Maryland and seven other states may pass bills to protect employees from disclosing personal social media passwords

Maryland may become the first state to ban employers from demanding applicants or workers hand over their log-in information for social media sites. The measure keeps managers from snooping on password-protected content, a practice advocates of the bill say violates privacy and intimidates job seekers and employees. 


It is impossible to know exactly how often employers ask to tap into prospective workers' accounts, but it is happening more and more frequently.

While the Maryland legislation is the first of its kind, lawmakers in at least seven other states have introduced legislation to limit employer access to social media user names and passwords, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures.