The World Through My Eyes: Job Hunt Spying Policy

Lately, I've been getting a whole slew of 'fake' job offers from companies that don't exist. Here's the latest email I got...

Tawanna Hopkins <TawanyvnaygsyHopkins@hotmail.com> Reply-To: sashamak87@gmail.com To: (MY EMAIL ADDRESS)

Fri, Mar 1, 2013 at 5:33 AM

Hello (MY NAME), Our company is a payment processor with services designed for international small companies.

At the moment we have a job opening of a "Check Assist Manager". We have carefully reviewed your CV, that was placed online. We trust that your knowledge will be among our valuable assets.

Job requirements:

- US citizeship and permanent address; - Age: at least 24; - computer skills and e-mail address; - liability and ability to work independently. ALL FEES ARE PAID BY US.

Interested candidates, please reply to this message Thank you.

Notice the time the email was sent, 5:33 AM--what company sends an email at 5:30 in the morning? Also, the email address is clearly fake along with the reply address.

Why does this matter you ask? I didn't send my resume to them. They got it from a job-site that I applied with. Chico Help Wanted, a popular job-search company, lures unsuspecting job-seekers to fill out forms on its website for jobs.

However, what people don't realize is that they are sent to third-party websites with misleading job information. In tiny print it says something along the lines of, "Registering with this site does not qualify for a job application, you must submit a separate application", etc.

After I found this out, it was too late. Here's the conversation I had with a Chico Help Wanted representative online.

Agent: ok, that is Beyond, that is not our site
you: Yes, this is a bad system. Third party sites shouldn't "lure" job-seekers from ChicoHelpWanted.
Agent: the job with Chico's is a feed to our site from TOP USA Jobs
you: Is there somewhere to report this?
Agent: you will need to contact Top USA Jobs and Beyond, we have no control over what forms etc you are given once you leave our site
you: This is bad, I was not given warning that I left the site.
Agent: you didn't notice that the page changed color or another name was on the screen?
you: No. The site just changes to the form, which I filled out.
you: http://www.techcareers.com/job.asp?id=74123737&aff=AC44BA2E-E3EB-4DBC-8BDB-9FCE01C58B09
you: There is no warning that you are on a different site. It's deceptive.
Agent: it says Beyond right at the top of the page
Agent: not ChicoHelpWanted.com
Thank you for using our Live Help feature, if you have additional questions please call 1-800-365-8630 option 2 or contact your representative.
Sorry but you are not currently in an active chat session.

I looked over Chico Help Wanted Help Section and there was nothing stating anything about third-parties using Chico Help Wanted applications or feeds.

Previously, I had received a suspicious phone call from some strange woman with an accent, saying I had applied to her job (Soup company?), when in fact I did not.

Here was the number: 5308985927.
I looked it up on Google and it listed a whole bunch of scammer numbers like that one that people use.

This is a major breach of privacy and many job-sites do not warn people when they are applying for jobs about this behavior. What many of these job-sites don't tell you, is that your information is compromised every time you apply for a job. And worse yet, these job-sites often share your private information with other companies.

When applying for a job, job centers and their company websites make you sign ridiculous Privacy Agreements, Terms of Service contracts and others, which allows them to collect any and all information you provide to them.

Technically, when you post your resume, it contains your: full name, resident address, telephone number, email and all your job contacts and history.

So, if you don't post your resume, you don't get the job. But if you do post your resume, those 'job centers' collect that information and use it however they see fit--including giving it to other database searches for Scammers to contact you.

"If you choose to provide personal information to us through the [company site], we will collect your email address, name, address, and/or telephone number.
We may also collect certain non-personally identifiable information, such as occupation, location, education and experience.

Finally, we collect aggregate information about the use of the [company site], including information about users accessing or using the [company site], such as the number of users that applied for jobs on the [company site], internet protocol addresses, browser type, browser language, referring / exit pages and URLs, other browser history, platform type, number of clicks, domain names, landing pages, pages viewed and the order of those pages, the amount of time spent on particular pages, and the date and time."

