If you want a job, Bozeman wants your logins and passwords (Montana City: house, tax)

[Robhu]

Total control. That's what big brother wants. And it wont be long until he gets it if people don't stand up for themselves and tell big brother to go to hell. We have already given up too much.
People worry about Socialism. Forget that. It's going to be complete dictatorship unless we stop being sheep.

[Rickers]

Originally Posted by Reziac

In any event, a government agency demanding custody of private information probably falls under the 4th Amendment, as it constitutes unreasonable search and seizure of our private "papers and effects"

That doesn't apply here as nobody is demanding anything like that of the general population. In this case it's only for folks who apply for a job with the city of Bozoman. Try working for the federal government where you need to get a security clearance, they will turn your life inside out to take a real good hard look at you. Anyone who wants their life to be private should seek employment in the private sector.

[Reziac]

Originally Posted by Gman2007

But would it be considered unreasonable search and seizure when the information is given voluntarily??? Different situation than if the city said we want all passwords for all residents of the city...

If you don't want to give the info out, there is nothing forcing anyone to take the jobs...

Once they log into your various accounts -- At the very least it is in violation of the TOS for almost all sites that require a login (and a creative prosecutor could find not only violations of contract, but perhaps also of the federal criminal hacking statutes). At worst -- what sort of fishing expedition will they conduct? Might your long-forgotten and long-hidden Stupid Rant become "evidence" of conspiracy to commit? In today's legal environment, I'd not put it past... oh, say DHS ...to consider it grounds for questioning or further surveillance.

And do remember this is an arm of the GOVERNMENT asking you to give up your rights. That's a step toward tyranny, even at this small local level -- get the people trained to expect their rights to be negated, and it's so much easier the next time you want to remove a right.

Look how many people already say "If I've done nothing wrong, I have nothing to fear from surveillance" which is entirely backwards. For a free people, it should be stated as "If I've done nothing wrong, WHY ARE YOU WATCHING ME??"

And as to no one forcing you to take the job... if it's the only job available, and your children are hungry -- how much choice do you really have?? THAT is what those who would remove our rights COUNT ON -- that we have no better choices, so we just have to bend over and take it.

BTW there is another round of Tea Parties scheduled for July 4th. Unfortunately, so far there's none in Bozeman -- where it would be an ideal time to protest government invasion of our private lives.

[Walter Greenspan]

Here's more, Bozeman apologizes, stops asking for Internet passwords (http://bozemandailychronicle.com/articles/2009/06/20/news/10cityapology.txt - broken link), this time from the hometown Bozeman Daily Chronicle, about the City of Bozeman and its now ill-fated attempt to collect logins and passwords on employment applications:


H/T: BF via Montana-Alliance-for-Liberty at yahoogroups.com

[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.

[Reziac]

Originally Posted by Reziac

BTW there is another round of Tea Parties scheduled for July 4th. Unfortunately, so far there's none in Bozeman -- where it would be an ideal time to protest government invasion of our private lives.

The internet makes me talk to myself... from the comments following the updated article in the Chronicle:

Then in an apparent move to prevent expression of political ideas with which they disagree, attempted to deny a normal marching permit to the Tea Party on the 4th.

Does anyone know anything about this??

[Timberwolf232]

Originally Posted by Reziac

The internet makes me talk to myself... from the comments following the updated article in the Chronicle:

Then in an apparent move to prevent expression of political ideas with which they disagree, attempted to deny a normal marching permit to the Tea Party on the 4th.

Does anyone know anything about this??

The city of Bozeman tried to deny the Tea Party folks a request to close main street for their march, but under pressure they then changed their minds. In protest of this, some douchebag and his "green coalition of gay loggers for jesus" decided to apply for a permit to protest the tea party folks... (maybe he didn't get enough hugs as a kid or something, who knows..)

I don't know about anyone else, but on the 4th this year I'll be enjoying my family, friends, some barbeque and a cold beer or two (maybe 3 or 4 ) and a good hometown parade in the morning in Belgrade to say thanks to all those that gave their lives for us.

[aquila]

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.

Well, sure they check Facebook and MySpace. You can't stop them from doing that, since it's a simple matter of searching for a person's name. But if I'm not mistaken don't you have to be a friend of someone on Facebook, or a Facebook member yourself, before you can view someone's profile? (I'm not a Facebook member, so I don't know.) As for MySpace, you can hide the details of your profile from the public, and only allow friends to view your page. So if an employer wants to search for you there, they are kinda S.O.L. if they aren't on your Friends list. That's probably why people were being asked for their user IDs and passwords.

[Reziac]

It's one thing to look for stuff you've published (in the original sense of the word, which was "to make public"). It's another to make you open up your private "diaries" to public scrutiny -- and I believe anything they examine becomes part of the public record.

[Rickers]

I can just picture a hoard of lawyers grinning and drooling with $ signs in their eyes !