CA governor signs social network privacy bill

[sio]

California Gov. Jerry Brown has signed a pair of privacy bills making it illegal for employers and colleges to demand access to social media accounts

Comments

[alryssa]

For all their braying about privacy, you don't see a lot of GOP'ers stepping up to do this shit. Go, CA.

[kitanabychoice]

This is great. I find it pretty horrifying that employers want to look that far into your life anyway. As long as my work performance is good, who gives a crap about what I'm done off hours?

[sio]

totally this. i get tired of people who say they don't like the practice but also sit there saying "the Internet is public" or "if you don't want it known, don't post it/don't be on facebook/make sure everyone you know is forbidden from posting anything about you", "whether you like it or not, the employer thinks you represent them 24/7" blah blah blah.

bullshit. you're not paid 24/7, so they have no fucking business prying into your online life. because what's gonna be next--you get written up because some coworker reports to your boss seeing you getting pissed upon receiving bad service at the grocery store? your neighbor reports you to your boss because you yell "get the fuck out of here" at a stray dog digging in your yard and they have a problem with profanity? it's ridiculous.

[ladyofshalott06]

THIS so hard. If someone is doing everything they need to do at work, they shouldn't be fired because their friend posted drunk pictures of them on facebook.

Not to mention the employer using facebook to spy on the prospective employee's religious or political beliefs.

[vanillakokakola]

sweet! now if we could just block employers from looking at your credit report before hiring.

[sio]

supposedly that's possibly in the works? some senator in an Eastern state (Maryland, IIRC?) was pushing to ban that, saying it was a discriminatory tactic. if we're lucky, maybe it will happen soon.

[synthesizia]

How would an employee's bad credit effect the company at all? That is so dumb.

[sio]

i ranted to a friend about that once. she said she was once told they assume you're more likely to steal from the employer in an attempt to pay your debts off. which i call more BS on, but it wouldn't surprise me if that's true.

[nepthys_12]

Good, people should not have to sacrifice privacy in order to get a job. As long as the person is directly representing the company, what they do in their off hours is not its business. Not to mention it's a shady way to get around laws about asking illegal questions.

[chickosaurusrex]

Yay California! I love when my state shows up on _p for something good. :)