California Senate passes bill to ban employers from demanding job seekers' Facebook passwords

California, May 26 (ANI): The California State Senate has passed a bill that would ban companies from asking job seekers or workers for their user names and passwords to social networking websites such as Facebook.

The Senate passed 'SB1349' on Friday, which would make it illegal for employers and admissions officers at colleges and universities to ask current or prospective employees and students for passwords of their social media accounts.

The bill sponsor, Senator Leland Yee, pointed out that social media accounts often contain information employers are not allowed to ask for, including a person's religion.

"Just simply turning over that account to an employer opens up tremendous liability," the Los Angeles Times quoted Yee, as saying.

The move came a few weeks after the state's Assembly passed a similar bill.

Bill 1844, sponsored by Assemblywoman Nora Campos, would designate anything marked as private on social media accounts as being beyond employers' limits.

According to the paper, the bill brings California another step closer to becoming one of the first states in the US keeping companies out of their workers' social media accounts. (ANI)