Do we need a law for good manners now?

I read today that the American legislature has refused to declare the growing trend of prospective employers insisting on social media passwords from the candidate as illegal. For more information, go here.

I am appalled that any person (ANY person) making it mandatory to share any of your passwords (ANY password) as a pre-condition for anything (ANYthing) should be allowed to do so, especially in a progressive democracy and the purported land of free speech. hell, ANYwhere! why just the USA?

By the way, is there not a law against this already? I mean, do we have to make separate laws for social media and separate for, say, bank accounts or e-mail boxes or loyalty programs or magazine subscriptions?

All citizens MUST learn to use the right cutlery.

Cannot we just assume that the law that governs the right to privacy covers this? Would we be legislating against bad manners next? Would we then also be making laws for which fork to use for which course now? Or whether to hold a door open for a lady? Or how to wear a bow tie?

Even my own wife or my dad or my best friend cannot ask me for my passwords! One just does not open someone else’s mail, or purse, or medicine cabinet, or safes, or tap someone’s phones, or rifle through someone’s hard disk, or infringe the privacy of someone without their consent in any way or manner. Why? I don’t know. One just does not! The only scenario in which I am allowed to do this is when it is an aid to an ongoing investigation by a government agency on the approval of an appropriate court, or if the owner of the locked device is dying and I must use that device to call for help or save that person. I mean, how difficult is this to understand? Is this not well-known, universally accepted civility? Why do we need a law for good manners now? Is the situation so bad?

Yes…you too!

If employers are so concerned about getting to know the prospective employee thoroughly, can’t they just see what is available on his/her public profile(s)? Isn’t it enough for me to know that the person polishes his shoes instead of asking him to prove that his socks have no holes in them??

So, what happens if an employer starts insisting that I share my social media password or deny me a job if I do not accede? They may ask me to share my e-mail password too, along the same lines. and then, maybe take a look at my shopping list, to see what brands I buy and if they ‘fit the culture’ of the company.

And you can’t do shit about it.

They might also want to know if my spouse and I have regular sex, since lack of sex can make a person frustrated and therefore, unproductive.

And of course, they would consider it well within their rights to question me about my personal hygiene habits, whether I believe in a religion or am a rationalist, whether I think the BJP is a religious fundamentalist organisation or if the Congress is pseudo-secular, whether I love my parents and take care of them, whether I was abused as a child and carry any bad memories, whether I like to play-act in bed or if I prefer the missionary position, or if I am gay or bi-curious, or like threesomes, and so on.

Or else, go to jail!

There is no end to it once you open the door. Immediately that one declares that compulsory password sharing for social media is within the law, it can be used to justify any invasion of privacy, any discrimination on arbitrary grounds and any violation of personal space in any area of one’s life. Where does one draw the line then? And who draws it, especially in a nation that has a hard time understanding consent?

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