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CHICAGO (Reuters) - Employers in California and Illinois will be prohibited from demanding access to workers' password-protected social networking accounts and teachers in Oregon will be required to report suspected student bullies thanks to new laws taking effect in 2013.

In all, more than 400 measures were enacted at the state level during 2012 and will become law in the new year, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures (NCSL).

Some of the statutes, which deal with everything from consumer protection to gun control and healthcare, take effect at the stroke of midnight. Others will not kick in until later in the year.

The raft of measures includes a new abortion restriction in New Hampshire, public-employee pension reform in California and Alabama, same-sex marriage in Maryland, and a requirement that private insurers in Alaska cover autism in kids and young adults, NCSL said.

In New Hampshire, a rarely used form of late-term abortion will become illegal except to save the life of the mother - and even then only if two doctors from separate hospitals certify the procedure is medically necessary.

John Lynch, the state's outgoing Democratic governor, had vetoed the measure, saying it would threaten the lives of women in rural areas. But the state's Republican-controlled legislature later overrode him.

In California and Illinois, laws that take effect at 12:01 a.m. local time will make it illegal for bosses to request social networking passwords or non-public online account information from their employees or job applicants.

Michigan's Republican Governor Rick Snyder signed a similar measure into law earlier this month that took effect immediately. The Michigan law also penalizes educational institutions for dismissing or failing to admit a student who does not provide passwords and other account information used to access private internet and email accounts, including social networks like Facebook and Twitter.

But workers and job seekers in all three states will still need to be careful what they post online: Employers may continue to use publicly available social networking information. So inappropriate pictures, tweets and other social media indiscretions can still come back to haunt them.

Gun violence - in places where it's all too common, such as Chicago, and in places where it's unexpected, such as Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut - was big news in 2012. But only a handful of new state firearms laws are set to take effect in 2013.

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Ban on demanding Facebook passwords among new 2013 state laws

GMPs growing social network

9:21am Monday 31st December 2012 in News

GREATER Manchester Police now reaches more than one million people on social networking sites.

During the first two weeks in December, the force communicated with more than 750,000 people on Facebook, and this figure rose to almost a million last week.

The force already has more than 115,000 followers on Twitter and uses other social networks, including YouTube, Flickr and Pinterest.

Social networking is being linked to a number of high profile operations, including a Christmas crime crackdown called Operation Advent.

Deputy Chief Constable Ian Hopkins said: We regularly get positive feedback about our updates using social media.

The updates make it easier for people to find out what is happening in their area and also what we are doing to tackle crime and anti-social behaviour.

l More than 1,000 people and organisations are now actively following The Pennine Acute Hospitals NHS Trust which runs Fairfield and North Manchester hospitals on Twitter, where the public and patients are be updated on news, events and public health messages.

In October this year, the trust ran an unique live 24-hours in accident and emergency Tweetathon from Fairfield Hospital, as part of Bury Light Night.

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GMP’s growing social network

Debate no more: Admist the bubble hype, social networking startups proved their worth this year by making big moves and big money.

Between all the bubble talk, the IPO rumors, and the acquisitions at every turn, its safe to say that 2012 was the year social startups grew up. Despite the undeniable presence of social media in our lives, how much actual money its capable of making has been up for debate.

Well debate no more: In 2012, we saw these startups transition from experimental pipe dreams led by tiny teams into enterprise level companies and Wall Street fodder.

After more than a year of will they or well it was really just when will they, Facebook filed its S-1 forms in February, starting the IPO process. What began in a college dorm had officially become a billion dollar company and its worth no longer debatable.

Transitioning from a privately owned and operated company to a public one wasnt without hurdles, however. Shortly after Facebook shares became available for trading, its stock rose and then fell. And then fell some more. It was enough for some to cry social media overvaluation (again). But since this initial instability, things have begun to level out. Despite any concerns over whether Facebook can monetize its platform, the company has continued to iterate new marketing products its not all poking and drunk photos and Farmville anymore. Now, its Sponsored Stories and Promoted Posts and frictionless sharing. The times, oh how they have changed

While Twitter is still a private company, its made some heavy-handed enterprise, big business-level moves this year. Over 2012, Twitter boldly went from a developers playground, an ever-morphing experiment in worldwide, real-time communication, to a marketing, advertising paradise.

