New Law Forbids Employers from Demanding Personal Passwords

The Governor signed a bill supported by the ACLU of Connecticut, which forbids employers from demanding personal passwords to social media sites.

David McGuire, Legislative and Policy Director at ACLU of Connecticut said, “This law will make sure that personal communications stay personal. Current or prospective employers have no more of a right to read your private Facebook messages than they would to rifle through your paper mail.”

Employer access to personal password protected “online-accounts”, including email and social media accounts, overrides the privacy protections users have erected and therefore violates their reasonable expectations of privacy in these communications. This law protects current and prospective employees’ privacy rights in their personal online-accounts by prohibiting employers from requesting user names and passwords.

Such social media protections are gaining traction across the country. This year, at least 19 states were considering, or have passed, similar bills—joining the 17 states that have already enacted social media privacy legislation.

The bill was sponsored by Sen. Martin Looney (D-New Haven) and passed by votes of 35 to 1 in the Senate and 135 to 14 in the House.

McGuire said, “We’re grateful to Sen. Looney for his leadership. The overwhelming support showed that this bill was a common sense approach to protecting our privacy.”