Individual's Personal Privacy - Literature review Example

INFROMATION TECHNOLOGY Information systems can be described as the ways by which organization and people by the use of technologies, collect, process, store, utilize and disseminate information. (UK Academy for Information Systems, 1999). Information systems can also imply the interaction between human beings, technology, data and knowledge. Buckland, argues that information systems mainly deal with data, objects, and texts with the objects in many shelves and cabinets in optical and magnetic devices with wide storage capacities (1999). He continues to assert that any significant and effective change in the characteristics and nature of the technology meant to handle representation of knowledge, beliefs and facts can have more impacts on information systems and other information services that come along with the information systems. Social issues can be described as matters of concern to both the community and the government (Anon., 2012 a). Social issues may include the cost incurred by the society for switching ways to computer-based systems, increased internet associate crimes and the division that may arise in the society on the basis of the “information poor” and the “information rich”. St James Ethics Centre describes ethics as the search for answers for the question related to what an individual ought to do (Anon., 2012 b). The centre comes up with some ethics that are associated with the professional behavior. On the other hand Rainer defines ethical issues as moral principles that the society understands and guides the conduct of its members (2009 p.23). He also postulates that it is doing what knows is the right thing to do. The ethics include, one accepting his or her actions, one standing firm to an idea he or she believes in, one having the courage to attempt even the most difficult questions and one developing a balanced and well-informed professional mind and conscience. Ethical considerations include privacy, copyright, equity and access and freedom of information do (Anon., 2012 b). Social and ethical issues related to information and information systems include, accuracy of information and data, the changing nature of the work, privacy of an individual, data and information security, appropriate usage of information, health and safety and copyright laws. Occupational Health and Safety Act 2000 stipulates that each and every employer should ensure that the health and safety risks and hazards of their workers are minimized (Anon., 2012 a). The above social and ethical issues affect people participating within the information and information system, individuals with a purpose with the information system and people within the information system environment. Pollack (2009, pp. 174) asserts that the users of information systems are most of the time as it affects their lives and as well affect information system. Users may not be part of the system directly but they affect it and are likewise affected by it. The major ethical concern that worries the users of the systems is that the systems do not use the users’ personal information they input into the system for unethical concerns they may not wish their information to be used for. Too Buckland (1999, pp. 19) outlines that it would be very unethical if the users of the systems use it in such a way that it was not intended for like to access other people’s personal information. Adamski (2007, pp. 15) defines privacy as a human value that consists of four key elements which he refers to rights. He divides these rights in two major categories; the first one comprises three rights which help an individual to guard him or herself against personal information seekers. They include solitude, intimacy and anonymity. The other category stipulates the rights an individual holds to regulate the amount of personal information he or she gives out. The right involves reserve. Privacy has been regarded valuable and important in the information age. This is because it guards and protects a person’s personal identity, preserves private autonomy and it opens up social relationships. In today’s world privacy has greatly been eroded. This starts with the telephone calls where one is identified via the caller ID and it goes all the way to the transactions that one makes by use of credit card and the forms one fill when he or she wants something to be done. This paper reviews three privacy attributes, autonomy, personal identity and social relationships (Migga, 2007, pp. 119). Personal identity is very valuable as it enshrines an individual’s personal privacy. It becomes more vital to guard personal identity when information becomes very precious. Advancement in the information system has it become a difficult task to protect an individual’s personal identity. Autonomy may referred to as the feeling that an individual feels to be in control of his or her own destiny. Individuals remain autonomous by not letting other people to get to know information about them. Therefore people will tend to make relationships with those people or groups who will have respect for their autonomy, more in decision making. Social relationships are built on information. Many relationships break up when there is concealment of certain valuable information (Migga, 2007, pp. 114). Many a times it is very difficult to guard our personal or company’s privacy as privacy is described. In many cases we find ourselves giving out information about our company to researchers or government institutions. These pieces of information are then stored in a database which can be accessed by either legal persons or hackers. Too we always disseminate our personal information to other persons some whom we know and others whom we don’t either at will or without our knowledge. A free and a democratic society revolves around privacy. Privacy as a fundamental right has in many years been violated. However, the advent of internet has rapidly accelerated the scale and the rate of violation. Contributing factors to violation include; the willingness of consumers to give their information up when registering in shopping malls, websites in order to get prizes, inadequate policies on privacy, internet temptation, failure of institutions and companies to follow their policies on privacy and consumers ignorance on their privacy when giving out information (Curie, 1999, pp. 45). With the growth of the internet, personal privacy is under threat therefore there is need to protect people’s privacy. The measures that are meant to protect the consumers and users include legislations such as the US Consumer Protection