If you want a job, Bozeman wants your logins and passwords (Big Sky: lawyer, safe)

[Timberwolf232]

Oh yeah.... it's a lawyers heaven these days around Bozeman.

[mrkool]

Eff Bozeman. If they tried to pull this on me, I would make their life a living hell with a lawsuit and all the negative publicity I could disperse, nationwide... and I would put alot of effort into it.
This sort of invasive, communistic crap has to be attacked hard and stopped in its tracks.
End of rant.

[Reziac]

Originally Posted by mrkool

Eff Bozeman. If they tried to pull this on me, I would make their life a living hell with a lawsuit and all the negative publicity I could disperse, nationwide...

They already got the nationwide, in fact worldwide negative publicity -- Slashdot picked it up, and that means every geek in the world knew about it within 24 hours (despite that the decision was rescinded inside of 90 minutes):

Slashdot Your Rights Online Story | Montana City Requires Workers' Internet Accounts
Slashdot News Story | Bozeman, MT Drops Password Info Requirement

Here's an interesting comment from the second chain:

Interesting that they declare the passwords they've already received to be the "property of the city."

Bodes not well, that's for sure-- and it shows that the city still doesn't "get it." They likely just know that a lot of people got very upset, and figured they'd back away from something they just don't grasp...

And another:

Now their curious about how many accounts they actually got. Translation: "We had to stop doing it because of the whiners, but at least we got to find out how many people would put up with our s***".

And another:

From the article:
The city will continue using the internet as part of background checks to judge the character of applicants, and although the city will stop asking for passwords Kukulski says the passwords already given by previous applicants will remain the confidential property of the city.

It doesn't matter if searching online is legal or not. In fact, it may be illegal to consider anonymous online sources as actionable information. As long as the executive branch says it is going to do something, there are no laws that can
truly restrict it.

[AlexJones]

Never get a MyCrack or Facebook account. Facebook wants your real name: bad idea. MySpace is the worst site on the WWW and will fail by design. Oh, btw, working for somebody else is foolish and not job security, always be your own boss.

[Tiggywinkle63]

Originally Posted by tindo80

I really hope this is not any kind of new trend for employers.

On the other hand, I'd be a fool if I did not think among the first thing most professional employers look at in background checking is ones Facebook or myspace. It is a very easy way to learn about a person.

Sure--they do and they probably should. But that's the public stuff. Anything you put out in public is fair game. So these idiots who post things like pictures of themselves falling down drunk at some party somewhere need to realize that someday a prospective boss may be looking at that--and most likely will not be impressed. I won't use Facebook; I do have a MySpace account so that I can keep an eye on what my kids (ages 21, 19, & 16) are up to. (They know I'm watching!)

I would willingly give a prospective employer my screen name for MySpace and most other sites I'm on (assuming I can even remember them all). If they want to look at anything I've posted publicly I don't have a problem with that. But they are not getting my passwords, no. A lot of sites and forums have private messaging or e-mail boxes and nobody is getting access to that but me! And not because there is anything "wrong" with stuff that might be there, but because it is private and nobody's business but mine.

[Timberwolf232]

Originally Posted by Tiggywinkle63

Sure--they do and they probably should. But that's the public stuff. Anything you put out in public is fair game. So these idiots who post things like pictures of themselves falling down drunk at some party somewhere need to realize that someday a prospective boss may be looking at that--and most likely will not be impressed. I won't use Facebook; I do have a MySpace account so that I can keep an eye on what my kids (ages 21, 19, & 16) are up to. (They know I'm watching!)

I would willingly give a prospective employer my screen name for MySpace and most other sites I'm on (assuming I can even remember them all). If they want to look at anything I've posted publicly I don't have a problem with that. But they are not getting my passwords, no. A lot of sites and forums have private messaging or e-mail boxes and nobody is getting access to that but me! And not because there is anything "wrong" with stuff that might be there, but because it is private and nobody's business but mine.

I think that's the whole point of the shakedown, viewing public information, fine, passwords are a no no.

Bozeman is just hoping that they don't get sued. Personally I think out of court settlement numbers should be a matter of public record and easily and readily to any citizen that wants to know where their tax dollars are going.

My angst with the whole thing is more about all the national publicity this has drawn. Montana needs to stop advertising. We don't need any more growth and need to get back to neighbors helping neighbors.

[ElkHunter]

Originally Posted by Timberwolf232

I think that's the whole point of the shakedown, viewing public information, fine, passwords are a no no.

Bozeman is just hoping that they don't get sued. Personally I think out of court settlement numbers should be a matter of public record and easily and readily to any citizen that wants to know where their tax dollars are going.

My angst with the whole thing is more about all the national publicity this has drawn. Montana needs to stop advertising. We don't need any more growth and need to get back to neighbors helping neighbors.

You are spot on with that one!

[Reziac]

Originally Posted by Timberwolf232

My angst with the whole thing is more about all the national publicity this has drawn. Montana needs to stop advertising. We don't need any more growth and need to get back to neighbors helping neighbors.

'Zactly. We don't need growth; what we need is stability. Neighborliness is part of that... stability gives you time to know each other. Constant growth means... who are YOU??

[HoneyLamb]

This is a great thread! Many people where I live seem to take a stand for apathy. Corrupt little city. People keep voting for the same idiots. No respect or appreciation for the military. Unless they or their family is in it. They complain about jet noise. Jet noise? From the AFB that was here before they bought their house probably. I love the sound of the jets overhead. Braking the sound barrier. Smells like victory! I love it when the Belgians are here flying maneuvers with our military. Safety in numbers. They wanted this base shut down. If it weren't for the AFB, Raytheon, and the UofA this town would be nothing. And, would lose a lot of revenue. People need to wake up!

[HoneyLamb]

Breaking the sound barrier! Whoops!