The Misplacing of Confidential Information - Essay Example

Social, Legal, Ethical and Professional Implications Introduction 1 The Case This case study unleashes the misplacing of confidential information on approximately 130,000 prisoners and dangerous criminals by the Home office, indicating about yet another Government data catastrophe (Sky News, 2008). The loss of the specifications about the criminals and prisoners was stored on an unencrypted computer memory stick, and has raised dreads that the taxpayers may now come across a multi-million pound reimbursement bill from the criminals whose security may have been compromised and police sneaks who can be at the menace of retaliations. The missing data is comprehended to be all-encompassing of the addresses of many of the Britain's most productive and crucial offenders, meticulously inclusive of those who have been accused for vivacious and sexual offenses. The memory stick which consists of information on all the 84,000 prisoners in England and Wales is now entirely investigated. It includes some release dates as well as information about 43,000 most intricate and persistence offenders as described by the Deputy Information Commissioner (Sky News, 2008). Out of the most likely consequences is the one that the criminals will bring legal acts next to the government and the taxpayer would have to pay for the injuries to the people who appear to be a bit contemptible for the reason of the government's inability. The loss of the memory stick with the details of the prisoners was initially reported to the government, by a London-based consulting company called the PA Consulting Group, with a contract to track the movement of the offenders through the criminal justice system (Burns, 2008). 2. Case Analysis 2.1. Relevant Facts Classified information about almost 130,000 prisoners as well as dangerous criminals has been lost by the Home Office. The Home Office had sent the personal details on the criminals to the company on a private email, which was then shifted in an unencrypted form on to the memory stick, which was then lost. According to the Home Office, an internal report is supposed to be carried out in to the data security arrangements between the Home Office and its contractor, PA Consulting. 2.2 Identification of Stake-Holders The individuals or groups which are affected by the outcome of a decision are construed as stake-holders. Amongst the primary stake-holders are the prisoners and criminals whose information has been lost. Home-Office was responsible for the loss of the personal information. Secondly, the tax-payers are another group of stake-holders affected by the outcome. The secondary stake holders are the police force which is responsible for of guaranteeing the personal information of the prisoners. The stake-holders were supposed to safe-guard the confidential details of the prisoners and criminals which they failed to do. The data had been misplaced by the PA consulting group, which was supposed to track and examine the critical offenders in the JTrack programme. 3. Professional Codes The professional conducts do not seem to construe to the case discussed above for the reason that the people responsible for the misplacing of information did not uphold the reputation and good standing of the British Computer Society, and also, their profession in general. Moreover, they did not seek to participate in the improvisation of the professional gradations through participation in their development, usage as well as implementation. The British Computer Society also seeks its members to possess a broader liability in order to promote public comprehension of the information technology, its advantages and pitfalls. Also, whenever possible, it may counter the mis-information which could result into disgrace. However, the act of the stakeholders violates this code of conduct of the British Computer Society by misplacing the extreme confidential information and also, the Home office witnessed impotence regarding the improvisation of the professional standards as well as the development and usage. Furthermore, the British Computer Society Code of Conduct states that the members should persuade and assist the fellow members in their professional development as well as facilitate opportunities for the professional development of new members thereby, progressing mutual assistance amongst the IT professionals which may evoke strong reputation of the profession as well as assisting the individual members (Code of Conduct, 2006). On the other hand, according to the Home Officers, the government sense of duty was terrible as they could do nothing regarding the loss of the confidential information. They were questioned many a times for their impotency but led to nowhere. The Home office is in immense loss because of the action as it was very serious indeed. According to the officials, handling out of the memory sticks almost like confetti to the companies which are meant to do research for them, should be certainly done carefully since the company concerned have put into practice procedures which are just as vigorous as the processes the government has followed since many previous losses. It is significant that prisoner records information is maintained securely at all times. The Government is duly harmed by the action as it proves to be an irresponsible example in front of the society, and also that the confidential information could be brought in to use irrelevantly because of the government's impotence. This episode had caused fresh discomfiture to the beleaguered government of Prime Minister Gordon Brown, the breach following one eventual fall of two of the computer disks associated with the child benefits program which comprised of personal information of more than a third of the population which was lost in the mail (Burns, 2008). There is yet another Code of Conduct like the ACM, which seeks its members to abide by certain rules. The first and the most significant rule is contribution to the society and human well-being. Secondly, an ACM member would strive to achieve the paramount quality, efficaciousness and dignity, both in the procedure and the products of the professional work. Thirdly, a know-how and respect to the existing laws pertaining to the profession is significant. The members should provide comprehensive and thorough evaluations of the computer systems and their influences, inclusive of the analysis of possible menace. Improvisation of computer techniques as well as its consequences, along with the most important of all, access computing and communication resources only when authorized to do so, are some of the points to consider for an ACM member (ACM Council, 2002). The act violates the ACM code of Conduct as well, as it does not satisfy even a single professional responsibility. The act delineates unauthorized usage of Computers, violation of laws and regulations, as well as least botheration given to public welfares, and consideration to personal selfishness. 