Follow up: States Mull Possible Law to Ban Public Employers from Asking Applicants for Facebook Password

Jordan's picture
Submitted by Jordan on Wed, 2012-03-21 07:34

Forums:

Follow up on Kenzo's discussion from yesterday:

http://www.abajournal.com/news/article/some_states_mull_possible_law_to_ban_employers_for_asking_applicants_for_fa/

I would support that law. Way too many privacy issues if a person is forced to turn over their username and password to anyone.

Unfortunately, I think this law would only apply to public employers.

—

A. Jordan Rushie
Attorney and Counselor at Law
2424 East York Street, Suite 316
Philadelphia, PA 19125 215.385.LAW1 (5291)
Blog: www.phillylawblog.com
Website: www.fishtownlaw.com

Kenzo's picture

Kenzo

Wed, 2012-03-21 07:40

Wow that was fast.

Munis (including states) can screw private employers by stopping businesses that do certain practices from being able to submit RFPs for contracts; which is usually the tools that states and cities use to prohibit a behavior to the private sector.

Philadelphia does it all the time.

Jordan's picture

Jordan

Wed, 2012-03-21 07:49

Kenzo wrote:
Wow that was fast.

Munis (including states) can screw private employers by stopping businesses that do certain practices from being able to submit RFPs for contracts; which is usually the tools that states and cities use to prohibit a behavior to the private sector.

Philadelphia does it all the time.

That's what I think they should do in this instance. They should pass a law saying "If you require potential employees to turn over their Facebook login information, we will not do business with you."

And if you want to get technical about it, Facebook's terms of service suggest that you can't turn over your login credentials to anyone. Ergo, I would suggest that when an employer logs into an employee's Facebook, they're violating the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act, 18 USC § 1030.

Facebook should get ballsy and file a claim against them.

—

A. Jordan Rushie
Attorney and Counselor at Law
2424 East York Street, Suite 316
Philadelphia, PA 19125 215.385.LAW1 (5291)
Blog: www.phillylawblog.com
Website: www.fishtownlaw.com

Jordan's picture

Jordan

Wed, 2012-03-21 09:51

Here, I wrote a quick article about it:

http://phillylawblog.wordpress.com/2012/03/21/are-employers-who-ask-potential-employees-to-turn-over-their-facebook-login-and-passwords-breaking-the-law/

—

A. Jordan Rushie
Attorney and Counselor at Law
2424 East York Street, Suite 316
Philadelphia, PA 19125 215.385.LAW1 (5291)
Blog: www.phillylawblog.com
Website: www.fishtownlaw.com

Catphilly's picture

Catphilly

Thu, 2012-03-22 22:58

I understand that times are tough and many people NEED a job, but my immediate reaction to the very bad practice is that I would be very cautious about working for a company that does this. If they have the "control freak" audacity to ask for a PASSWORD, then in what other ways are they treating their employees like crap?