Klobuchar pushes social media privacy bill

DFL Sen. Amy Klobuchar introduced a bill Wednesday that would ban companies from asking current or future employees for their passwords to social networking sites such as Facebook and LinkedIn.

Klobuchar and other sponsors say the bill would still let employers search the Internet for information about potential and current employees. But employers couldn't ask for access.

"It's one thing for an employer to search the web," she said. "It's another thing to be requiring passwords and to try and get in behind the lock and get information that is supposed to be private."

Facebook, Google, Microsoft and other technology firms all back the proposed legislation. Violators would face fines of up to $10,000 per incident.