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In many parts of the world it is illegal for a recruiting party to search for information on a candidate without their consent.

Whichever parts of the world that may be, you can guarantee that it happens anyways.

Unenforceable rules are never followed.

What are laws that prohibit it?

One example is Finnish legislation: https://finlex.fi/fi/laki/ajantasa/2004/20040759#L2P4 Sadly only available in Finnish. The law applies both to employees and candidates.

EDIT: Looks like there is an English translation. See section 4 of: https://finlex.fi/en/laki/kaannokset/2004/en20040759_2019034...