Michigan Makes It Illegal To Ask For Employees' Facebook Logins

An anonymous reader writes "Michigan joins Maryland as a state where employers may not ask employees or job applicants to divulge login information for Facebook and other social media sites. From the article: 'Under the law, employers cannot discipline employees or decline to hire job applicants because they do not give them access information, including user names, passwords, login information, or "other security information that protects access to a personal internet account," according to the bill. Universities and schools cannot discipline or fail to admit students if they do not give similar information.' There is one exception, however: 'However, accounts owned by a company or educational institution, such as e-mail, can be requested.'"

Comments

However....

[CodeheadUK]

You can be sure that 9 times out of 10, the job will go to the guy/gal who does hand over the info.

Re:However....

[anagama]

I thought it was a sign of being a terrorist or something like that. For most positions, that is a reason to not hire. I'm so glad I'm self-employed.

http://tech.slashdot.org/story/12/07/29/1627203/facebook-abstainers-could-be-labeled-suspicious

Re:However....

[blackraven14250]

Except now they aren't allowed to ask at all to begin with. If they ask, it's grounds for what seems like a complaint and a fine, just as if the employer asked what religion you are a member of or how old you are.

Re:However....

[Nyder]

Except now they aren't allowed to ask at all to begin with. If they ask, it's grounds for what seems like a complaint and a fine, just as if the employer asked what religion you are a member of or how old you are.

Employers can NOT ask how old you are? Seems that would matter in some jobs. Porno industry would be one. Any job that serves or sells alcohol.

Plus most jobs have your fill an application, which requests your date of birth.

Re:However....

[Anonymous Coward]

Yeah, like that idiot Neil deGrasse Tyson. You're clearly way smarter than he is.

Re:However....

[daem0n1x]

This is outright illegal in my country. Don't you Americans have any basic right to privacy?

Anyway, I'd never hire anyone so stupid as to give me their passwords. Would you trust someone like that your company data? And I'd never want to work for a company so stupid to ask for that. It's a clear sign of control-freak, unfocused management.

Re:However....

[EdIII]

And porno includes all ages.

You might want to reword that.

Re:However....

[EdIII]

This is outright illegal in my country. Don't you Americans have any basic right to privacy?

Welll..... what we fought so hard for, and so many of us have died for, was the idea of freedom. That includes privacy and anonymity. It was not more than a hundred years ago or so that people had real privacy and became pretty upset when somebody violated it. Was considered very rude and improper.

I would say that we have a deep tradition of privacy, that it's a basic human right, and that our Constitution supports it.

However, our current government has clearly said, "fuck all that liberty shit". Whatever information we can get, in any way we can get it, we are going to do in the name of either profit or national security. Pick an excuse.

Re:However....

[Jane Q. Public]

"You can be sure that 9 times out of 10, the job will go to the guy/gal who does hand over the info."

Who cares? If they ask me for something like that, they're not somebody I'd work for anyway!

Re:However....

[Jane Q. Public]

"They can ask if you are over an age."

No, they can't, unless being a certain age is a demonstrable job requirement. And there aren't many fields in which it's a legitimate job requirement. They can ask if you are of legal age to sign a contract. Not much more than that.

Re:However....

[davester666]

Love the 'loophole': accounts owned by a company or educational institution, such as e-mail, can be requested.

You work for companyA.
You do an interview with companyB.
companyB: Give us the username/password to your email account at companyA.
Profit!

Re:However....

[Sique]

You don't need a Federal law to have this being illegal. In most legislations it is illegal to demand someone to break a contract with a third party. And the Terms and Conditions of Facebook are a contract, and they explicitely forbid it to hand over your credentials to someone else.

Re:However....

[RabidReindeer]

I had two friends in the last 4 years fired the week before X-Mas. I mean, seriously, who the fuck comes up with that idea?

The Shareholders.

Another silly person who thinks that because corporations have elections, that makes them democracies.

It's not one person one vote, it's one share, one vote. Most corporations have the bulk of their shares concentrated in the hands of a few individuals and/or organizations. So of all the various parties interested in one way or another in a corporation: employees, customers, shareholders, vendors, the ones whose votes count are almost always a scant, narrow-minded minority.

In any event, when was the last time that you heard layoffs put up for a vote? The decision to Grinch the employees is made by someone who answers only in general terms, not on specific issues, and who answers to - as mentioned - a scant like-minded minority. None of whom are likely to have to cancel Christmas themselves. When members of that little clique fail, they get paid more than most people will get paid for a lifetime of success.

