Bozeman Montana Has Lost Its Mind
2009
I usually don’t rant like this but here goes:
The news of what Bozeman, Montana wants to do began making the rounds late last week. I first saw a link as a Twitter Tweet and thought, “Nah. This has to be some joke.” When I went to the linked Slashdot story then to the actually news story from a news affiliate in Montana, I was stunned. So here’s what’s happening in Bozeman, Montana:
The city of Bozeman ‘requires’ you to provide your username AND PASSWORD to any social networking site you belong to on the job application. I can understand this if you were applying for a job with the CIA or the NSA where National Security is an issue, but this is for a municipal job, collecting trash, mowing ditches, spraying weeds, etc; this is worst than being forced to take a polygraph by an employer. (from which you are protected by law I might add)
In a world where an online presence is becoming more and more a way of life and necessary and not just an escape from reality, this is equivelent to the city asking you to make a copy of your house key and telling them they can come in and look around whenever they want to. It is wrong and thankfully, I just found it, it has been stopped.
Apparently, there was such a backlash to this requirement that they removed the requirement for usernames and passwords to any social networking site they belong to. We should still let this be a warning that actions like this must not be tolerated.
aaron
Montana City requires job applicants to submit “social networking” passwords | TopNews United States
Montana City Asks Potential Employees to Hand Over Personal Passwords
Bozeman drops password requirement – Montana’s News Station – Fair. Accurate. To the Point. -
June 23rd, 2009 at 8:20 pm
Note: The following comment is from ‘Katy’. Unfortunately, I accidentally deleted the comment instead of approving it (Sorry, Katy) but here is the unedited comment:
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