Consider for a moment how much you share about yourself over email, Facebook, Twitter, private blogs and the like. Many of us use these platforms to communicate far more than phones and snail-mail. Now imagine you are applying for a job, and your potential employer tells you that during application process they will be listening in on all your phone calls, reading your emails, and poking around your Facebook account - so please turn over your passwords. Only one of those things is illegal.
Currently, there is no state or federal law that addresses password privacy. To close that gap in our privacy laws, last session we proposed LD 1194 to prohibit employers and schools from demanding access to employee, student, and applicant's personal email and social media accounts. On Tuesday, the Judiciary committee will consider the bill, which was carried over last year. After several big wins that protect your electronic content from unwarranted searches by law enforcement, we're hopeful that the legislature will once again take a stand for privacy.