A NO-Brainer

[houbou]

Amazing, as if your current rights to privacy where not enough, there has to be a law to protect your social media access? Who would have thought of that? Now, hopefully, "MAY NOT ASK" means just that. Hope it doesn't become for job application forms an 'optional' section of the form.

Let me get this right...

[Nyder]

It's against the law to ask employees or prospective employees for login info for social media sites, unless those accounts are owned by a company or an educational institution.

So I guess the question is, do you own your facebook account? Do you own your gmail account? How about your iTunes account?

I would guess that those companies would say No.

Re:Let me get this right...

[icebike]

Unfortunatly, TFA was not any clearer on this issue. It used the same sentence:

There is one exception, however: 'However, accounts owned by a company or educational institution, such as e-mail, can be requested.'"

Without digging up the legislation itself, I suspect it meant asking for the login information to a Corporate Facebook account by the owning corporation would be permitted, In effect to prevent an employee from holding the account hostage.

Similarly, a university or high school might demand a student surrender their password. (Although you would have to be a pretty clueless sys admin to need such authority.

I'm pretty sure it didn't mean that when being hired at company B, they would be authorized to demand your account credentials at company A, your former employer.

Re:Let me get this right...

[icebike]

The law states:

Sec. 5. (1) This act does not prohibit an employer from doing any of the following:

(a) Requesting or requiring an employee to disclose access information to the employer to gain access to or operate any of the following:

(i) An electronic communications device paid for in whole or in part by the employer.

(ii) An account or service provided by the employer, obtained by virtue of the employee’s employment relationship with the employer, or used for the employer’s business purposes.

(b) Disciplining or discharging an employee for transferring the employer’s proprietary or confidential information or financial data to an employee’s personal internet account without the employer’s authorization.

(c) Conducting an investigation or requiring an employee to cooperate in an investigation in any of the following circumstances:

(i) If there is specific information about activity on the employee’s personal internet account, for the purpose of ensuring compliance with applicable laws, regulatory requirements, or prohibitions against work-related employee misconduct.

(ii) If the employer has specific information about an unauthorized transfer of the employer’s proprietary information, confidential information, or financial data to an employee’s personal internet account.

(d) Restricting or prohibiting an employee’s access to certain websites while using an electronic communications device paid for in whole or in part by the employer or while using an employer’s network or resources, in accordance with state and federal law.

(e) Monitoring, reviewing, or accessing electronic data stored on an electronic communications device paid for in whole or in part by the employer, or traveling through or stored on an employer’s network, in accordance with state and federal law.

(2) This act does not prohibit or restrict an employer from complying with a duty to screen employees or applicants prior to hiring or to monitor or retain employee communications that is established under federal law or by a self-regulatory organization, as defined in section 3(a)(26) of the securities and exchange act of 1934, 15 USC 78c(a)(26).

(3) This act does not prohibit or restrict an employer from viewing, accessing, or utilizing information about an employee or applicant that can be obtained without any required access information or that is available in the public domain.

Sec. 6. (1) This act does not prohibit an educational institution from requesting or requiring a student to disclose access information to the educational institution to gain access to or operate any of the following:

(a) An electronic communications device paid for in whole or in part by the educational institution.

(b) An account or service provided by the educational institution that is either obtained by virtue of the student’s admission to the educational institution or used by the student for educational purposes.

Re:Let me get this right...

[Nyder]

I wondered about that too but chalked it up to being a slashdot summary. I'm guessing the law is going to be a little clearer on what entities are subject to request. I'm thinking it means that an employer could ask a former employer which ran its own email service, if it could have a copy of any emails it still has on file. I'd guess a bit of reluctance on the part of the former employer, but you can always ask. Same thing for a school.

ya, slashdot summary of a website that did a bad job. Here is the bill:

http://www.legislature.mi.gov/documents/2011-2012/billenrolled/House/htm/2012-HNB-5523.htm

And it says different.

Roughly, it says that Employers, prospective employers and educational institutes can NOT ask for login info from employees, prospective employees and students. If it does, you can take them to civil court for a max of $1000 in damages.

This is the exemptions:

Sec. 5. (1) This act does not prohibit an employer from doing any of the following:

(a) Requesting or requiring an employee to disclose access information to the employer to gain access to or operate any of the following:

(i) An electronic communications device paid for in whole or in part by the employer.

(ii) An account or service provided by the employer, obtained by virtue of the employee’s employment relationship with the employer, or used for the employer’s business purposes.

