New Jersey Becomes the Twelfth State to Enact Social Media Password Protection Legislation; Recent Amendment to Illinois’ Law Benefits the Financial Services Sector

On August 29, 2013, New Jersey became the twelfth state to enact social media password protection legislation, continuing the nationwide trend towards imposing some form of restriction on employer access to the restricted, personal social media content of applicants and employees.1 The new law becomes effective on December 1, 2014. Two weeks earlier, Illinois amended its existing password protection law. The amendment narrows the law’s prohibitions so that the law does not impede financial services firms from monitoring their employees’ business-related communications in social media.