I was surprised to learn that Facebook eagerly asks for access to your profile while applying for a job [1]. Many organizations have been asking for applicants' Facebook credentials to check for indications of misbehavior. Facebook has publicly denounced this and threatened to sue employers who follow this policy.

It's odd that despite all this controversy Facebook asks for access to your profile before applying. Now, they do make it clear that it is optional to grant access and that you may send them a resume but I think that this places applicants at a disadvantage. One could argue that this is an example of discrimination by privacy. I imagine applications with and without profiles going to different bins before they are reviewed.

So, how is requiring API access to your profile different from asking for your password? Could an employer build a Facebook app for job applicants to authorize? The app would scan the applicant's profile for bad behavior. This would avoid the issue of asking for credentials but may conflict with Facebook's data usage policy. One could imagine, however, a "job application" app that algorithmically looks through profiles without revealing personal information to the employer and raises alarms if it finds anything suspicious. It seems people are already familiar with Google's Gmail ad bot reading their email. So this is not too far out there.

[1] http://www.facebook.com/careers/apply?job_id=a2KA0000000LjXTMA0