(NE) Bill would let employees keep Facebook passwords to themselves

[Omaha Steve]

Source: Omaha World Herald

By Joe Duggan

LINCOLN — A bill introduced Thursday would prohibit Nebraska employers from requiring employees or job applicants to turn over their social network passwords.

The Workplace Privacy Act, introduced by O'Neill Sen. Tyson Larson, also would prevent public or private employers from forcing employees to display their Facebook or Twitter pages so they could be inspected by the employer. Nor could the employer access an employee's social networking accounts through a friend or other third party.

Employers who violate the law could be sued by the affected employee or applicant under Legislative Bill 58.

California, Illinois, Maryland, and Michigan passed similar laws in 2012, according to the National Conference on State Legislatures. Two other states, New Jersey and Delaware, enacted legislation prohibiting educational institutions from snooping on social network sites of students or applicants.

FULL story at link.


Read more: http://www.omaha.com/article/20130110/NEWS/701119981/1685#bill-would-let-employees-keep-facebook-passwords-to-themselves

[NYC_SKP]

1. Seems like a no-brainer.

Gee, sometimes I'm glad that I'm not going to be on this rock that much longer.

It seems to get worse and worse.

[rachel1]

2. Why any employer would want access to an employee's account is just creepy

[Frank Cannon]

4. Not to mention just plain fucking stupid.

As an employer, there's nothing I value more in an employee than their willingness to hand over login and password information to a complete stranger.

[AndyTiedye]

3. Would You Want to Hire Someone Who Would Hand Over their Passwords?

To hand over one's Facebook password to a third party violates their agreement with Facebook,
and it violates the privacy of all of their friends by giving the third-party "friend"-level access to their data.

If someone is willing to do that, would you trust him or her with your company's confidential data?

[Frank Cannon]

5. I've always thought these requests were a "test".

You know, to weed out morons who were dumb enough to give out information that would compromise security.

But no, it appears there really are employers out there that are that clueless. I can't imagine that they are very big companies or that they last very long.