Information Technology Ethics Chapter 4 - Privacy
CHAPTER 4: PRIVACY
PRIVACY PROTECTION AND THE LAW
Privacy
– Key concern of Internet users
– Top reason why nonusers still avoid the Internet
THE RIGHT OF PRIVACY
Definitions
-the right to be alone – the most comprehensive of rights, and the right most valued by people. (Justice Louis Brandeis, Olmstead v. US, 1928) -the right of individuals to control the collection and use of information about themselves.
Legal Aspects
Protection from unreasonable intrusion upon one’s isolation.
Protection from appropriation of one’s name or likeness.
Protection from unreasonable publicity given to one’s private.
Protection from publicity that unreasonably places one in a false light before the public.
RECENT HISTORY OF PRIVACY PROTECTION
Communication Act of 1934 -it restricted the government’s ability to secretly intercept communications. However, under a 1968 federal statute, law enforcement officers can use wiretapping if they first obtain a court order. Wiretapping - the interception of telephone or telegraph communications for purpose of espionage or surveillance.
Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) - (passed -1966, amended-1974) provides the public with the means to gain access to certain government records such as the spending patterns of an agency, the agency’s policies and the reasoning behind them, and the agency’s mission and goals.
Fair Credit Reporting Act (1970) - this act regulates the operations of credit-reporting bureaus, including how they collect, store, and use credit information. - it is designed to promote accuracy, fairness, and privacy of information in the files of credit reporting companies and to check verification systems that gather and sell information about people.
Privacy Act (1974) - declares that no agency of the U.S. government can conceal the existence of any personal data record-keeping system, and that any agency that maintains such a system, must publicly describe both the kind of information in it
PRIVACY PROTECTION AND THE LAW
Privacy
– Key concern of Internet users
– Top reason why nonusers still avoid the Internet
THE RIGHT OF PRIVACY
Definitions
-the right to be alone – the most comprehensive of rights, and the right most valued by people. (Justice Louis Brandeis, Olmstead v. US, 1928) -the right of individuals to control the collection and use of information about themselves.
Legal Aspects
Protection from unreasonable intrusion upon one’s isolation.
Protection from appropriation of one’s name or likeness.
Protection from unreasonable publicity given to one’s private.
Protection from publicity that unreasonably places one in a false light before the public.
RECENT HISTORY OF PRIVACY PROTECTION
Communication Act of 1934 -it restricted the government’s ability to secretly intercept communications. However, under a 1968 federal statute, law enforcement officers can use wiretapping if they first obtain a court order. Wiretapping - the interception of telephone or telegraph communications for purpose of espionage or surveillance.
Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) - (passed -1966, amended-1974) provides the public with the means to gain access to certain government records such as the spending patterns of an agency, the agency’s policies and the reasoning behind them, and the agency’s mission and goals.
Fair Credit Reporting Act (1970) - this act regulates the operations of credit-reporting bureaus, including how they collect, store, and use credit information. - it is designed to promote accuracy, fairness, and privacy of information in the files of credit reporting companies and to check verification systems that gather and sell information about people.
Privacy Act (1974) - declares that no agency of the U.S. government can conceal the existence of any personal data record-keeping system, and that any agency that maintains such a system, must publicly describe both the kind of information in it