CBS News (03/25/12)

Sens. Chuck Schumer (D-NY) and Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) are asking U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder to look into whether companies that ask applicants for Facebook passwords during job interviews are violating federal law. The senators are sending letters to the heads of the U.S. Department of Justice and the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. On Friday, Facebook warned companies not to ask job applicants for their passwords and threatened legal action against acts that violate its policy against sharing passwords. A Facebook executive warned that if a company learns that an applicant is a member of a protected class, the company may be vulnerable to discrimination claims if it doesn’t hire the applicant.