Password Protection Act of 2015 2015-05-12 Introduced in House Password Protection Act of 2015

Amends the federal criminal code to subject to a fine any employer who knowingly and intentionally:

  • compels or coerces any person to provide the employer with a password or similar information to access a protected computer not owned by such employer; or
  • discharges, disciplines, discriminates, or threatens to take such actions, against any person who fails to authorize access to such computer, has filed a complaint or instituted a proceeding regarding such action, or testified or is about to testify in any such proceeding.

Declares that nothing in this Act shall be construed to limit the authority of a court of competent jurisdiction to grant equitable relief in a civil action, if the court believes that the information sought to be obtained is relevant to protecting the intellectual property, a trade secret, or confidential business information of the party seeking relief.

Exempts an employer's actions from such prohibition if:

  • the employer discharges or disciplines an individual for good cause;
  • the employer complies with federal or state laws or regulations governing brokers, dealers, and investment advisers;
  • a state enacts a law that specifically waives such prohibition with respect to a particular class of state or agency employees and the employer's action relates to an employee in such class; or
  • an executive agency, military department, or other executive branch entity specifically waives the prohibition with respect to a particular class of employees who may have access to classified information.
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