You’ve probably heard the news that employers in the United States have been asking for job applicants’ Facebook accounts. The ACLU has said that users should not provide it and so has Facebook.
As Billy on our Facebook page points out, asking for a private password would certainly violate the rights of citizens of the European Union. And even in a country where this might be legal, it seems to violate every notion of both privacy and security.
As a basic rule, you should not share your passwords with anyone. For the accounts that matter to you the most, you should choose a unique password that cannot be guessed. We recommend this system.
Lawmakers in the US have tried to make sharing a password to a content site such as Netflix illegal. But might there be some instances where you’d want to share your password.
For instance, 1 out of 10 people in the United Kingdom reported that they included their passwords to their online accounts in their will. And certainly some couples share their passwords with each other. And some parents make sure they know their kids’ passwords. These personal reasons for sharing passwords are up to a family’s discretion.
But when it comes to professional life, no one needs to know your password – including your boss.
Can you think of a situation when you’d share your password with an employer?
Cheers,
Jason
CC images by woodleywonderworks
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4 Comments
I have shared my password only once with my boss. Password unlocked testing environment and did not reveal anything private. My account were admin account for it and it was not possible to create secondary admin account.
Shortly: administrator of sandbox environment.
I will not share my passwords with anyone, except my son and daughter will access to the password of the encrypted database in which I keep my passwords on my death. I will not ever give my passwords even to law enforcement or intelligence. They may spend tax money for a thousand or more years trying to break the encryption. I am not a criminal and I reject the notion, if you dont have anything to hide, why not open your files to law enforcement.
If an employer or potential employer asked for my password to Facebook or any thing, my response would be a string of obscenities that’d spay him or her.
If comes a time that law enforcement routinely asked for and the law says we must without a court order give out password or decrypt encrypted files, it’s time to contemplate revolution.
And I’m the mild one in my family.
Im planning to ask my son (16 y.o.) his FB password so that i can monitor his FB browsing as sometimes he is doing so much of it during his studies. Am I encroaching too much to his privacy?? Any advise..
You may want to consider using Parental Control if you’re worried about time on the site. At 16, you have to decide for yourself if asking for the password will lead to other accounts and more secrecy. Good luck!
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[...] Who should you share your password with?Mar 24, 2012 … Thomas Weatherly. Posted April 19, 2012 at 17:21 | Permalink. I will not share my passwords with anyone, except my son and daughter will … [...]