( CNN ) -- Your Facebook password is none of your new boss ' business . That 's what the American Civil Liberties Union is saying after reports that employers are increasingly asking for access to job applicants ' social-media accounts . `` It 's an invasion of privacy for private employers to insist on looking at people 's private Facebook pages as a condition of employment or consideration in an application process , '' attorney Catherine Crump said in a statement from the ACLU . `` People are entitled to their private lives . '' Recently , multiple cases have come to light in which companies have either asked for passwords to Facebook or required that applicants `` friend '' people at those companies . Robert Collins of the Baltimore area has said that he was looking to be reinstated to his job as a correctional officer in 2010 when he was asked for his Facebook password . `` I did not want to do it , but because I really needed my job and he implied that this was a condition of recertification , I reluctantly gave him the password , '' Collins said in February in testimony before the Maryland House of Representatives , which is considering ACLU-backed legislation to block such practices . `` He then proceeded to log in to my account using my private credentials . I asked him , 'Why are you logging on ? ' He said , ' I am looking through your messages , on your wall and in your photos to make sure you are not a gang member or have any gang affiliation . ' `` An Associated Press report this week highlighted Justin Bassett , a New York statistician who said that , during a job interview , the interviewer pulled up his Facebook page and asked for his password . He said he refused . The ACLU said it 's found an increasing number of companies with such policies on Facebook . They say it 's more common with public agencies , such as law enforcement . `` You 'd be appalled if your employer insisted on opening up your postal mail to see if there was anything of interest inside , '' Crump said . `` It 's equally out of bounds for an employer to go on a fishing expedition through a person 's private social media account . '' On an ACLU Facebook page Thursday , followers were , not surprisingly , overwhelmingly against the concept . `` I consider it a violation of personal privacy , '' one user wrote . `` Will the next step be to request a key to my house ? '' It is technically against Facebook 's Terms of Service to share a password . `` You will not share your password , ( or in the case of developers , your secret key ) , let anyone else access your account , or do anything else that might jeopardize the security of your account , '' the agreement reads . In addition to Maryland , lawmakers in Illinois are considering legislation that would ban the practice .
Some employers are asking for Facebook passwords from job applicants . ACLU says the practice , used to screen applicants , is an invasion of privacy . A corrections officer had an interviewer logged into his account to check for gang ties . California and Illinois are among the states considering legislation banning the practice .