Privacy and Data Protection Laws

Privacy

• Privacy is a fundamental right to be left alone, valued by free people
• Information privacy combines communications privacy (ability to communicate without others' monitoring) and data privacy (ability to control access to personal data).
• Organizations gather data about individuals to make better decisions, including sexual orientation, work history, web browsing behavior, associates/affiliations, driving records, educational records, financial data, police records, medical history, and location data.

Objectives

• Understand the right of privacy and its legal basis.
• Identify laws protecting personal data and associated ethical issues.
• Analyze consumer profiling strategies and related ethical issues.
• Define and examine the usage of e-discovery.
• Explain the increasing use of workplace monitoring.
• Assess advanced surveillance technologies and their ethical implications.

Privacy Protection and the Law

• Many object to data collection policies by governments and businesses, as they limit personal control.
• To balance this, a combination of new laws, technical solutions, and privacy policies is necessary.
• Reasonable limits are needed on government and business access to personal information.
• Data collection policies should protect rather than diminish privacy.
• Corporate policies to set baseline standards for privacy are necessary.
• Education and communication are crucial.

Financial Data

• Individuals reveal much financial data for financial products and services.
• To access financial products and services, a personal logon name, password, and/or account number/PIN are typically required.
• Loss or disclosure of financial data carries high risks of privacy and financial loss.
• Individuals should be concerned about how their data is protected by organizations and if it is shared with third parties.

Health Information

• Electronic medical records are widely used and interconnected between different organizations.
• Individuals concern themselves about the erosion of privacy regarding health data.
• Concerns exist about potential intrusions into health data from employers, schools, insurance firms, law enforcement, and marketing firms.

Children's Personal Data

• Teens spend a significant amount of time engaging in digital activities.
• Many people advocate for protecting children from online predators, inappropriate material, harassment, or inappropriate behavior.
• Few laws effectively protect children online, and many face legal limitations or unconstitutionality under First Amendment protections.

Electronic Surveillance

• Government surveillance, including electronic surveillance, has grown, increasing in scope.
• This expanded surveillance, frequently challenging the Fourth Amendment and rights to privacy.
• Some view the resulting activities as an unconstitutional violation of privacy rights.

Fair Information Practices

• Fair information practices are guidelines governing the collection and use of personal data; various organizations and countries develop them.
• These guidelines form the basis for many national data privacy and protection laws.

Access to Government Records

• The U.S. government possesses significant data-storage capacity regarding citizens and agencies.
• Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) gives the public access to government records.
• The Privacy Act prohibits the government from concealing personal data records.

Consumer Profiling

• Companies gather personal information from users (e.g., website registrations, surveys, social media, online contests/competitions).
• They leverage cookies (text files downloaded to user hard drives) to identify returning visitors.
• Companies use tracking software to analyze browsing habits, infer interests, and tailor ads accordingly.
• The use of cookies and tracking software raises concerns, as companies collect data without explicit consent.
• In offline contexts, similar methods collect data on consumer behavior (e.g., credit cards, loyalty cards, surveys, etc.).
• The collected data is often stored and sometimes sold to third parties.

Electronic Discovery

• Electronic discovery is the collection, preparation, review, and production of electronically stored information (ESI) for use in civil and criminal proceedings.
• It's part of the pretrial phase, allowing parties to obtain evidence from each other.
• The discovery process aims to ensure parties enter the trial with maximum knowledge.

Workplace Monitoring

• Cyberloafing is using the internet for non-work tasks (e.g., Facebook, email, online shopping).
• It costs U.S. businesses substantial sums of money annually.
• Companies create policies regulating IT use to prevent employee abuses, reduce productivity losses, and mitigate legal risks (e.g., harassment lawsuits).

Advanced Surveillance Technology

• Advanced surveillance technologies (like camera surveillance, vehicle event data recorders, and stalking apps) enable detailed tracking of individuals.
• These tools raise issues regarding privacy, as they provide significant capability for monitoring individuals.