Bozeman drops password requirement - Montana's News Station

The City of Bozeman has decided it will no longer ask job applicants for social networking user names and passwords following a worldwide outrage to the hiring policy.

"Effective at noon today, the City of Bozeman permanently ceased the practice of requesting that candidates selected for positions under a provisional job offer to provide their user names or passwords for candidates Internet sites," Bozeman City Manager Chris Kukulski said Friday.

Following a 90-minute staff meeting held Friday morning, officials decided asking applicants to provide their passwords to sites such as Facebook or MySpace "exceeded that which is acceptable to our community," according to Kukulski.

Kukulski also apologized for the negative impact the issue has generated from news organizations and blogs around the world. He added that the information was never required at the time of application.

"This was a question that was asked after you were conditionally offered the job." He said the City also is suspending the practice of viewing any password protected information.

The City will continue using the Internet as part of background checks to judge the character of applicants. Although the City will stop asking for passwords, Kukulski said the passwords already given by previous applicants will remain the confidential property of the City.

A story about the requirement aired on Montana's News Station Wednesday and by Thursday, city offices were being deluged by people outraged about the matter.

City attorney Greg Sullivan was receiving about one email a minute about the matter. Emails were flooding City offices from across the globe. The story spread like wildfire, fueled by the social networking site Twitter where it quickly became a hot topic.

At the heart of the uproar is a requirement included on a waiver statement applicants must sign, giving the City permission to conduct an investigation into the person's "background, references, character, past employment, education, credit history, criminal or police records."

Montana's News Station was alerted to the requirement by an anonymous viewer who emailed the station to express concern with part of the City's background check policy for job applicants, which states that to be considered for a job, applicants must provide login information and passwords for social network sites in which they participate.

"Please list any and all, current personal or business websites, web pages or memberships on any Internet-based chat rooms, social clubs or forums, to include, but not limited to: Facebook, Google, Yahoo, YouTube.com, MySpace, etc.," the City form states. There are then three lines where applicants can list the Web sites, their user names and log-in information and their passwords.

The story quickly caused an uproar.

The City heard from Fox News, NPR, CBS and ABC Thursday. It has also received a lot of negative reaction from the public.

Comments on Twitter range from the outraged to the snarky.

"Note to self, don't apply in Bozeman for a city job," one person wrote.

"It could be worse :) City of Bozeman could partner with Dept. of corrections and issues ankle bracelets to all employees," said another.

"Interview comment #817 ‘I'm sorry, according to the 'Which Vegetable Are You' quiz, you are a turnip. We can't hire turnips,'" one person wrote, making reference to Facebook quizzes.

News Web sites and bloggers from around the world are also picking up the story. Slashdot, The Guardian, Computer World and celebrity blogger Perez Hilton are just a few of the places where the requirement has gotten noticed.

City of Bozeman Press Release

For Immediate Release:

The City of Bozeman believes we have a responsibility to ensure candidates hired for positions of public trust are subject to a thorough background check. The extent of our request for a candidate's password, user name, or other Internet information appears to have exceeded that which is acceptable to our community. We appreciate the concern many citizens have expressed regarding this practice and apologize for the negative impact this issue is having on the City of Bozeman.

Effective at 12:00 p.m. today, Friday June 19, 2009, the City of Bozeman permanently ceased the practice of requesting candidates selected for City positions under a provisional job offer to provide user names and passwords for the candidate's Internet sites.

In addition, until further notice, the City will suspend its practice of reviewing candidate's password protected Internet information until the City conducts a more comprehensive evaluation of the practice.

Since the initial media inquiries, the City of Bozeman has been reviewing the practice of requesting user names and passwords to access a candidate's Internet sites. Today's decision to terminate the use of passwords and usernames in this process reflects the City's commitment to reconsider this practice. In addition, today's decision to suspend the practice of inquiring into a candidate's password protected Internet sites demonstrates a continued commitment to ensure the City's hiring practices comply with state and federal law and protect the safety of Bozeman residents.

Chris A. Kukulski

City Manager

Bozeman city officials held a 90 minute, closed door, meeting with city staff on Friday morning to discuss the controversy that's erupted over a policy that asks city job applicants to supply user names and passwords for any social networking site to which they subscribe to, such as like MySpace or Facebook.

Information about what was talked about during the morning meeting was not released to the press, however the city has slated a 3:00 p.m. news conference, which will be held in the Bozeman City Commission Room.

We spoke with the Montana Attorney General's Office on Friday morning to get their take on the issue and a spokesman told us that they can not offer information or statements on the issue unless they are contacted by Bozeman city officials. The spokesman added that so far that officials have not yet contacted their office.

(from June 18, 2009)

One a minute - that's the rate at which emails are arriving in the email inbox belonging to the City of Bozeman's attorney in response to a story about the City requiring that job applicants hand over login information and passwords for social network sites.

A story aired on KBZK Wednesday and by Thursday, city offices were being deluged by people outraged about the matter.

City attorney Greg Sullivan who was interviewed in the first story said he met with the human resources department Thursday and the matter is being discussed.

Officials said they are looking into the legality of the requirement. They also said they are looking into Facebook's policies.

The City heard from Fox News, NPR, CBS and ABC Thursday. It has also received a lot of negative reaction from the public.

City Manager Chris Kukulski says Bozeman stands by the policy of looking at social network pages of applicants. He said it's important for judging the character of future police, fireman and other employees.

But Bozeman resident Michael Becker has problems with how the city views that information. He sent an email to Sullivan Thursday with 14 questions on the legality of the practice.

Asking for passwords is not just an invasion of privacy, Becker said.

"Well, first of all it is a violation of Facebook and MySpace's terms of service. Both of them prohibit giving out your password to a third party, right in the terms of service, the one's you agreed upon when you signed up for the site. So that's not illegal, but it is a violation of their terms of service. So by giving your password to the City of Bozeman, you're placing your account in Jeopardy," he said.

Bozeman City Hall isn't the only place where the requirement has become a hot topic. It has ignited a heated response on the social networking site Twitter where people are tweeting vigorously about the requirement.

Comments on Twitter range from the outraged to the snarky.

"Note to self, don't apply in Bozeman for a city job," one person wrote.

"It could be worse :) City of Bozeman could partner with Dept. of corrections and issues ankle bracelets to all employees," said another.

"Interview comment #817 ‘I'm sorry, according to the 'Which Vegetable Are You' quiz, you are a turnip. We can't hire turnips,'" one person wrote, making reference to Facebook quizzes.

As of 10 a.m. 6,454 people had voted in a poll on www.kbzk.com asking "What do you think of the City of Bozeman requiring job applicants to provide social network site login and password information?" So 6,347 people have voted "I'm against it - It's an invasion of privacy," 62 people have voted "I'm for it - It's important for the City to judge the applicant's character," and 45 people have said they don't care either way.