(b) Disciplining or discharging an employee for transferring the employer’s proprietary or confidential information or financial data to an employee’s personal internet account without the employer’s authorization.

(c) Conducting an investigation or requiring an employee to cooperate in an investigation in any of the following circumstances:

(i) If there is specific information about activity on the employee’s personal internet account, for the purpose of ensuring compliance with applicable laws, regulatory requirements, or prohibitions against work-related employee misconduct.

(ii) If the employer has specific information about an unauthorized transfer of the employer’s proprietary information, confidential information, or financial data to an employee’s personal internet account.

(d) Restricting or prohibiting an employee’s access to certain websites while using an electronic communications device paid for in whole or in part by the employer or while using an employer’s network or resources, in accordance with state and federal law.

(e) Monitoring, reviewing, or accessing electronic data stored on an electronic communications device paid for in whole or in part by the employer, or traveling through or stored on an employer’s network, in accordance with state and federal law.

So basically they are saying if you get hardware from them, ie tablet, phone, computer, they can go thru it and do what they want. They can also make it so you can NOT access social network sites if they want. And if they suspect that you are spilling secrets (and probably talking shit) on a social network, then they can request your login info.

There isn't a loophole and the article this was linked to is a fail summary of this bill.

Re:Let me get this right...

[icebike]

If they have specific info let them show it to a judge.

This is too wide open for a state government to grant authority to a private company to search your private Internet accounts on nothing more than that same company's say so.

Moot for me

[Anonymous Coward]

The law is moot for me.

I would never EVER tolerate being asked this question. If asked, the interview would be over. If they were half-sane enough to retract the question and apologize, the apology would not be accepted.

If any employers want my advice (and admittedly, they usually don't), they would fire anyone who thought this was part of something they should know.

On the plus side, I don't have a facebook account - but I'd still walk out of any interview where it came up. Anyone who thinks this is at all possible to ask is not someone I'd be willing to work for.

Re:SSN?

[EdIII]

What the fuck I want to know is why my Internet provider, my natural gas supplier, my power company, etc. needs my fucking SSN for "security" purposes?

My job? I get it. That's for tax reporting purposes. My bank? It's so the government can audit me and they can report as well.

The power company? Whey the fuck do you need my entire social?

It's not for security purposes. It's to have a single UID for the 3 credit reporting agencies that collect more information on US citizens than most companies combined. In fact, a lot of that information is for sale.

It's not the SSN being disclosed that is the problem at all. It's the fact that it is used to aggregate information that should be no one's fucking business in the first place.

If the SSN did not exist, it would just be your driver's license number instead.

Re:SSN?

[tompaulco]

Additionally, I will also mention that Robert Half Technology in my local area already has candidates filling out a background check authorization form and even wants to fill out I-9 at their on-site interview before the candidate even has a job offer--keep in mind I-9 usually uses Photo ID and Social Security Card or Birth Certificate as the usual two forms of ID. At my interview, they hinted that not having a completed I-9 on file might be an HR red flag vs. another candidate that already did have an I-9 on file. (And at my interview, they basically wanted to go over my resume job by job for salary information and supervisor names as references, but I was not given a formal job offer for a position I applied for.)
Robert Half Technology is a scam to bilk out-of-work people out of money that they need to survive. They lure you in saying that they have a job that fits you perfectly, then once you are there, they start asking what your skills are. Then they introduce you to their pricing model, where you basically pay them for the privilege of using their database to cold call people who may or may not have any jobs posted. They are basically a headhunting agency where you act as your own headhunter and pay them for the privilege. But 90% of people who use their service do get a job. Of course they do! What else are they going to do? Retire? Die? That's like the weatherman saying it is going to snow. Of course it will, eventually.
Robert Half was a brilliant man with great business ethics who knew that treating employees right was the best way to long term business success. His children were scum licking worthless leeches who sold his good name for a quick buck to unscrupulous ripoff agencies. May Robert Half rest in peace and his offspring burn in hell for their desecration of his good name.

But why...

[Darkness404]

But why would you even WANT to work for someone who wants your Facebook login? A business which even thinks about asking for that sort of information would be a big red flag to not work at that company.

Feeding the troll :-)

[billstewart]

Alternatively, it's a sign of having relatives who use Facebook to communicate, just as having a Myspace account is a sign of having nephews who had a heavy metal garage band. And besides, Facebook was the next place to go after Orkut had become a wasteland :-)