A few days ago we posted on the increasing practice of some employers to demand that job applicants give them access to the private portions of their Facebook pages.  Media reports on the practice raised a firestorm of protests, with most commentators thinking it an egregious invasion of privacy.

Now Facebook itself has stepped in to quell the debate, amending its terms of service to make it a violation of its terms of service to request another's log-in information.  Violators are subject to punishment, including having their Facebook accounts deleted.  A more complete description is in this report from Fox News.

This is a step in the right direction.  It remains to be seen whether other social media sites will follow the lead of Facebook.