A recent article on Mashable talks about Congress trying to pass the Password Protection Act to keep employers from snooping around inside someone’s social media account.

This is one of those situations I can’t believe is actually happening. I honestly wondered if this was one of those urban legends, like the girl who baked herself in a tanning bed before prom.

A username/password allows someone to create or modify content. But this is not necessary if you just want to see what someone has publicly posted. It would be of no use to an employer unless they were trying to edit the posts or close the account, neither of which they have a right to do.

If an employer is asking for your login information, then it’s clear they doin’t understand how online accounts work. The most they need is a screen name to follow you. Perhaps that’s what they are really looking for?

Having said that, there is no way in hell I would give an employer my password. I don’t care what the law of even the company policy says. That is so beyond the boundary of ethical behavior that I would ask to speak with the company’s legal counsel and verbally challenge my continued employment with that company.

I’ve hinted about this in my previous post: Social Media Needs to Stay Social.

I read an article this morning about a college in North Carolina that didn’t let one of its students walk at graduation because of a comment he posted on his Facebook account.

A tornado had hit the town a few weeks before and a college assembly was being arranged to discuss how best to handle the damage. The student, in an attempt to make sure his voice was heard, asked for a show of support from his friends. Here’s the comment:

Here it go!!!!! Students come correct, be prepared, and have supporting documents to back up your arguments bcuz SAC will come hard!!!! That is all.

Basically, he’s getting barred from graduation for telling his friends to “come prepared to debate your point of view.” Umm…isn’t that what we want people to learn in college?…how to be prepared and how to argue your point of view?

Although the student did have prior actions against him during his time as a student, this comment was not derogatory, threatening, or criminal. He was simply asking for support from friends.

Is it possible that he intended to make a scene? Yes. But you can’t punish a person for what you think they might do. This isn’t The Minority Report.


This leads to my main point: social media is just that…a social forum…a place to rant and vent and find others to share in your good times and bad…a place to say what you want to the world, even if no one is listening.

Sites like Facebook and Twitter are not political campaign headquarters or company intranets or university bulletin boards. They consist of personal online accounts that are independent of your school, your employer, your church, or any other organization you belong to.

As such, companies (used here to mean schools, employers, etc.) have no legitimate grounds for using people’s social statements to discipline them in another arena. It doesn’t matter if it’s the company’s employee, student, or parishioner. A company has no business being in its employees’ social lives.
My employer doesn’t own me or my time off work. What I do in my spare time is my business. Period!

If I want to speak out against the President of the United States or the president of my employer, I have that right. It’s no different than teachers going to a bar on Friday nights and letting loose with a few drinks. People need to vent, socially, and this is what social forums are for. It is a sign of a healthy society.

So how far are we willing to let companies go?

They have started mandating that their employees lose weight and stop smoking in the name of cutting insurance costs. (That right there is a load of crap. Companies don’t want to subsidize health insurance, so they take it out on their employees. That’s passing the buck. Just because they have to abide by the laws of the land doesn’t mean that I have to change my lifestyle to please them.)

But now they can oversee what we write or post on the Internet? Horseshit!

What’s next? We can’t purchase Coke because they have a contract with Pepsi? Or perhaps vacations can only be taken in states with the appropriate pro-business tax credits.

Business needs to stay in the office. What I do in my own time is none of their…business.

The drive-thru window at a fast food restaurant is like an express checkout lane at the grocery store. It is meant for quick and simple orders. If you are ordeocietyring for more than 3 people or have any special requests, go inside and do it properly. Don’t hold up the rest of us.