Glassdoor Adding Real Names to User Profiles Without Consent

On March 20, Ars Technica reported that Glassdoor, known for its “anonymous workplace reviews”, is now controversially adding real names to profiles by gathering data from public sources without consent from the user.

Monica, who’s been using Glassdoor for 10 years, revealed in a blog post published on March 12 that her name and city were added to her profile without her permission, despite never providing her name at sign-up. This happened after she chatted with customer support over an account issue.

In her blog, Monica urged others to delete their Glassdoor accounts. She also warned that Glassdoor would add real names to accounts without consent and criticized the company for ignoring the risks this poses to users’ relationships with their employers and for violating its own privacy policies.

When Monica contacted Glassdoor’s support team about her concern, the team informed that Glassdoor users are now automatically signed up for Fishbowl. Fishbowl is a professional networking app that mandates user identification. Glassdoor updated its privacy policy on July 27, 2023, to include this integration. The new policy also mentions updating user profiles with information from third parties.

In a statement to Wired, Glassdoor’s Vice President Amanda Livingood explained that users have the option to remain anonymous on both Glassdoor and Fishbowl, allowing them to choose how much of their identity, such as their company name or job title, to reveal while using the services.

Glassdoor also assured Monica that her reviews would remain anonymous and neither employers nor anyone else could access her profile details. Despite this, Monica decided to delete her account. Later, she learned deleting her Glassdoor account would only deactivate it, and that her personal information will remain in archives. The support team told her that data deletion could take 30 days.

Aaron Mackey, a lawyer at the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF), told Ars Technica that Glassdoor’s policy of storing real names raises privacy concerns. The EFF, which has a history of defending Glassdoor users against retaliation from employers, sees an increased risk of users being identified from their reviews if the data were to leak.

According to Mackey, this shift in policy has alarmed users, including Monica, who are concerned about the potential for privacy breaches.

The most recent change in Glassdoor’s privacy policy was made on February 17 under the “Anonymity And Identity On Glassdoor” section. It clearly states that the user’s anonymity is not always guaranteed and that a portion of your profile on the community and conversation services is always public.

Glassdoor’s actions have highlighted a critical discussion on privacy, emphasizing the urgent need for clearer consent and stronger protections. This controversy sheds light on the growing demand for transparency and user consent in digital policies.