As per today's article in the ieee Spectrum by Robert Charette, the Maryland Department of Public Safety and Correctional Services as well as the Norman, Oklahoma Police Department are apparently both requiring prospective job candidates to turn over the passwords to their social media accounts (Facebook, Myspace, etc) as part of background screening. I'm sure this isn't going to be a rare and isolated demand on the part of employers going forward. But it's one thing to google up someone's name, check their public Facebook and Myspace pages for dirt. It's an entirely different thing to hand over passwords to these accounts.

Now, I don't have a Facebook account simply because I disagree with the default loss of personal privacy one must accept to utilize the social networking site. Is my lack of a Facebook account going to throw up red flags the next time I am looking for a job? I can see it now - I'm sitting across from an interviewer and they ask "So, we, you know, require that you provide us with your Facebook password. It's for our safety you understand, and we promise we won't friend Michael Dukakis while we're checking you out."

Me: "Oh, I'm really sorry but I don't have a Facebook account, is that a problem?"

Interviewer: "Well, uh... I'm not sure. This hasn't come up before. Is there a reason you don't use Facebook? Are you trying to hide something? Don't you have any friends??"

This is going to become a more and more serious issue... Mark my Zuckerbergs.