Comment This law won't make a difference (Score 1) 363
Don't cheer yet. This isn't going to make it any easier for a privacy-conscious person to find a job.
I'm sure every state will eventually adopt this law because the issue is just stupid. It's not even controversial; the invasion of privacy here is beyond ridiculous. However, just because they can't ask you for your password anymore doesn't mean that they're going to change their ways. Facebook is now the ultimate head-hunter's tool and employers aren't going to ignore it. There's an company out there right now skipping over a perfectly capable individual just because his Facebook profile is set to private. Expect "public profiles" to be added to every HR department's filter, along with degrees and job experience.
Your best bet is to adapt. Clean up your Facebook while you're job hunting; remove undesirable friends (we all have them) and pictures and set your profile to public. Show them you have nothing to hide. Then, once you get hired, you can set it right back to private.