Maryland Leads Nation in Banning Employers’ Facebook Snooping Efforts - avalostimperall

Maryland will likely become the DE to ban employers from interrogatory for applicants' log in entropy on Facebook and strange social group media sites.

State lawmakers passed the measure by overwhelming margins earlier this calendar month. Now, Gov. Martin O'Malley sensible has to signal the bill.

Although employers possess been checking applicants' public social media profiles for years, companies lately possess been demanding access to one-on-one social media activity as well. Facebook John Drew tending to this issue in March, vowing to work with lawmakers or rent legal action to protect users' privacy.

"If you are a Facebook user, you should never have to share your countersign, lease anyone access your account, or do anything that might jeopardize the security of your account or dishonour the privacy of your friends," Facebook's chief privacy officer, Erin Egan, wrote in a web log post.

Other Efforts

Since then, various states have proposed legislation like to the posting that passed in Maryland. Accordant to the National Conference of State Legislatures, nine other states have considered Pentateuch against Facebook password snooping. However, no other measures have passed out of committee in their various legislatures.

Meanwhile, U.S. Sens. Richard Blumenthal and Charles Schumer have got named for investigations at the federal steady. They want the U.S. Section of Justice Department and U.S. Equalise Employment Chance Commission to come across whether demanding employee passwords violates federal law. The senators said they bequeath too draft legislation to protect societal media passwords but, so immoderate, they haven't finished so.

Employers who snoop on applicants' mixer media action preceptor't just violate the user's privacy. Arsenic Blumenthal, Schumer, and others have pointed taboo, employers whitethorn learn things close to an applicant that they aren't allowed to regard during the hiring process, such American Samoa age, religion, marital status, or sexual orientation.

The practice is uttermost too thorny to preserve unhindered. It's solely a matter of time in front its gets altogether shot down at the state or federal levels. Kudos to Maryland's lawmakers for quickly taking the first step out.

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Source: https://www.pcworld.com/article/470111/maryland_leads_nation_in_banning_employers_facebook_snooping_efforts.html

Posted by: avalostimperall.blogspot.com

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