The bold-italic print is my own format. I just wanted to bring attention to how these 'job centers' spy on you.

What wasn't pointed out to me previously was how much these companies pay attention to each website you visit.

Does this really matter? Why should these companies watch what you watch?

Well, it turns out they are judging you based on what websites you visit, how often you visit them and for HOW LONG YOU ARE ON THERE!

According to this new information--it must follow that each website you visit has a built-in timer, which measures how long you are on that site. Either through cookies, mal-ware, etc. (which you can't erase from your computer sometimes), each webpage you visit is constantly tracking you.

If you visit Facebook too much, it could show that you spend too much time there and would be considered a liability because you may use company time to check your status on Facebook (which is against company policy in most places). The same goes with, Foursquare, YouTube, Twitter, etc.

Also, it's bad if you're viewing potentially hazardous websites: Porn (obviously bad), UFO pages (which suggest paranoia), Human Rights organizations including: ACLU, Center for Constitutional Rights, Amnesty International, etc.

Some jobs forbid Unions--see Walmart, in Barbara Ehrenreich's "Nickel and Dimmed: On (NOT) Getting By in America" book. Other jobs forbid you to join any organization if you're representing certain companies: news, government agency, etc.

And it's bad to view anti-government websites or anything you accidentally come across. I mention this because people can come across websites through a bad search lead and be on a page they didn't intend to be on--like, bombs when searching for "Super Bomb Sandwich special at Bob's Deli", for example.

The time you access these webpages says a lot about you too. If you're viewing pages at 1AM in the morning, it probably means you don't have a daytime job to get up for in the morning--so you are most-likely unemployed. If you're accessing pages too much in the middle of the day, you're wasting your lunch break or doing it on company time--also very bad!

This makes surfing the web that much worse, doesn't it? Now that you know you are constantly being watched--not just by advertisers--but by your future bosses and their company websites, you will mostly likely change your internet habits.

The company policy further states that:

"We also use non-personally identifiable information and certain technical information about your computer and your access of the [company site] (including your internet protocol address) in order to operate, maintain and manage the [company site]."

It turns out, your IP address says a lot about you, including your exact location, internet browser, age range and gender.

I have to warn you, some other strange sites track and post your IP addresses on their websites, including your email address. I tracked my IP address and found links in Japanese and another site in Russia somewhere that tracked people's IP addresses. I'm guessing they sell that information to whoever registers with that site (exchanging more personal information).

However, what made me pause was that you can add an IP address to a blacklist. I didn't click on that link but I'm thinking it's not a good thing...

Pretty scary, huh?

In order to protect their own interests, they also make you 'sign' an order on their website, which advises you to have an attorney. What for you ask? It's right here in black and white:

"Please note that you may be liable for damages (including costs and attorneys' fees) if you materially misrepresent that an activity is not infringing the copyrights of others. If you are uncertain whether an activity constitutes infringement, we recommended seeking advice of an attorney."

Whatever that means! I just noticed the part about the attorney.

Anyhoo, the fact that you need to sign such stupid legal jargon just to apply for a job is crazy. Who's going to read all this and pay attention? Do I need a lawyer every time I apply for a job?

I understand that each company has to protect their own rights but since your rights are 'infringed' upon without any defense of your own--I can't say I respect their right to a defense.

So, if you're reading this, just be aware that when you check the little box that says, "I accept Terms of Use Policy and Privacy Policy"--you're giving up more than you think. But if you don't check that little box, you can't apply for the job.

It's up to you. I'm just posting this so people are aware that their online privacy and their rights are eroded, especially when they look for a job in a horrible economy that forces people to use these company websites as a last resort.

I'll be posting more information about online privacy and how the courts are not protecting people's rights online.

Friday, March 8, 2013

Job Hunt Spying Policy