From Pine View Farm

The Internet Is a Public Place 0

And Bozeman, Montana, is determined to make it more so. It is demanding that applicants for public jobs surrender their user names and passwords to social networking sites:

Speaking with a local Montana TV news station, City attorney Greg Sullivan says Bozeman takes privacy seriously. But he defends the burg’s log-in grab. “So, we have positions ranging from fire and police, which require people of high integrity for those positions, all the way down to the lifeguards and the folks that work in city hall here. So we do those types of investigations to make sure the people that we hire have the highest moral character and are a good fit for the City,” he said.

Giving up your user name and password violates the terms of service for most social networking sites.

As my three or four regular readers know, I regularly point with derision at those whose think what they do in cyberspace is somehow secret or private. But Bozeman is out of line here.

I have been to Bozeman. It’s probably not a good idea for them to artificially narrow the pool of prospective public employees.

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