Lawmakers renew push to bar bosses from asking for Facebook passwords

A bipartisan trio of lawmakers have reintroduced legislation that would prohibit employers from asking for their workers' passwords to Facebook or other online accounts.

Reps. Eliot Engel (D-N.Y.), Jan Schakowsky (D-Ill.) and Michael Grimm (R-N.Y.) offered the Social Networking Online Protection Act on Wednesday. The legislation, which they had previously introduced in the last Congress, would make it illegal for employers to demand passwords or other information to access online accounts of their employees or people applying for jobs. The restriction would also apply to schools and universities demanding passwords from students or applicants.  

California, Delaware, Illinois, Maryland, Michigan and New Jersey enacted similar protections last year. 

“The lack of clarity in the law puts individuals in a position where they either have to give up vital, private information, or risk losing their job, potential job, or enrollment in school and involvement in the school’s sports programs," Engel said in a statement.

Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) and others offered a similar bill, the Password Protection Act, last year, but neither measure came up for a committee vote.

Outrage first erupted after the Associated Press reported last year that some bosses have demanded that job applicants provide passwords to their private Facebook accounts to check for embarrassing or damaging information.

The passwords give employers access to the users’ private messages, photos and the profiles of their friends.

The AP story cited mostly isolated incidents — it is unclear how widespread the practice is.

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