The hot legal question of the day is this: Can employers ask applicants for their Facebook password as part of the hiring process?
Not according to Senators Charles Schumer (D-NY) and Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.). In late March, they asked the Department of Justice and the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission to look into whether such a request violates federal law, according to a March 26 article in The Hill , “Senators Urge Feds to Probe Employers Requesting Facebook Passwords.” Their reasoning, from a joint statement: “Employers have no right to ask job applicants for their house keys or to read their diaries,” so why should they be able to ask for their Facebook passwords? And, Facebook agrees, according to a March 23 piece in The Hill , “Facebook to Lobby Against Employers Requiring Passwords.” But on March 28, the House of Representatives voted down an amendment that would have banned employers from demanding access to Facebook accounts, according to an article that same day on ZDNet.com.
