There have been a number of times that I’ve discussed the ways in which public information on the internet is not private. If you make photos or information about yourself publicly available, you have to recognize that others might take it into consideration when forming an opinion of you. Now, however, the city of Bozeman, MT wants to know what private information you have, too. As noted by Ars Technica, the city’s background check waiver form includes the following request:
“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 form reads. But Bozeman isn’t simply interested in finding out where to look for potentially embarrassing personal details; the city wants full disclosure, since the form demands username and password information for each. City employees will apparently be able to dig through any information applicants have put online, regardless of whether it’s accessible to the public.
Applicants need not worry about their potentially sensitive private information, though, because the city won’t look at “protected” things:
A local news station spoke to Bozeman’s attorney and asked about the potential for problems of this sort. The city’s answer? Trust us! “One thing that’s important for folks to understand about what we look for is none of the things that the federal constitution lists as protected things, we don’t use those,” said attorney Greg Sullivan.
An examination of private information like this is ridiculous and the recent media attention will hopefully end Bozeman’s use of this practice. If not, your next employer may want to come to your house and take a look through your belongings before deciding whether or not you should be hired. Who doesn’t love Big Brother?
Update: Bozeman rescinded this policy on Friday, June 20, stating:
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.
Memoirs of a SLACer 
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