Facebook to be off-limits to German employers

According to Spiegel, the German government is currently working on an addition to the country's data protection laws that will prevent employers from using Facebook to screen prospective employees, but most other internet-derived information will be fair game:

Saving Jobseekers from Themselves: New Law to Stop Companies from Checking Facebook Pages in Germany - SPIEGEL ONLINE - News - International

But those Facebook users hoping to apply for a job in Germany should pause for a moment before they hit the "deactivate account" button. The government has drafted a new law which will prevent employers from looking at a job applicant's pages on social networking sites during the hiring process.

According to reports in the Monday editions of the Die Welt and Süddeutsche Zeitung newspapers, Interior Minister Thomas de Maizière has drafted a new law on data privacy for employees which will radically restrict the information bosses can legally collect. The draft law, which is the result of months of negotiations between the different parties in Germany's coalition government, is set to be approved by the German cabinet on Wednesday, according to the Süddeutsche Zeitung.

Although the new law will reportedly prevent potential bosses from checking out a candidate's Facebook page, it will allow them to look at sites that are expressly intended to help people sell themselves to future employers, such as the business-oriented social networking site LinkedIn. Information about the candidate that is generally available on the Internet is also fair game. In other words, employers are allowed to google potential hires. Companies may not be allowed to use information if it is too old or if the candidate has no control over it, however.