States Ban Demands for Social Media Passwords
If you’re the type of person who enjoys posting potentially career-ending comments or photos on social media sites, you’ll be happy to know several states are angling to help enable your self-sabotage. Illinois is now the third state to pass a law that prohibits companies from asking employees or job seekers for their social media user names and passwords. It’s an amendment to the state’s "Right to Privacy in the Workplace Act" and makes it unlawful to "request or require any employee or prospective employee to provide any password or other related account information" about their social media networks. Employers, however, still have the right to monitor employees' computers. In other words, this means you’ll have to do your self-destructive Twittering from home. The first two states to pass this kind of privacy laws were Maryland and Delaware. Several other states, including California, Massachusetts, Michigan, New York and Washington, are lining up to do the same.