Ethical and Legal Issues Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Ethical and Legal Issues - Essay Example The first question is how and why are such practices allowed To answer this, it is necessary to see how progressive our laws and regulations are on the matter of privacy. Basically the concept is one of fundamental laws. Many states' constitutions or charters provide a clause which basically provides the fundamental right to privacy. In the United States, federal statutes have been passed which implements the right to privacy in the context of the digital realm, ensuring that the people are informed of their rights of privacy and the manner in which they exercise them. The Gramm Leach Bliley Act1 (1999) requires banks and financial institutions to clearly disclose to customers any intention to share to a third party personal information, giving them the option of nondisclosure. The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act2 (HPIAA) (1996) requires health care providers similar legal obligations in informing the customers how their health information is used and ensures confidentiality of health care information. The HPIAA giving the consumer access to their own health information, and explicitly requires the authorization of the consumer before their health information can be disclosed to anyone. Another similar legislative act is the... Also, websites that collect a child's info needs verified parental consent in collecting, using or disclosing that info. In the United Kingdom, as well as the other members of the European Union, legislation has been based on the European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms4 on the concept of privacy vis--vis the freedom of expression. In addition, other Conventions and Treaties provide additional specialized legislation on the matter, such as the United Nations' Guidelines for the Regulation of Computerized Personal Data Files5, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD)'s Guidelines for the Protection of Privacy and Transborder Flows of Personal Data, and the European Council's Convention for the Protection of Individuals with regard to Automatic Processing of Personal Data6, the European Parliament and the Council of October 24, 1995's Directive 95/46/EC7 and Directive 97/66/EC of the Council of November 4, 19978 all will the same objective in mind, proper use and regulation of how personal information is used and transmitted. How our personal information gets on the internet in the first place, is basically of our own doing. We sign up with email accounts, shopping accounts, newsgroups and forums, all the while sharing bits and pieces of our identity. A name here, a credit card number there, and all these come together to our disadvantage, and the advantage of others. A good example is if we sign up for the very popular free email service of Yahoo! Inc., which is also one of the biggest search engines, and offers all sorts of services to their members and non-members