WWW . THESKANNER . COM
M ARCH 21, 2012
S EATTLE , W ASHINGTON
V OLUME XXXIV, N O . 12
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C HALLENGING P EOPLE TO S HAPE A B ETTER F UTURE N OW
DET. COOKIE’S CHESS CLUB
Killer
Soldier
Case
Lawyer questions
evidence, plans own
Afghan investigation
PHOTO BY SUSAN FRIED
By John Milburn
The Associated Press
Fabian 5, gets some pointers from Seattle Police Officer Denise Bouldin, aka Detective Cookie, at the weekly meeting
of Detective Cookie’s Urban Youth Chess Club at the Rainier Beach Branch Library. The chess club meets from noon
to 2 p.m. on Saturday afternoons.
Asking for Facebook Passwords?
Unethical employers are getting away with invasion of privacy
Manuel Valdes and
Shannon McFarland
The Associated Press
SEATTLE (AP) — When
Justin Bassett interviewed for a
new job, he expected the usual
questions about experience and
references. So he was aston-
ished when the interviewer
asked for something else: his
Facebook username and pass-
word.
Bassett, a New York City stat-
istician, had just finished
answering a few character ques-
tions when the interviewer
turned to her computer to search
for his Facebook page. But she
couldn’t see his private profile.
She turned back and asked him
to hand over his login informa-
tion.
Bassett refused and withdrew
his application, saying he didn’t
want to work for a company that
would seek such personal infor-
mation. But as the job market
steadily improves, other job
candidates are confronting the
same question from prospective
employers, and some of them
INDEX
News .....................2,3,8
Calendar ....................2
Opinion ....................4,5
Bids/Classifieds.........6-7
cannot afford to say no.
In their efforts to vet appli-
cants, some companies and gov-
ernment agencies are going
beyond merely glancing at a
person’s social networking pro-
files and instead asking to log in
as the user to have a look
around.
“It’s akin to requiring some-
one’s house keys,” said Orin
Kerr, a George Washington Uni-
versity law professor and for-
mer federal prosecutor who
calls it “an egregious privacy
violation.”
Questions have been raised
about the legality of the prac-
tice, which is also the focus of
proposed legislation in Illinois
and Maryland that would forbid
public agencies from asking for
access to social networks.
Since the rise of social net-
working, it has become com-
mon for managers to review
publically available Facebook
profiles, Twitter accounts and
other sites to learn more about
job candidates. But many users,
especially on Facebook, have
See JOBS on page 3
FORT LEAVENWORTH, Kan. (AP) —
The lawyer for the Army staff sergeant sus-
pected of killing 16 Afghan civilians ques-
tioned Tuesday the quality of the evidence
against his client and said he planned to
travel to Afghanistan to gather his own.
John Henry Browne said he met with
Robert Bales for 11 hours over two days at
Fort Leavenworth, where his client is being
held. He added that there was still a lot he
didn’t know about the March 11 shootings.
“I don’t know about the evidence in this
case. I don’t know that the government is
going to prove much. There’s no forensic
evidence. There’s no confessions,” Browne
said outside his hotel near the post.
“I’m certainly not saying that we’re not
taking responsibility for this in the right
way, at the right time. But for now, I’m
interested in what the evidence is,” he said.
“It’s not like a crime scene in the United
States.”
Browne said there were legal, social and
political issues linked to the case and how it
will be prosecuted. “The war’s on trial. I’m
not putting the war on trial,” he said. “I’m
not putting the war on trial, but the war is on
trial.”
Bales, 38, has not been charged yet.
Browne expects that he will be charged this
week. The killings sparked protests in
Afghanistan, endangered relations between
the two countries and threatened to upend
American policy over the decade-old war.
Browne met with his client behind bars
for the first time Monday to begin building
a defense.
On Tuesday, Browne described Bales as
“a soldier’s soldier” who followed orders,
including deploying to Afghanistan despite
not wanting to go. Bales has been reported
to have had financial troubles.
“That doesn’t mean anything. Sure, there
are financial problems. I have financial
See SOLDIER on page 3
Another Million for Homeless Programs
Additional funds will help Seattle run three housing projects
T
he City of Seattle and King County
have been awarded $968,902 in new
funds to support the operating costs
for three homeless housing projects in Seat-
tle, bringing the total amount awarded to
our region for 2012 federal homeless assis-
tance awards to well over $22 million. King
County Executive Dow Constantine and
Seattle Mayor Mike McGinn announced the
local McKinney-Vento Homeless Assis-
tance Awards following the U.S. Depart-
ment of Housing and Urban Development
(HUD) announcement of nationwide
awards.
“These new funds will create permanent
housing for the homeless – two new six-
story buildings in Northgate and South Lake
Union – and expand supportive services,”
said King County Executive Dow Constan-
tine, co-chair of the Committee to End
Homelessness. “For the federal government
to award this region more funds, on top of
the grants it already renewed in December,
validates the strength of our partnerships
and our shared commitment to create
affordable housing linked to needed servic-
es.”
“These grants are crucial to the city’s
See GRANT on page 3