Schools will be unable to request user names or passwords from applicants or students if Gov. Jack Markell (D) signs a bill that unanimously passed both chambers of the Delaware Legislature.

The Delaware measure is just one of the many password protection bills that recently have been introduced in multiple states and Congress. All would prohibit employers or school officials from requesting or demanding access to the social media accounts of employees, job applicants, current students, or prospective students.

The Education Privacy Act, H.B. 309, will apply only to colleges or universities. The House version of the bill also included primary and secondary schools, but the Senate rejected the broader coverage.

The state legislature never set a floor vote on a companion bill, H.B. 308, before the current session ended July 1. That bill would have prohibited employers from mandating social media information from current or prospective employees.

A Markell spokesman told BNA that the governor supports the student password protection bill in concept, but will not make a decision on whether to sign the bill until he has reviewed the details. If signed into law, the bill will join Maryland's first-in-the-nation password protection law, which becomes effective Oct. 1.

In a BNA Insights article, Philip L. Gordon and Lauren K. Woon of Littler Mendelson argue that the popularity of password protection bills in the employer-employee context are misguided. They say the bills are aimed at fighting a problem that does not exist. Instead, a report published by Littler shows that 99 percent of surveyed high-level corporate executives do not request social media information.

Thus, the duo said, legislators may have "jumped the gun."

Copyright 2012, The Bureau of National Affairs, Inc.