4. Ethical Principles Deontology is one of the most significant ethical principles for the reason that it tells about whether an act is morally allowable or not on whether the duty is fulfilled or not. The stake holders of the Home Office are supposed to do their duties efficaciously. However, regardless of all the possibilities, the information was misplaced which is a serious issue. As stated above, the Home Office has been entrusted vicinity, which was accredited by the Home Office professionals, stake holders, but due to the ignorance and irresponsibility of the government, the information was lost. The loss was typically ill at ease for the government in the light of two wide reviews of data security systems, it carried out after the preceding data losses. Many of such data loss incidences raised fears of the widespread bank fraud and resulted in the resignation of the head of the Government's revenue and customs agency which was one of the institutions involved in the data loss (Burns, 2008). The action which contributed to harm minimization was when the loss of memory stick, as stated above, was informed to the Government by the PA Consulting Group with a contract to trail the steps of the offenders with the help of the criminal justice system. This action, somehow, minimized the actual harm caused by the loss of the criminal details which was inclusive of chiefly, the expected release dates of the prisoners. Furthermore, as far as the consequences of this case are concerned, they can contribute to major threats amongst the society as it poses itself as another example of irresponsibility of the government and leads to insecurity amongst the constitution. Its end results are hazardous as it may constitute to conundrums within the work-places and people related to it. This case could be construed to as an act of purposeful egoism, since, this loss is the latest in the sting of lost data incidences for the government, including the stolen laptops, lost computer discs and memory sticks as well as files left on trains (BBC, 2008). This leads to a thought of a personal grudge or welfare of a particular group which intends to create conundrums amongst the legislation, thereby, disturbing the government structure. Moreover, it has nothing to do with utilitarianism, since, it involves personal selfishness and not public welfare, that a huge number of prisoners as well as criminals had to suffer for the irresponsibility of the Officials, as the government has been delineated to be entirely impotent of protecting the honesty of highly sensitive data, rendering them out of shape to be charged with the protection of the security (BBC, 2008). The theory of utilitarianism is opposed by a German philosopher Immanuel Kant. According to Kant's evaluation of ethics, certain types of acts are absolutely prohibited, even in the cases where the action may bring about more happiness than the alternative (Anscombe, 2001). This act introduces us to two questions. The first one is, can a person rationally will that everyone acts as they propose to act, and the second question is, does the act respect the goals of human beings than merely using them for their own welfares. If the culprit's answer is no to both the questions, he should not perform the action since, both the questions are equivalent. According to Kant's first formulation, one should act only according to that maxim whereby, he can, simultaneously will, that it becomes a universal law. If anyone has an imperfect duty, which is the duty to act only by the maxims which he could desire to be universalized. Since, it is dependent on the subjective preferences of the humankind, this duty is morally binding. On the other hand, according to the second formulation of Kant, one should act in such a way that they treat humanity, whether in their own person, or in the person of any other, however, always at the same time as an end and never merely as a means to an end (Kant, 1785). Moreover, the second formulation leads to the imperfect duty to further the ends of one self as well as others. If a person desires perfection in himself or the others, it would be his moral duty to look forward that end for all people equivalently, so long as that end doesn't oppose the perfect duty. 5. Legal Principles The Case Laws applicable to this act are namely, Computer Misuse Act (1990) in the UK, which makes provision for securing the computer material against unauthorized access of protected files of someone else's computer (Christensen, 2008). This act can facilitate the security of unauthorized access to Computer systems with intent to commit an offense, as well as, unauthorized modification of Computer Material. The culprit, with this act, could be presumably accused and sentenced. Another act applicable to this case is the Theft Act (1968) which states that a person is guilty of theft if he dishonestly suites property belonging to another with the intention of permanently depriving the other of it (Theft Act, 1968). The case study justifies the act for the reason that it is proceeded with an intention of stealing or misplacing the information about the criminals by permanently divesting the other of it. Moreover, there are yet other acts which may be applicable and that the IT professionals must be fully cognizant of them, which are the Official Secrets Act (1989), Data Protection Act (1998), as well as Criminal Damage Act (1971). The Official Secrets Act (1989) is certifiably applicable to this case since it violates the rules of the act by misplacing the confidential information with regards to the national security. Moreover, with reference to the Data Protection Act (1998), the case justifies it for the reason that it defines a legal basis for handling in the United Kingdom of the information associated to the people living within and is the only piece of legislation governing the protection of the personal data in the UK, and the case violated the act for not having secured the useful information, thereby, misplacing it irresponsibly. The case violates the Criminal Damage Act (1971) for the reason that the property belonging to another is illegally destroyed or damaged intending to be reckless to whether such property would be damaged or not. The confidential information which was lost, was intended to be illegally brought in to use, thereby, violating the above stated legal acts. Lastly, it violates the Health and Safety at Work Act (1974), as the act focuses on the fundamental structure and the authority for the encouragement, regulation as well as enforcement of workplace health, safety as well as welfare within the field. The case has disturbed the environment of work-places and has given rise to a number of other related threats. 