Labour MEP for Munster Phil Prendergast has hailed a new law in the State of Maryland banning employer's requests for the passwords of job applicants' and workers' Facebook, Twitter or other social media accounts.

Speaking after the unanimous passing of this bill in Maryland's state legislature, the first such law in the United States, Ms. Prendergast said: "As a member of the European Parliament Delegation for relations with the United States, I wholeheartedly welcome this move to prevent employers from asking their workers for Facebook or Twitter account passwords.

"This disgraceful practice is becoming increasingly common and there are many reports of suitable candidates for jobs being turned down after employers checked their social media activity.

"The example set by the State of Maryland should be emulated in Europe. Our workers have a right not to have their privacy violated by the curious eyes of employers who have no business looking into their private lives.

"I would also like to commend Facebook's reaction to this practice, as the company has threatened to take employers who engage in this behaviour to court and to strip them of their corporate Facebook accounts.

"Job applicants are the most vulnerable to this unacceptable intrusion, for fear that a refusal to reveal their social network passwords will rule them out of the application process.

"In a digital world, our private lives are inevitably more vulnerable and exposed but, frankly, this is beyond the pale. I'd call it workplace harassment 2.0.

"As a word of caution, I would recommend to my constituents that they be careful with the content they post online, with whom they befriend and with the privacy settings of their Facebook accounts.

"No legislation can prevent open access to what you do online and there are already companies out there making a profit from monitoring people's activity online and creating false profiles to befriend you and keep an eye on you for your boss.

"Meanwhile I will continue to work in the European Parliament to protect citizens, workers and consumers' security and privacy in the digital world."

(CD)