City Says Job Applicants No Longer Asked To Provide Online Account User Names and Passwords
Paul McNamara at Buzzblog posts in Bozeman backs down on demanding passwords that the flood of complaints over Bozeman, Montana's policy of requesting online account names and passwords of potential hires has led to that practice being discontinued. I commented on his blog as it reminded me of the discussion I recently had with a Patriot Ledger's Reporter, Julie Onufrak. During a recent interview, we were discussing the limits of industry self-regulation when it comes to privacy rights and the need for laws that protect them. I don't think self-regulation works when it comes to peoples' rights and whether it's demonstrated by a Sears' settlement or Bozeman's practices, my point is that we need clear laws that protect individuals and their privacy rights.
Here are my comments on buzzblog about the Bozeman situation:
It's good to see the policy change go into effect, but there's always another issue to consider anytime a privacy invasion occurs. What happens to the data that was collected? Recently the FTC entered into an agreement with Sears that required they stop collecting private consumer data in a certain manner, but also that they destroy the data which had been collected that way. This gets even trickier, however, when government agencies are the ones collecting private data as there are Freedom of Information Act and other sunshine laws that can give citizens access to government records. While it's good to see a policy change in Bozeman, it would be even better to see legal standards in place that go beyond self-policing or self-regulation.
To me the unifying theme is one that keeps popping up in privacy issues, if individual privacy rights are not being treated as recognized rights which are held by an individual, then efforts to protect them will fail. In order to protect privacy, bright-line laws giving individuals the right to enforce those rights must to be enacted and not left for government enforcement, but provide private remedies as well. Unfortunately, I don't think government see it that way, FTC Provides Views on Behavioral Advertising to House Subcommittee. I think this is true in Washington and as recent legislative efforts indicate, here in Massachusetts, too--which I'll post about shortly.