6. Conclusion 6.1 The Case and Changes in the Society The case depicts innumerable transformations occurring in our society. In today's scenario, computers have an intricate and contradictory influence on human life. They enhance the quality of life by creating access to previously unimagined world. On the contrary, computers have made an important place in our everyday routines, and their potential to strip away out privacy and self-sufficiency has increased tremendously (Ermann and Shauf, 2002). In accordance with technological, social and philosophical issues, the contributors have considered work-associated corollaries of self-independence, the ethical obligations of computer professionals as well as the threats to solitude which emerges with incremented computerization (Ermann and Shauf, 2002). The government irresponsibility with regards to the case notifies the ignorance of Computer Technology in which, according to Bynum and Rogerson, the borders and computer networks have a truly global character, and as a result, computer ethics can be construed to be an emerging global ethic (Bynum and Rogerson, 2004). According to Ermann and Shauf, the march of technology has provided us with the advantages of computers and electronic tools, whilst also introducing us to unexpected dangers and hazards (Ermann and Shauf, 2002). 6.2 Possibilities of Harm The Case may cause harm to the society as a whole, as many of the crimes which are committed on the computers and because of the computers are new as a whole. Innovative subcultures have formed around for the likelihood it brings about. Despite many problems this case has brought, it has introduced some needed social controls and some laws have been formed in order to protect many of the institutions that because of the crimes have become the targets for criminals. According to Bynum and Rogerson, the rules and regulations of computer ethics in the society will be ineffective, unless respected by the vast main-stream of or maybe even all the computer users. This construes to the fact that computer ethics should be given due respect by the majority of the human inhabitants (Bynum and Rogerson, 2004). The field of computers and the issues associated with it appear to posses a very robust as well as significant future. 6.3 Duties of computer-professionals to prevent harm In order to solve the problems of such crimes, an activity of the corresponding government bodies in order to elaborate as well as implement a system of measures which is targeted at the creation as well as development of positive objective and subjective conditions excluding any opportunity of the deviant behavior of people should be taken in to account (Kramarenko, 2004). The computer-professionals should target prevent such crimes by retaining the trends of decline in crime and conceive the absolute transformations of its character, structure in the period being projected. The threats involved in the modern society posed by such crimes in development of economic, political, ideological as well as other general plans of actions are required to be encouraged in order to live in a secured locale. The case we discussed above delineates the impotency of the Government as the data which was misplaced added to other incidents in the history of government irresponsibility. The laws on computer crimes are an afterthought. The principal offences in this field are contained chiefly, in the Criminal Damage Act 1991 and the Theft Act 1968. In both the cases, the offences are tacked on to an act which possesses a primary focus elsewhere, and in both the cases, the drafting reflects this lack of notice (McIntyre, 2005). Moreover, the offences today are beginning to show their age, as with recent technological developments introducing to the world, new and innovative threats and responses do not fit easily in to the existing law. Nonetheless, it appears to be an inevitable feature of technological advances that criminal applications follow lawful or rightful utilizations with a very little time tag (McIntyre, 2005). The case study stated above does not only consider criminality with use of the computer information technologies, but also the urge to resolve such kind of mysteries which may be hazardous to the society. References 1. Anscombe, Elizabeth. 2001, German philosopher Immanuel Kant (1724-1804) was an opponent of utilitarianism: Leading 20th century proponent of Kantianism. Kantian Ethics. 2. Burns, Johm F.2008, British Inmates' Private Data Is Lost in Latest Government Security Breach. August 23, 2008, page A6 New York edition (The New York Times). 3. Bynum, T.W. and S Rogerson. 2004, Computer Ethics and Professional Responsibility. Blackwell Publishing. 4. Code of Ethics. 1992, ACM Code of Ethics and Professional Conduct. Association for Computing Machinery, Inc. 5. (Ed.) Ermann, M. David and Michele S. Shauf. 2002, Computers, Ethics, and Society. Third Edition, Oxford University Press. 6. Kant, Immanuel; translated by James W. Ellington. [1785] (1993), Grounding for the Metaphysics of Morals. 3rd ed. Hackett. pp. 36. 7. Kramarenko, Dmitri. 2004, Computer Crimes Prevention. Computer Crime Research Center (September 20, 2004). 8. McIntyre, T.J. 2005, Computer Crime in Ireland: A critical assessment of the substantive law. Irish Criminal Law Journal - Volume 15, No.1, 1. 9. News. 2008, Company loses data on criminals. BBC News, 21 August 2008. 10. Sky News. 2008, Criminals' Personal Details Lost. Sky News (August 22, 2008). 11. The British Computer Society. 2006, Trustee Board Regulations - Schedule 3, Code of Conduct for BCS Members. 12. Theft Act 1968. 1968, Theft Act 1968. [Online] December 21, 2008, < http://www.lawteacher.net/PDF/TA%201968.pdf>. 13. What is the Computer Misuse Act of 1990. [Online] December 21, 2008, < http://www.wisegeek.com/what-is-the-computer-misuse-act-of-1990.htm>. Read More