Bozeman Montana Local News
City apologizes, stops asking for Internet passwords
published on Friday, June 19, 2009 10:14 PM MDT
By AMANDA RICKER Chronicle Staff Writer
The city of Bozeman has stopped asking job applicants for their log-in information to online groups and social-networking sites like Facebook and MySpace.
However, the city has only suspended, pending “a more comprehensive evaluation,” its practice of reviewing information found on password-protected sites, City Manager Chris Kukulski said, leaving open the possibility that it might find other ways to look at the sites.
The city ended the policy as of noon Friday because the city “appears to have exceeded that which is acceptable to our community,” Kukulski said. “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.”
Acting Mayor Jeff Krauss said he expects the Bozeman City Commission will be reviewing the city’s hiring manual line by line.
“We might want to see what other interesting things are in there that we might have to address,” he said.
As for finding other ways to look at social-networking sites as part of evaluating a job candidate’s suitability for a city job, Kukulski defended that approach.
“We will continue to do our full due diligence to review any public information that we can get our hands on to research potential employees,” he said.
News of the hiring practice this week was picked up by media outlets and bloggers around the world, triggering an outpouring of e-mails and phone calls to the city.
As part of routine background checks, the city had, until Friday, asked job applicants to provide their usernames and passwords for their social-networking sites. And, city officials said the city had been doing it for years.
The waiver form that the city asked applicants to sign stated, “Please list any and all current personal or business Web sites, 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.”
Kukulski insisted Friday that only applicants who were offered a job, with the condition that they pass background checks, were asked to sign the waiver. And, he said choosing not to disclose log-in information did not hurt candidates’ chances of getting the job.
Krauss, who as deputy mayor assumes mayoral duties while Mayor Kaaren Jacobson is out of town, placed the issue of using the Internet for city background checks on the agenda for the commission’s regular Monday night meeting.
In the meantime, Kukulski said, any records of previous candidates’ log-in information will remain sealed in a secure file cabinet in City Hall.
“We have no indication whatsoever that anybody’s information has been compromised in that regard,” he said.