Employers in Maryland would be prohibited from asking current and prospective employees for their user names and passwords to websites such as Facebook and Twitter under legislation that passed the General Assembly and now awaits signature from Gov. Martin O'Malley.
The bill passed unanimously in the Senate and by a wide margin in the House last week, and lawmakers successfully reconciled the bills ahead of the end of the legislative session Monday, according to Melissa Goemann, legislative director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Maryland.
O'Malley's stance on the bill was unclear.
The bill is the first of its kind in the country, and has shined a spotlight on the practice of employers demanding personal social media passwords from potential hires, Goemann said.
"We're really excited," Goemann said of the bill's passage. "We just think this is a really positive development, because the technology for social media is expanding every year, and we think this sets a really good precedent for limiting how much your privacy can be exposed when you use these mediums."
The state's ACLU chapter initially raised concerns about the practice last year, when it took up the case of Department of Corrections Officer Robert Collins, Goemann said.
Collins had requested the chapter's assistance after being asked for his Facebook password in a re-certification interview with the corrections department, Goemann said.
"Collins felt he had no choice but to provide his password, even though he knew it was not right, because he needed the job to support his family," the ACLU said in a statement about the bill's passage. "Collins had to sit there while the (interviewer) logged on to his Facebook account and reviewed his messages, wall posts and photos."
Collins called the ACLU while walking to his car after the interview, the ACLU said.
The ACLU considered the practice illegal based on existing federal law protecting personal information online, Goemann said, but filed a complaint with Gary Maynard, secretary of the Maryland Department of Public Safety and Correctional Services, to specifically address the confusion at the state level.
When Sen. Ron Young, a Democrat from Frederick, heard about the issue, he started drafting legislation to make the practice illegal entirely. Young introduced a bill in the Senate last year, but it was late in the session and the bill never gained momentum, Goemann said.
This session, Young introduced the bill again, and it was cross-filed in the House by Dels. Mary Washington and Shawn Tarrant, both Democrats from Baltimore City.
National media outlets started covering the legislation, and it took off, Goemann said.
In late March, Erin Egan, Facebook's chief privacy officer, wrote about the issue on Facebook, calling the practice of employers requesting potential hires' Facebook passwords "alarming" and "not the right thing to do."
"In recent months, we've seen a distressing increase in reports of employers or others seeking to gain inappropriate access to people's Facebook profiles or private information," Egan wrote. "This practice undermines the privacy expectations and the security of both the user and the user's friends. It also potentially exposes the employer who seeks this access to unanticipated legal liability."
In addition to Collins, Goemann said the ACLU of Maryland only received one more call from an employee, also from the Department of Corrections, who'd been asked for social media passwords.
But other instances of employers requesting the private online information of potential hires began popping up around the country, and the issue grew as a priority for the ACLU's national network, Goemann said.
"Nationally, the ACLU is really interested in the issue, so I think we'll probably see some other states introduce legislation," she said.
Two Democratic U.S. Senators — Chuck Schumer of New York and Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut — have asked the Department of Justice and the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission to investigate the practice.
Similar pieces of legislation to Maryland's have been introduced in Illinois and California, Goemann said.
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