LET’S SEE YOUR PASSWORD Employers can be picky in hard times. They can make jobseekers jump through a lot of hoops that have nothing to do with getting the job done. Nowadays employers are demanding to know the Face Book passwords of those who would work for them. Do they have that right? Private business has the prerogative to hire, or fire, for just about any reason, and there are ways to get around those few existing statute restrictions. When jobs are scarce, people will become very accommodating to those who would hire. Given bad enough economic conditions, many might even accept slavery, as opposed to starvation. Government exists, so our Declaration states, to preserve our inalienable rights to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. But economics are subject to their own natural laws, and the “job creators” have certain rights too. In this uncertain economy, when the success or failure of an enterprise (and possibly the loss of many jobs) can depend on small things, don’t employers have the right, and responsibility, to be well-informed? The right of workers to privacy and that of employers to information often conflict. Human nature makes bosses feel their employees, no matter how good, could always do more, and makes workers feel their employers ask too much. Chattel slavery is illegal, but bosses still take a proprietary attitude toward those they pay. More control means a more efficient company, higher profits, and thus, healthier paychecks. And certainly, even with controls, working for a living is much easier than it was back in those nightmare days of Dickens or Sinclair. In the computer age, the wrong information could ruin a company, damaging an entire society. Employers have access to their workers’ addresses and phone numbers. Many demand urine samples and make other personal demands. Face Book is merely the most modern communications device. What reason could restrict employers from knowing what their employees are up to—especially since not knowing could embarrass companies and hurt profits? There is that cherished right to privacy. But communications experts have been telling us that in the electronic age, privacy is dead, that in the global village everyone has access to everyone else’s affairs. This is one of those self-fulfilling prophecies: if we believe it, it becomes true. On the other hand, the bosses are not offering their passwords to their employees. Big Brother may be in the boardroom rather than the Kremlin, but he’s still watching us, and we still don’t get to watch him. If indeed we live in an era when privacy no longer exists, then we need to firmly insist that we all mind our own business. Of course, we must be courteous to one another—in personal matters. But economics is not personal, courtesy won’t pay the rent, and successful private enterprise (and with it a strong economy) depends on everyone’s co-operation. We all benefit when business gets what it demands. This tale, though only partially true, is told so often that it is generally believed. Considering Face Book passwords of workers, how can such information provide legitimate benefits to any employer? Knowing in advance of employee conduct that could embarrass a corporation would be more than offset by the expense of constant monitoring of employees’ personal communications. There is, though, one solid business reason for having workers’ Face Book passwords: workers who knowingly and willingly surrender their private lives are more passive, less assertive, more “eager to please” than workers who do not. Anyone who surrenders his or her personal rights for a paycheck will be watched, will be harassed, will be broken down. Docile workers will do more for less. “None of your business” is the polite and fitting response to demands for Face Book passwords. We would not let spies look into our windows, or a boss’s stoolie into our abodes. We would not let the boss read our letters or tap our phones. But these old-fashioned communications are protected by statute. Face Book, being new, is vulnerable. However, if we allow corporate spies to watch our Face Book pages, we have already surrendered our rights in all other matters. Individuals have the right to insist that others stay out of their affairs. But against the specter of unemployment privations, personal rights seem indefensibly useless. If we want privacy for ourselves, then we must protect it for everybody. These protections can only be achieved through the traditional social contract. In this case government has the legitimate responsibility to tell private enterprise what not to do. As of April, 2012, the State of Maryland is the only governmental entity to do its duty. If governments elsewhere do not, then the citizens must change their governments, in order to protect their life, liberty, and pursuit of happiness. Otherwise we face a new and terrifying definition of “company man.”