That isnt to say the social network eschewed its roots completely, mind you. The platform is still full of the celebrities to stalk, has continued to prove itself a valuable communication medium in times of trouble, and is hands down a go-to source for breaking news. But also, all that stuff about being a marketing and advertising platform has become really, really, really important to Twitter.

This past summer, Twitter announced it would be taking control of the Twitter experience. Over the course of the past few months, the company has taken many measures to make sure eyeballs are being sent to its site, its mobile apps, and leaving many third party developers behind while doing so. And, of course, it has the right to, but the message was clear: Twitter is playing for keeps where ad dollars are concerned. The social networking experiment phase is over, and things are getting quite professional over there.

Facebook and Twitter are social media veterans, which makes Instagrams meteoric rise all the more proof that social startups are not a money pit or a fluke. Instagram officially launched in 2010 as a tiny team, and co-founder and CEO Kevin Systrom was responsible for much of the back end work himself.

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Big moves, big money, and the year social-media startups proved their worth

Dec. 1

Enrique Pena Nieto takes the oath of office as Mexico's new president promising to return peace and security and to take on the vested interests and sacred cows that have kept a lid on the country's economic prosperity.

Dec 2

An Associated Press analysis of trade data shows that in just five years, China has surpassed the United States as a trading partner for much of the world, including U.S. allies such as South Korea and Australia.

Dec. 3

The most widely anticipated pregnancy since Princess Diana's in 1981 is official: Prince William's wife, Kate, is pregnant.

Dec. 4

A protest by at least 100,000 Egyptians outside the presidential palace in Cairo turns violent as tensions grow over Islamist President Mohammed Morsi's seizure of nearly unrestricted powers and a draft constitution hurriedly adopted by his allies.

Dec. 5

Gunmen loyal to opposite sides in neighbouring Syria's civil war battle in the streets of the northern Lebanese city of Tripoli where two days of clashes have killed at least six people and wounded more than 50.

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Chronology of news events in 2012

All across Silicon Valley, the past year was filled practically to the brim with killer quotes out of the mouths of (reality-TV show) babes, billionaires and budding entrepreneurs.

We had deep thoughts from CEOs playing musical chairs, embarrassing mea culpas from corporate chieftains, and whining from startup celebrities with too much twittering time on their hands. All in all, we couldn't have said it better ourselves.

Here are some of our favorite sound bites from a well-chewed year.

"Silicon Valley is high school, except it's only the smart kids, and everyone has a lot of money." -- Kim Taylor, entrepreneur and cast member of "Start-Ups: Silicon Valley," Bravo's critically-distained reality TV show produced by Mark Zuckerberg's sister Randi and highlighting the lives of aspiring tech superstars.

"Instagram has no intention of selling your photos, and we never did. We don't own your photos -- you do." -- Kevin Systrom, co-founder of the popular and now Facebook-owned photo-social app, in a blog post apologizing to outraged users for the insensitive way the service announced updates to its terms of service agreement.

"I believe Larry Ellison will bring a new and fresh perspective to the island and its people." -- David Murdock, the

"The wealth from our family came from Microsoft, so why would we invest in a competitor?" -- Melinda Gates, philanthropist and wife of Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates, on British radio in reference to her kids having asked her for Apple (AAPL) products. Instead, she said, they will be receiving "Windows technology.''

"The thing that surprised me is that the job is really fun . . . and the baby's been easy. The baby's been way easier than everyone made it out to be. I've been really lucky that way.'' -- Newly minted Yahoo (YHOO) CEO Marissa Mayer, speaking at Fortune's Most Powerful Women event in November about the two new loves of her life -- her work gig and her first child, son Macallister Bogue. She returned to the former just two weeks after having delivered the latter on Sept. 30.

"Others have tried to make tablets smaller than the iPad, and they've failed miserably. These are not great experiences." -- Apple's marketing guru Phil Schiller in October as his company unveiled its mini iPad, which he obviously believes offers an insanely great experience.

"What's a better story (than) millionaire madman on the run? You [the media] saved my (expletive deleted) because you paid attention to the story. As long as you are reporting, it is hard to whack somebody that the world is watching.'' -- Eccentric millionaire and rabid publicity-hound John McAfee, speaking to ABC News after dodging authorities trying to question him about the death of his ex-pat American neighbor in Belize. McAfee founded the anti-virus software company bearing his name.

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We look back on the best Silicon Valley business quotes of 2012