'Pioneering' California Law Protects Workers and Students From Social Media Snooping

‘Pioneering’ California Law Protects Workers and Students From Social Media Snooping

US News • September 2012 • Views: 877

‘Pioneering’ California Law Protects Workers and Students From Social Media Snooping

Employers and educational institutions in the state of California are now banned from asking employees, applicants or students for access to their social media accounts, thanks to a new law signed Thursday night by Gov. Jerry Brown (D).

“The Golden State is pioneering the social media revolution and these laws will protect all Californians from unwarranted invasions of their personal social media accounts,” Brown said in prepared text announcing his signature on Senate Bill 1349. He also made separate announcements on Facebook and Twitter.

“California pioneered the social media revolution,” Brown wrote. “These laws protect Californians from unwarranted invasions of their social media accounts.”

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6 comments

researchok Fri, Sep 28, 2012 2:58:55pm

This reminds me of jaywalking laws. They are on the books but awfully hard to enforce.

Look for a new industry of third party snoops to do the job for those who can't.

Or something like that.

Locker Fri, Sep 28, 2012 3:25:27pm

re: #1 researchok

This reminds me of jaywalking laws. They are on the books but awfully hard to enforce.

Look for a new industry of third party snoops to do the job for those who can't.

Or something like that.

This law doesn't protect you from people looking at your stuff but it does protect you from a hiring company demanding you give up your access information for their perusal.

lostlakehiker Fri, Sep 28, 2012 5:36:55pm

re: #2 Locker

This law doesn't protect you from people looking at your stuff but it does protect you from a hiring company demanding you give up your access information for their perusal.

And that's the right place to draw the line. Nobody has any business demanding my passwords from me, demanding to know who my friends and family are, or demanding access to all the messages I send and receive from them.

And I have no business telling them they can't go on the internet and see what I've posted in my own name for all the world to see. If I've made it public, it's public.

researchok Fri, Sep 28, 2012 6:59:31pm

re: #2 Locker

So how do you prevent a third party from looking at your stuff and passing it on?

The company can claim they didn't do anything but how can stop them from not using the info?

Don't get me wrong- I like the old fashioned idea of privacy being sacrosanct, but I do believe that reality may be in the rear view mirror.

Kruk Fri, Sep 28, 2012 8:04:24pm

There's a world of difference between being able to look at what someone has posted, and being able to access their accounts. This is a good law.

Locker Fri, Sep 28, 2012 8:51:53pm

re: #4 researchok

So how do you prevent a third party from looking at your stuff and passing it on?

The company can claim they didn't do anything but how can stop them from not using the info?

Don't get me wrong- I like the old fashioned idea of privacy being sacrosanct, but I do believe that reality may be in the rear view mirror.

Like I said this law doesn't stop them from googling you and looking at anything public. It stops them from saying "Provide me with your facebook login name and password" and they go in and look at all of your private shit.

So it doesn't stop anyone else from hacking you and passing it along but the state normally frowns on that sort of thing.

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