HARTFORD, Conn. (WTNH) – The American Civil Liberties Union of Connecticut says employees and job applicants should not have to turn over passwords to their personal e-mail and social networking accounts to employers or prospective employers. The ACLU says employers demanding the passwords of their employees and applicants is a growing trend that must be stopped.
The ACLU is taking their message to the state legislature. Staff Attorney David McGuire says “emails and social media websites are the modern day equivalent of mail boxes. Employers are not permitted to search through an individual’s personal postal mail and accordingly they should not be able to rifle through protected electronic correspondences.”
According to the ACLU, 17 states have social media privacy legislation and this year similar legislation is before legislators in 19 other states including New York and Massachusetts.
