A New Job for Lawmakers: Wired.com Reports that Facebook Condemns Companies That Demand User Logins

Imagine if you will 50 or 100 years ago that an employer would have dared to ask a prospective employee to bring in all of his private correspondence for employer review. But that is exactly what is going on today as companies are demanding prospective employee private user logins for social networking sites in order to see who their friends are and what they are corresponding about.

That is a clear violation of the rights of privacy not only of the prospective employees but it also infringes on the expected rights of privacy of their friends. Only law enforcement agencies -- for legal cause -- should be able to demand such information.

Wired.com has the story at Facebook Condemns Companies That Demand User Logins.

Essentially, this a legislative problem, easily solved.

Nations and States should pass clear laws protecting the right to privacy of user accounts and should enforce such laws with draconian penalties against offenders. Since the LawPundit is against jail or prison penalties in principle -- except for truly dangerous crimes -- the legal sanctions should be applied via stiff fines against corporations as also against responsible officers or employees involved in such privacy rights violations.

Such fines have to be so massive enough to DETER the behavior effectively.
Whatever is necessary. Forfeiture of annual profits, doubling or tripling tax liabilities, impoundment of private or corporate annual earnings and similar measures seem worth considering. You stop privacy rights violation by making it exceedingly expensive to disobey the applicable laws.