Business in Focus Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3250 words

Business in Focus - Essay Example US Laws protect citizens against any misuse of tax records and information sharing if not having support proper authorization (Hatch n.d.). In spite of such provision of protection according to Gregory Shaffer (2000), personal information is traded and transferred about each U.S. citizen very frequently. There are privacy breaches ranging from very serious identity theft incidents to marketing solicitations. Data unlike a physical object can be sold and distributed with relative ease in today's electronic society. Medical and financial records could be used in hiring decisions. Social security numbers could be used in case of identity theft and financial fraud. One's address could be used to conduct a hate crime. Terrorists and anti-government groups can use government security information to attack nuclear plants and other government targets. The U.S. legislation on national scale is not comprehensive on privacy legislation. Their numerous privacy statutes protect personal privacy in a piecemeal fashion. The Privacy Act of 1974 gives individuals the right to access and correct information held by the federal government but did not cover private entities and state and local governments. The financial Modernisation Act also known as the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act (GLB passed in November 2000 eased the state and federal restrictions among financial institutions in USA. The law allowed sharing of information, non-public for specific purpose and in specific situation. This raised the issue of privacy and it was demanded for notification to consumers about the institution's privacy policy and is given a chance to opt -out of information sharing with non-affiliated third parties. The survey confirmed about the widespread use of non-public information by joint marketers and affiliated institutions. Protection of non-public personal information (NPI) is must because it might lead to fraud by companies for unauthorised use. The following important legislation in USA on Consumer Privacy: 1. Fair Credit Reporting Act of 1970- in which credit agencies are required to make their records available, provides procedures for the correcting of information, and permits disclosure to authorized parties. 2. Cable Communications Policy Act of 1984- cable services are required to inform subscribers of the nature of personally identifiable information collected and the use of such information. The law restricts the collection and disclosure of such information by cable services. 3. Electronic Communication Privacy Act of 1986- The law extends Title III protections and requirements to new forms of voice, video data, and communications such as cellular phones, electronic mail, computer transmissions, and voice and display pagers. 4. Electronic Freedom of Information Act (1996) - The law allowed any person the right to obtain federal agency records unless the records are protected from disclosure by any of the nine exemptions contained in the law. 5. Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act 1996- The law requires healthcare facilities to implement security policies and systems to protect patient confidentiality. HIPAA only covers the security of the information and does not address information sharing. 6. Children's Online Privacy Protection Act (1999)- The law prevents personal informat