It’s been said before, but it bears repeating. Don’t put anything online that you wouldn’t want your grandmother to see. Or the government. Or your boss. Why? Because they’re all watching and they all have ways of making the Internet talk.
Okay, maybe not your grandmother, unless she’s a bona fide hacker. But pretty much anybody else can access your personal, private, password-protected, online information if they want to badly enough.
Despite glaring, scandal-mongering headlines, the biggest problem right now is not the NSA, it’s your boss. Believe it or not, in most states your employers are legally allowed to demand that you hand over the passwords to your social media accounts. Or your bosses can demand that you log on to those accounts so they can read your private posts, a practice that goes by the charming name of shoulder surfing.
Interviewers have been known to insist that candidates reveal their passwords before being considered for a job. Schools, athletic departments, even landlords have requested passwords, citing security reasons for their need to examine personal files.
So what do you do when an employer asks for your social media passwords? You can just say no and let the chips fall where they may. In an interview, you can ask the interviewer what information he needs that isn’t on your resume. Be polite, be firm, and try very hard to deflect the request.
Oh, there is something else you can do. Don’t post anything online that is embarrassing, scurrilous, contentious, libelous, inflammatory, rude, thoughtless, juvenile,…, well, you get the idea. Just remember that the Internet and, in particular, social media sites were created to disseminate information, not protect it. Social media sites may have generated fortunes, but they have also toppled governments.