California beefs up social media privacy

Let’s all send a big fat “thank you” letter to Gov. Jerry Brown’s office for saving us the headache of un-tagging ourselves from less-than-wholesome Facebook pictures before nosy employers and school administrators find them.

The Governor announced Thursday he has signed two bills that make it illegal for prospective employers and colleges to demand access to our social media. He said that the bills will prevent “unwarranted invasions” on the part of jobs and schools.

Amen to that, Mr. Governor.

Bill AB1844 by Assemblywoman Nora Torres (D-Pomona) makes it illegal for employers to demand social media usernames and passwords from employees or job applicants.

The bill does not, however, prohibit them from looking into “employer-issued electronic devices,” so gossiping on your work-issued Blackberry should probably cease.

A partner bill, SB1349 by Senator Leland Yee (D-San Francisco) prohibits colleges from asking for students — and prospective students — for their usernames and passwords on social media outlets.

New freshman should still be aware of how many beer pong-playing pictures of them are floating around the world wide web, just to be safe.

And how did the governor announce the news of the new legislation? He took to the Internet and made it public on Google Plus, Twitter, and — of course — Facebook.