Some of you didn’t live in the 90’s and illegally download movies, and it shows. While HBO and other streaming apps makes it pretty impossible to want to download the newest releases these days, one security clearance applicant among clearance forums was worried about the flicks they downloaded and if the incidents were reportable on the SF-86:
When I was 17, I pirated a bunch of stuff. If there was a question on the SF-86 that said “Have you pirated stuff” I would answer ‘Yes” as I have every intention of telling the truth on this form. But my question is if pirating falls into the question “In the last seven (7) years have you introduced, removed, or used hardware, software, or media in connection with any information technology system without authorization, when specifically prohibited by rules, procedures, guidelines, or regulations or attempted any of the above?” Every post on this subject just gives advice like “just tell the truth.” But whether or not to tell the truth is not my question. I will tell the truth. I am just trying to figure out what exactly the hell an “Information Technology System” is, and if this question is equivalent to “have you illegally downloaded movies”?
Like our YouTuber illegally taking music or content for educational purposes, many people are worried when they come to this section on the SF-86. Before answering yes or no, the original poster re: YouTube downloading needed to check the YouTube video licensing AND their employer (school) policy. But, this pirate was downloading media to a personal computer, so they weren’t necessarily violating a larger entity’s policy.
You want to tell the truth, but you also don’t want to divulge information that is not necessary to divulge.
The technical answer is no, this question does NOT specifically apply to pirating “stuff.” The purpose of this section on the SF-86 is in regard to IT or information systems internally with your company or an agency. Background investigators will ask if the security clearance applicant has committed an undetected crime during the reference interview.
Think Snowden crimes or other similar circumstances within national security. Unfortunately, “tell the truth” is the best advice, but if this is the only thing you are worried about in your background, it’s small potatoes.
Much about the clearance process resembles the Pirate’s Code: “more what you’d call guidelines than actual rules.” This case-by-case system is meant to consider the whole person, increase process security, and allow the lowest-risk/highest-need candidates to complete the process. However, it also creates a lot of questions for applicants. For this reason, ClearanceJobs maintains ClearanceJobsBlog.com – a forum where clearance seekers can ask the cleared community for advice on their specific security concerns. Ask CJ explores questions posed on the ClearanceJobs Blog forum, emails received, and comments from this site.
