Man Refuses To Give Facebook Password For Background Check | WUSA9.com | Washington, DC |

BALTIMORE, Md. (WUSA) -- Robert Collins tells 9NEWS NOW he had to give up his Facebook account password and information for a background check to return to work as a corrections officer in Maryland. Now, he and the ACLU have managed to get the Maryland Department of Public Safety to suspend that practice, at least for now. That policy has been pulled for the next 45 days as it goes under review.

Robert Collins began his work as a corrections officer at the Patuxent Institution in 2007. He took a leave of absence in April 2010 and then decided he wanted his old job back later that year.
According to Collins, the re-certification process included a 2010 November interview where an investigator asked for among other things some private information regarding his use of social media.

"He began to ask me which social networks I had accounts and logins, and passwords. Personal information for this stuff," stated Collins.

According to Collins, applicants applying for corrections officers jobs in the state of Maryland already go through an in-depth background check to screen for, among other things, possible gang affiliations within applicants.

The information he was asked to give, he says, was bothersome because he felt his privacy and that of his Facebook friends was being invaded.

"To go this distance, it's too much and then it's illegal," stated Collins.

Man Refuses To Give Facebook Password For Background Check | WUSA9.com | Washington, DC |