1. ethical issues in business
Ethical & Legal Issues when using information from the Internet
© EIT, Author Gay Robertson, 2016

2. As part of Digital Citizenship, you need to demonstrate honesty and integrity and ethical behaviour in your use of Information Communication Technologies (ICT)

3. Copyright Act 1994 Copyright (New Technologies) Amendment Act 2008 and Copyright (Infringing File Sharing) Amendment Act 2011

4. Copyright Act 1994 Intention of the Act
“Copyright is a property right which exists in certain types of original works” In most cases, only the copyright owner can copy the work or grant a license to copy it The © symbol warns – illegal to copy!!

5. What’s covered in the Act?
Literary
all electronic documents (including software because it is “words” or “programming language”) - covers copying and downloading, scanning, photocopying
Musical
electronic music - covers copying and downloading Also covered by Copyright (New Technologies) Amendment Act 2008 (called Format Shifting where one copy for personal use can be made of a purchased recording)
Artistic
(including all electronic digital pictures and photos, paintings, maps, plans, user interface and web page designs) - covers copying and downloading and alteration of originals

6. Why the amendments to the Act?
Provides owners of copyrighted works such as movies, TV shows and music a quicker and easier way to penalise people infringing their copyright via online file sharing.
The intention of the law changes is to crack down on peer-to-peer file sharing
Updates and clarifies how copyright applies to new technologies in the digital environment within a modern legal framework

7. What’s covered by the law changes?
Only online file sharing that infringes copyright
“Peer-to-peer File sharing” is defined by the new law as:
material uploaded or downloaded from the Internet (and)
using an application or network that enables the simultaneous sharing of material between multiple users (one computer connected to another, or connected to many others, sharing files across the internet)
Anything that doesn’t meet both parts of this definition is not covered by the new law.

8. What are the penalties? You get 2 warning notices then the 3rd notice
Then the copyright owner can take you to the Copyright Tribunal
Depending upon circumstances, the penalty is up to a maximum $15,000 payable to the copyright owner
The person who owns the Internet account (account holder) is liable, even if he or she wasn’t the person who broke the law
You can be disconnected from the internet for up to 6 months
Allegations of copyright infringement made against you (the account holder) by the copyright owner are presumed to be correct unless you give evidence or reasons why you aren’t guilty

9. As part of being a digital citizen, you must be aware of the following implications ..
You must be thoroughly professional and ethical in your actions by not infringing copyright of software, electronic documents, music, images etc
Act provides for legal action against copyright infringement. Copyright infringement is NOT a criminal offence, but you can be sued by the copyright owner
If you are working, an organisation will pass any costs associated to individual account holder or employee (YOU)
All users of IT systems are responsible for their own account

10. Want to know more …
Go to the following URL for further information and clarification

11. Harmful Digital Communications Act 2015

12. Whether you’re an online host or a social media user, the new Harmful Digital Communications Act affects you.
Intention of the Act
To provide victims of cyber-bullying and digital harassment a quick and efficient means of redress
The Act will affect individual users who generate content electronically
The Act will affect those who maintain control over websites and online applications

13. New Criminal Offence: causing harm by posting a digital communication
Under section 19 of the Act a person will commit the new criminal offence if:
the person posts a digital communication with the intention that it cause harm to a victim; and
posting the communication would cause harm to an ordinary reasonable person in the position of the victim; and
posting the communication causes harm to the victim.
Posting a digital communication means transferring, sending, posting, publishing, disseminating or otherwise communicating by means of digital communication any information about the victim or an intimate visual recording of another individual.

