Germany Tries to Limit the Use of Social Network Sites in Recruitment

A controversial law proposed by the German Interior Minister would limit recruiters’ ability to take into account information from Facebook profiles before hiring or eliminating candidates. The law would attempt to define proper recruiting techniques and to prohibit those seen to be improper. A spokesman for the Interior Minister, Thomas de Maizière, said that the proposed law would allow recruiters to search job networking sites such as LinkedIn and the web for whatever information is publically available. However, the law would prohibit recruiters from using social networking sites like Facebook in gathering information about candidates. The Minister also said that the proposed law would make it illegal for recruiters to add prospective employees as friends on Facebook. Some commentators suggest that the legislation is a reaction to Germany’s latest scandals which have left Germans wanting to vigorously defend their privacy—events such as employees being unknowingly video-taped and bank data being intercepted by hackers. The German government has recently investigated Google and iPhone, respectively, regarding privacy issues concerning their data collection and retention policies . The proposed law received approval in August by the Cabinet and is now awaiting parliamentary discussion and approval. However, the Minister has admitted that the government faces a challenge in enacting the legislation. For several news reports, follow these links: http://tinyurl.com/36obpmj; http://tinyurl.com/2u2t5es; and http://www.physorg.com/news201952763.html Summary by: Cindy Vergara