Illinois Governor Pat Quinn came to IIT’s Main Campus on Wednesday, August 1 to sign House Bill 3782, which makes it illegal for employers to request an employee or potential employee’s social media account information, a recent trend among some employers. Illinois is the second state to enact such a law.
Quinn was introduced by IIT Chicago-Kent 2nd year student Helen Kim, who is working on issues involving the social and legal impacts of social networks.
The governor was also joined by IIT Chicago-Kent Distinguished Professor of Law Lori Andrews, who teaches The Law of Social Networks (LAW 907) at Chicago-Kent and in 2012 published I Know Who You Are and I Saw What You Did: Social Networks and the Death of Privacy.
“Think of all the things you may have put on your Facebook or LinkedIn profile,” said Andrews. “People have actually been fired because of things they ‘liked’ on Facebook.”
The bill was sponsored and shepherded through the legislature by State Senator Christine Radogno of Lemont and State Representative LaShawn Ford of Chicago, who also spoke at the signing event.
Media coverage of the event was extensive:
Associated Press/Washington Post
Chicago Sun-Times
Chicago Tribune
WGN TV