Germany Drafts Bill to Restrict Employers’ Use of Facebook

Germany’s memories of Nazism in its past have influenced its policies concerning employers’ use of Facebook when recruiting. The country’s fear of repeating history has spurred a very cautious outlook on matters of individual privacy, especially in light of increased public access to personal information.

Indeed, in an age where Facebook can give outsiders access to information about our personal lives, such accessibility demands imperative decisions on the job seeker’s part. A bad choice of profile picture, for example, could lower you in your employer’s esteem, or – if it’s really bad – cost you that dream job, regardless of your outstanding qualifications.

A bill that addresses this subject has been introduced in Germany, and sent to parliament for discussion. In essence, it would place restrictions on managers who seek information about prospective employees online. Should this bill pass, managers would be allowed to look at most publicly accessible information with the exception, as Federal Ministerde Maiziere emphasized, of websites designed purely for social networking, such as Facebook and MySpace.

"What an employer can't do,” said de Maiziere, “is befriend someone on a closed social network and then use the 'friend' status to access private data and then use that information against the applicant."

The consequence of this new law is the reshaping of relationships between corporations and individuals. The new regulation gives a rejected job applicant the formidable power to take the company to court and claim damages if said applicant can prove that he or she was turned away based on the invasion of privacy it describes. By giving the individual this means of retaliation, the law would force managers to be more guarded in their conduct when dealing with the complex distinction between business and personal profiles.

We must now consider whether Canada should follow suit and adopt the similar precautions to Germany’s about employers, new media, and access to personal information.

Read more about Germany’s new media bill.