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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsJerry Brown signs bill protecting employees' Facebook passwords
SACRAMENTO, Calif. (KFSN) -- Your private information is a little safer now thanks to a law signed Thursday by California Gov. Jerry Brown that prevents employers from asking for your Facebook or other social media passwords so that they can check up on you.
With his signature, Brown stops a technology trend before it becomes a widespread problem. In our world of social media, he used Twitter to announce that he's approved a pair of bills making it illegal for employers or universities to ask for those passwords starting in January. In his tweet, he said, "California pioneered the social media revolution. These laws protect Californians from unwarranted invasions of their social media accounts."
A growing number of employers were asking job applicants for passwords to see their Facebook pages where age, gender, religion, and sexual orientation may be listed. Recruiters are not allowed to ask questions related to that, but they defend the practice because it allows them to make sure applicants aren't hiding some big secret that might become a problem.
Social media expert Andy Jones says so many people are desperate for a job in this economy that they'll hand the password over, but that's not the way to find out more about a potential employee. "All of us have private lives that we'd like to keep private and not have to worry about being ourselves on the weekend because of how an employer might find out about it," he said.
http://abclocal.go.com/kfsn/story?section=news/politics&id=8828019
Bad_Ronald
(265 posts)Lets hope every state follows suit. One gets the impression that if some companies & institutions could get away with it, they'd also demand the house keys of their employees & applicants as well.
Liberal_in_LA
(44,397 posts)customerserviceguy
(25,183 posts)stopped racism and sexism, too. All these laws do is force the prying to come up with more clever ways to get the information they seek.
Bottom line, don't put anything on any social media that you wouldn't put on a billboard suspended over your home. Better yet, eschew it as much as humanly possible, it's just a trap to sell personal information to companies trying to sell you overpriced, underperforming crap.
2ndAmForComputers
(3,527 posts)Because there's still racism and sexism?
By that reasoning, laws against theft are a bad idea because there's still robbery and burglary.
customerserviceguy
(25,183 posts)Just don't expect laws by themselves to cure everything. Folks are going to have to get wise to the fact the Facebook is not the diary you were able to hide from your kid brother.