Act, self help groups and enforcement. Other violations on privacy include intrusion, interception of information, misuse of information and information matching. Though there are no set of universally agreed set of liberties on privacy violation, there are four categories that that are widely agreed on. They include basic freedoms of assembly, speech, no discrimination and movement, freedom of information, criminal justice that include personal liability, police powers and right to a fair trial, communication and privacy. The advent in the internet has made it difficult to hide an individual’s privacy (Leidner and Kayworth, 2006 pp. 378). Also, the more sophisticated network with scanning and spying software has made personal information unsafe. This therefore has created a good chance for the law enforcers such as the police to track and crack down criminals. Too with this information banks can prevent fraud and businesses can restrain from sharing company and personal information without the knowledge of the individual. Mason (1986, pp. 8) asserts that data protection became a public concern when it was learnt that people’s information was stored in computers and then it was used for other reasons other than what the information was meant for. Such concerns surfaced early in the 1970s in the UK and other European countries. This led to the Council of Europe Convention to discuss the subject. In the UK the first Data Protection Act was passed in 1984. This act was designed in order to implement the provisions that were discussed in the provision. The act was designed to protect persons from; usage of incorrect personal information, unauthorized persons using personal information and using personal information for malicious purposes other than that that was meant for. The legislation was principally meant to safeguard individuals against misuse of their personal data by big organizations both public and private. For example data-matching techniques which in many cases are used on credit cards might build up an individual’s picture and movements over a period of time. This in the long run might be interpreted in a misleading manner. With the advent of the internet, it was possible for individuals to capture information about other on their internet usage and habit and eventually use this information for marketing and blackmail. This sparked the European Directive on Data Protection which led Data Protection Act 1998. The UK law bares no recognition to any generalized right to privacy. However, the European Convention on Human Rights which is part of the UK law, in section 8 (1), states that;”Everyone has the right to respect for his private and family life, his home and his correspondence.” The concerns that were raised over email monitoring, telephone tapping by either employees or by security services prompted the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act (2000). Many governments did not enact these legislations early enough. Countries such as the US, Canada and Australia enacted such legislation in 1978s and 1980s. Data protection is very important and it goes along with protection of information system user. The backbone of data protection lies in the hands of data controller. Data controller is a person who determines how and why personal data has to be processed. Therefore, in order to protect data, the data controller upholds to eight data protection principles. This is to ensure they are responsible in handling personal data and respect it. The principles include; i. Personal data has to be processed in a fair and lawful manner. ii. Personal data shall be collected for only one or more clarified and lawful purposes and its processing shall be no be in any manner incompatible with the purpose it was meant for. iii. Personal data has to adequate, not excess and relevant in relation to its purpose. iv. Personal data has to be accurate and up to date. v. Personal data already processed for a particular purpose(s) will not be kept for long. vi. Personal data has to be processed according to rights of data subjects stipulated under the act. vii. Adequate organizational and technical measures shall be taken for unlawful and unauthorized processing of personal data and for destruction of, accidental loss or damage of personal data. viii. There will be no transfer of personal information. Bolt (n.d) asserts that designers of various information systems have the responsibility of ensuring that the information systems they develop acceptable both socially and ethically. Various states and federal governments should enact laws that; protect individuals privacy, give protection to intellectual property, that assist in the maintenance of a safe and healthy working environments and one that highlight the changing nature and type of work. The ethical expectations from the system developers are legal requirements too. They include anti-sexism, anti-racism and other requirements. IT professional has to keep in mind the principles that safeguard an individual’s personal data. When developing an information system the IT expert has to take note of the social and ethical issues that affect the users of the system. This will mean that the users’ privacy rights are respected and that the users use the system with no worry of falling victims to hackers or harmful individuals. Too the eight principles should be guideline of any IT experts. Bibliography Adamski, A., 2007. Information Management: Legal and Security Issues, pp.1-17 Anon, n.d, Social and Ethical Issues, Available through http://www.grcoatley.mcc.education.nsw.gov.au/ipt_website/01_introduction/issues.htm. Bolt, F, n.d, Data Protection, Privacy and Freedom of Information, Professional Issues in Information Technology, pp. 182-198. Buckland, M., 1991, Information and Information Systems, Greenwood Publishing, London. Currie, W., 1999, Rethinking Management Information Systems, Oxford University Press, Oxford. Leidner, D. and Kayworth, T., 2006, Toward a Theory of Information Technology Culture Conflict. A Review of Culture in Information System, 30 (2), PP. 359-400. Mason, R., 1986, Four Ethical Issues of the Information Age, Management Information Systems Quarterly, 10 (1), pp.5-12. Migga, J., 2007, Ethical and Social Issues in the Formation Age, 3rd Edition Chapter 5 Privacy. Anonymity, Security, Privacy, and Civil Liberties, pp. 110-119. Pollack, T., 2006, Ethical and Legal Issues for the Information Systems Professional. Proceedings of the 2006 ASCUE Conference, pp.172-180 Rainer, K., 2009, Introduction to Information Systems: Enabling and Transforming Business, Wiley Publishing, London. Read More