Greenwich Eye on the Beltway: Privacy for Facebook

[Editor’s Note: This is the first installment of a new Monday-to-Friday feature, “Eye on the Beltway.” Your Patch editors wanted to launch this to create a space for you and your neighbors to discuss the activities of our elected officials in Washington, D.C.]

Those officials from your town and other parts of southwestern Connecticut are:

• Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-CT)
• Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-CT)
• Rep. Rosa DeLauro (CT-3), a Democrat representing Ansonia, Beacon Falls, Bethany, Branford, Derby, Durham, East Haven, Guilford, Hamden, Middlefield, Middletown, Milford, Naugatuck, New Haven, North Branford, North Haven, Orange, Prospect, Seymour, Shelton, Stratford, Wallingford, Waterbury, West Haven and Woodbridge.
• Rep. Jim Himes (CT-4), a Democrat representing Bridgeport, Darien, Easton, Fairfield, Greenwich, Monroe, New Canaan, Norwalk, Oxford, Redding, Ridgefield, Shelton (part), Stamford, Trumbull, Weston, Westport and Wilton.
• Rep. Chris Murphy (CT-5), a Democrat representing Avon, Bethel, Bethlehem, Bridgewater, Brookfield, Burlington, Canaan, Canton, Cheshire, Cornwall, Danbury, Farmington, Goshen, Harwinton, Kent, Litchfield, Meriden, Middlebury, Morris, New Britain, New Fairfield, New Milford, Newtown, Norfolk, North Canaan, Plainville, Plymouth, Roxbury, Salisbury, Sharon, Sherman, Simsbury, Southbury, Thomaston, Torrington (part), Warren, Washington, Waterbury (part), Watertown, Wolcott and Woodbury.

BLUMENTHAL: Calling it an invasion of privacy and potentially a discrimination threat for job candidates, Sen. Richard Blumenthal on a radio show this week blasted employers who want job-seekers’ logins and passwords to social media sites such as Facebook.

Those employing the practice say the information gives them a good overall idea of job candidates. Blumenthal, who is seeking to ban the pracice, said it “raises fundamental issues of privacy.”

“It’s an important precedent in a time when people are really struggling for employment,” he said on the show. “There is nothing voluntary about this requirement for passwords or login information.”

Blumenthal added that there’s a threat that employers could use the information they glean to discriminate based on factors such as gender and race.

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LIEBERMAN: Debate on a bill sponsored by , I-CT, on postal overhaul legislation reportedly has been delayed—possibly for a few weeks. According to The Federal Times’ FedLine blog, Lieberman’s bill will take a back seat to another proposed law involving the repeal of gas and oil industry tax breaks.

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DELAURO: , CT-3, late Monday Tweeted on the nearly $2.5 million awarded to the city of New Haven and Naugatuck Valley Health District by HUD.

Saying she “fought hard” to raise awareness of housing conditions in the two areas, DeLauro posted that she was “happy that both were awarded funding that ultimately will help make our children safer.”

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HIMES: , CT-4, blogged recently about a visit to a Norwalk artist whose work he called “beautiful.”

One painting from Paul Mindell hangs in Himes’ office, the congressman said in his blog.

“It’s a beautiful piece,” Himes writes.

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MURPHY: Rep. Chris Murphy, CT-5, posted this Tweet on Monday night, referring to what appears to be a new Twitter account:

Check out @ShouldBeMadeUSA, a nat'l campaign to ensure major construction projects paid for w/ US tax dollars support US jobs. #BuyAmerica

The homepage for the website shows a picture of the Bay Bridge, which connects San Francisco with Oakland the East Bay area, with a “billboard” that says: “The Bay Bridge: 100% Chinese Steel. ShouldBeMadeInAmerica.com” ...