California became one of the first states in the country to enact a law prohibiting employers and universities from demanding a person's social media username and password.
What is known as the Social Media Privacy Act is actually comprised of two different laws signed by Governor Brown in 2012 and enacted on January 1, 2013
Employers: California Assembly Bill 1844 prohibits a private employer from requiring or even requesting an employee or job applicant's social media usernames and passwords. This is meant to protect your privacy from snooping employers (or prospective employers!) who may be looking for information about you beyond your resume.
Additionally, the law prohibits an employer from firing, disciplining, threatening to fire or discipline, or otherwise retaliating against an employee who asserts their rights under this law.
Please note! Any information a person has on a social media website that is viewable by the general public is still fair game. Employers may still use whatever information they can find about a person by just searching them on the internet. This law is meant to only stop employers from requesting access to private accounts.
As of June 2013, AB 1844 only applies to private employers in California. However, the state legislature has proposed a law that would extend AB 1844 to public employers as well. Be sure to check back with Student Legal Services to see if and when this new law would be enacted!
Universities: Under California Senate Bill 1349, California postsecondary institutions, both public and private, are prohibited from the same type of conduct described above in AB 1844. Specifically, a university representative is not permitted to require or request a student, prospective student, or student group to disclose, access, or divulge personal social media.
Whether or not a social media account is "personal" may be a significant issue if a university asks for access to a social media account used by a student group. Unfortunately only time will tell how judges interpret this law, and to what extent an AS-sanctioned student organization may have to give up access to certain social media accounts used for university purposes.
Finally, under SB 1349, a public or private university cannot suspend, expel, discipline, threaten, or otherwise penalize a student, prospective student, or student group asserting their rights under this law.
