Facebook Profile / Credit Report

 I was doing some research today for a final paper (due in a couple hours.... I <3 procrastination) about ethical dilemmas where technology is involved. Of course all the obvious things popped into my head, Google's street view cars, Facebook's Beacon case etc. But in writing the paper I had a bit of an epiphany; which as a result thereof I decided it was high time to jump on the Blogger band wagon. So the idea is simple, employers will often times request permission to pull a potential job candidate's credit report. The Fair and Accurate Credit Transactions Act (FACT Act) allows consumers to access a copy of their credit report once a year, one useful tidbit of information on the report tells you who all has accessed your information. Using this as a premise would it not then be prudent to offer a similar service for your Facebook profile? 

Ok there are obviously technical boundaries, and even implied honesty, that would be involved in achieving something of this nature, but all things considered an individual's Facebook profile may have just as much incriminating evidence as their credit report. Employers have definitely recognized this fact as they demand usernames and passwords. But all things considered what if Facebook were to provide something of this nature. It would serve many purposes, say for instance that ex-girl or boyfriend is frequenting your profile, or say perhaps good ole' granny pays it a visit or two. Many of us more privacy conscious individuals may have this thought in the back of our heads already, however how much more prominent would it be if this information was a click away?


It is always a good idea to setup your Facebook privacy (From Engadget, From UoP) and say you have established a good system. I think I have a pretty good system, basically I don't share anything with the public. But what if Facebook recorded the log in name of every individual that accessed, or tried to access your profile? Say that potential employer browses for and tries to load up your profile, you would then see the account of the individual that tried to access it. Maybe something like this already exists out there in the form of an App, though I have not found anything other than Spam and phishing [corrected spelling 6/5] sites when searching.


So will it ever happen? Maybe this will offer some insight, a clip from Facebooks FAQ Section *sigh* Facebook myths

"Can I know who's viewing my profile or how often it's being viewed?

No, Facebook does not provide the ability to track who is viewing your profile, or parts of your profile, such as your photos. Applications by outside developers cannot provide this functionality, either. Applications that claim to give you this ability will be removed from Facebook for violating policy." 

Well perhaps one day that will change as Facebook's privacy guidelines seem to change by the minute.


What are your thoughts?