn't TrueCrypt have hidden volumes just for this?

     In at least one of these cases,  the password the prosecution was fishing for was to TrueCrypt volumes.



  • @Sutherlands said:

    Actually I can't because I've never seen 2girls1cup. Please reply with a link so I can accidentally click it...
    FTFY


  • BINNED

    @FrostCat said:

    In at least one of these cases,  the password the prosecution was fishing for was to TrueCrypt volumes.
    So how did they argue that there has to be a hidden volume for which they request the keys, if they cannot proof its existence?



  • @OzPeter said:

    In addition to a breach of privacy, it is generally against the TOS as well. Not that I think Facebook really cares about its TOS

    As we would say in the UK: "Facebook doesn't give a TOS." (BADA-BOOM!)

    Thanks, folks: I'm here all week! Tell your friends!



  • @Sutherlands said:

    Someone didn't read the tags.

    How the bucketfuck do I keep missing them?

    I blame all boomzilla's wanking. It's making me word-blind.



  • @Cassidy said:

    I blame all boomzilla's wanking. It's making me word-blind.

    If that's the only consequence you're getting off light.


  •  @Anketam said:

    *Note this post only applies to USA*

    Currently there have been court cases over whether or not a defendent has to turn over their password for an encrypted hard drive so that law enforcement can search it for potential evidence that could be used to convict you. Many have gone the route of law enforcement cant force you to give up the password (hard to be conclusive since a number of the cases are still in appeal processes by both sides), if law enforment cannot get your password for criminal level evidence there is no way companies could deny a job opportunity based off of you not giving your password to your facebook account.

    here is one that is still getting appealed:

    Edit: Found an update on the status of the case:

    http://thenewamerican.com/usnews/constitution/11028-appeals-court-refuses-to-rule-on-laptop-encryption-case


     

    This is irrelevant as to whether it's illegal for an employer to ask for a password. The government may have to grant you certain rights, but employers don't. Remember, America is a country where employees have the "freedom" of working for a boss that bans them from taking bathroom breaks. Asking for Facebook passwords is par for the course.



  • @Sutherlands said:

    @Cassidy said:

    I blame all boomzilla's wanking. It's making me word-blind.

    If that's the only consequence you're getting off light.

    I beg to differ.

    It's not getting me off AT ALL.



  • @Cassidy said:

    @Sutherlands said:

    @Cassidy said:

    I blame all boomzilla's wanking. It's making me word-blind.

    If that's the only consequence you're getting off light.

    I beg to differ.

    It's not getting me off AT ALL.

    Touché


  • Alt+0233


  • BINNED

    @Sutherlands said:

    Touché

    Filed under: I should really learn how to make that character without c/p


    Enable dead-keys and press '´' followed by 'e' ?!


  • Discourse touched me in a no-no place

    @topspin said:

    @FrostCat said:

    In at least one of these cases,  the password the prosecution was fishing for was to TrueCrypt volumes.
    So how did they argue that there has to be a hidden volume for which they request the keys, if they cannot proof its existence?

    I'm not sure, but nobody is disputing there is an encrypted volume.



  • @topspin said:

    Enable dead-keys and press '´' followed by 'e' ?!
     

    You can't fucking program if you have that enabled.



  • Ctrl-alt-e.

    éasy.



  • Option-E, E

    #macclassic


  • Discourse touched me in a no-no place

    @dhromed said:

    @topspin said:
    Enable dead-keys and press '´' followed by 'e' ?!
    You can't fucking program if you have that enabled.
    Depends on your selection of dead-key, Shirley? (I tend to use either alt-gr or the menu key)


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