Note the survey results at the top of the story about Bozeman City job requirements. I’m surprised that 1% actually voted in favor of the policy. 98% have voted against:

Applying for a job with the City of Bozeman? You may be asked to provide more personal information than you expected.

That was the case for one person who applied for employment with the City. The anonymous viewer emailed the news station recently to express concern with a component of the city’s background check policy, which states that to be considered for a job applicants must provide log-in information and passwords for social network sites in which they participate.

European regulators regularly point to the US as a primitive and lax country in terms of the right to privacy. Stories like this just drive the nail in. The employer actually asked for the applicant to surrender their password? That is more than a violation of privacy, it actually begs the question of integrity and authenticity. How many people were allowed access to the passwords? Beyond that, one has to wonder how passwords were stored securely and when they allowed users to change the password. The value of this test is questionable as well since it is based on a record that the user can actively manipulate before and after, unlike a driving record. Clearly Bozeman is in serious need of some security consulting.