[governance] Illinois Bill Would Outlaw Employers From Asking For Applicants' Social Media Passwords

[Riaz K Tayob]

  Illinois Bill Would Outlaw Employers From Asking For Applicants'
  Social Media Passwords

Facebook Passwords Employers

First Posted: 02/ 5/2012 2:06 pmUpdated: 02/ 5/2012 2:59 pm

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/02/05/illinois-bill-would-outla_n_1255881.html 


An Illinois legislator has introduced a proposal that would bar 
employers from asking prospective employees for their usernames or 
passwords in order to gain access to their profiles on sites like 
Facebook or Twitter.

Rep. La Shawn Ford (D-Chicago) introduced the bill (HB 3782 
<http://www.ilga.gov/legislation/BillStatus.asp?DocTypeID=HB&DocNum=3782&GAID=11&SessionID=84&LegID=61758>) 
last spring, but the measure was recently taken up by the state 
legislature's Labor Committee.

The bill would amend the state's Right to Privacy in the Workplace Act 
to make it illegal for employers to gain access to a prospective 
employee's account on any social networking site during the hiring process.

The measure would not, however, prevent employers from considering 
information found on an applicants' public profile -- such content 
remains fair game and as many as 50 percent of employers say they rely 
on social networking sites to help them screen potential employees 
<http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/08/04/new-infographic-shows-how-companies-target-unemployed_n_918816.html>.

Ford explained, as reported by WJBC, that when prospective employers 
access an applicant's social networking account, they may gain access to 
sensitive financial information and other personal details that should 
remain private 
<http://wjbc.com/bill-would-ban-employers-asking-for-personal-passwords/>.

"If legislators had to give their Twitter and Facebook account passwords 
how would they like that? They wouldn't like it. They wouldn't want to 
give their password to anyone because it's their personal password," 
Ford said.

The bill was criticized by state Rep. Jill Tracy (R-Quincy), Republican 
spokesperson of the state Labor Committee, as over-regulating businesses 
<http://www.chicagotribune.com/business/breaking/chi-illinois-bill-companies-cant-force-applicants-to-give-out-social-media-passwords-20120203,0,454338.story>, 
the /Chicago Tribune/ reports.

The measure will be the subject of a hearing Tuesday before the Labor 
Committee.

Reports emerged last year that some job applicants, including one 
individual who applied for a clerical position with a North Carolina 
police force, were asked for their passwords for any websites such as 
Facebook or Myspace as part of a background check their potential 
employers wanted to run 
<http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2068494/Facebook-Employers-snoop-account-DEMAND-passwords.html>, 
the /Daily Mail/ reported.

The American Civil Liberties Union of Maryland spoke out last year 
against the Maryland Department of Public Safety and Correctional 
Services after they allegedly ordered an employee to hand over his 
Facebook password if he wanted to see his job reinstated 
<http://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2011/02/should-employers-be-allowed-to-ask-for-your-facebook-login/71480/>. 
The ACLU called such a demand "a frightening and illegal invasion of 
privacy" and the department suspended the practice, according to /The 
Atlantic/.

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