MT City Pulls Back on Requests for Social Network Info

June 22, 2009 (PLANSPONSOR.com) - The city of Bozeman, Montana, has ceased its practice of requesting that candidates selected for city positions under a provisional job offer provide user names and passwords for social networking site accounts.

In a statement on June 19, city manager Chris A. Kukulski said: “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.” Kukulski also announced that, until further notice, the city will suspend its practice of reviewing candidate’s password protected internet information until it conducts a more comprehensive evaluation of the practice.

According to the statement, the city is committed to ensuring its hiring practices comply with state and federal law and protect the safety of Bozeman residents.

By making the move, the city was no doubt responding to reports of the practice leaked to local media by job applicants (see MT City Job Applicants Must Hand Over Social Network Passwords ).

«