14. Continued …
Digital communication” is broadly defined in the Act to include any text message, writing, photograph, picture, recording or other matter that is communicated electronically. The key element of “harm” is defined as “serious emotional distress”.
It is critically important for authors (the term used in the Act) to realise that proof that the communication is true, will not be a complete defence.
However, the truth or falsity of the statement is one of several factors that the Court may take into account when determining whether a post would cause harm. Other factors include the age and characteristics of the victim, the context in which the communication appeared, the extent of circulation of the communication, and the language used.
This offence carries a substantial penalty of imprisonment for up to two years or a fine of up to $50,000 for a person or, for a body corporate, a fine of up to $200,000.
An employer would pass on to the appropriate authority any information necessary.

15. As part of being a digital citizen, you must be aware of the following implications ..
You must be thoroughly professional and ethical in your actions by not using cyber-bullying or digital harassment which could cause serious emotional distress to a victim
Act provides for legal action if posting, by means of digital communication, information or visual recording of another individual
Digital communication includes: transferring, forwarding, sending, posting, publishing, text messaging, publishing photo or picture, publishing voice recording
Penalty can be imprisonment or a fine

16. Unsolicited Electronic Messages Act 2007

17. What is spam?
Current estimates suggest that around 120 billion spam messages are sent every day
Spam is the generic term for the electronic commercial and SMS (short message service) text messages you receive without having requested them
These messages are essentially commercial in nature and may be sent by legitimate businesses which are marketing and promoting their goods and services
The messages may also invite the recipient to purchase a product or service
Other spam may attempt to trick people into divulging their bank account or credit card details and can also contain offensive or fraudulent material or spread computer viruses
Delete SPAM messages without opening them

18. The purpose of the Act
Prohibit unsolicited commercial electronic messages (spam) with a New Zealand link (eg messages sent to, from or within New Zealand)
Require commercial electronic messages to include accurate information about the person who authorised the sending of the message
Include a functional unsubscribe facility to enable the recipient to instruct the sender that no further messages are to be sent to the recipient

19. The purpose of the Act
Prohibit address-harvesting software being used to create address lists for sending unsolicited commercial electronic messages
Deter people from using information and communication technologies inappropriately
The Act covers , instant messaging, SMS and MMS (text and image-based mobile phone messaging) of a commercial nature
It does not cover faxes, Internet pop-ups or voice telemarketing

20. Implications for you…
The negative effects are significant and far-reaching
These s
clog up the internet and disrupt delivery
reduce business productivity
raise internet access fees
irritate recipients
Failure to comply with the Act and employer policies, will result in
Cost recovery from the person committing the breach (YOU)
Internet access rights may be removed

21. Privacy Act 1993

22. Intention of the Act … Briefly, the organisation who collects the data
Is responsible for it’s confidentiality
It must ensure the data is meaningful to the business
It must ensure the data is accurate and that the data has come from directly from the individual or from a reliable source, it must also make sure the data is up to date
If a unique identifier (eg your Tax/Student No) is assigned to an individual, the organisation must make sure the correct person has been identified and that the unique identifier is necessary to the running of its business
It must only allow employees who need the data when performing their jobs to have access to the data
It may NOT pass this data to others without the permission of the individual

23. A company website needs a privacy policy ….
A privacy policy that shows
How the data is kept secure
Contact details for person to contact about privacy matters
Details of how to access data
Details of how to correct any information held
Contain disclosures designed to inform visitors to sites about
What data will be collected
How the data will be collected
Why the data will be collected

24. Where do you find them?
Look at the bottom of any web page for their Privacy Policy or disclaimer notice

25. In brief, the NZ Privacy Act 1993 controls the
In brief, the NZ Privacy Act 1993 controls the of data held in a computer system
access
use
collection
disclosure
correction

26. Implications and impacts of breaching the Privacy Act…
Using another person’s username and password without approval is a privacy breach
An employer would reserve the right to copy and examine any files that might relate to inappropriate use
An employer may close down your user account and stop access to their IT system
If you break New Zealand laws you deal with the appropriate agency

27. Protected Disclosures Act 2000

28. Whistle-blowers …
This is often called the "whistle-blowers" legislation
It applies in a Government Department (including EIT), a public organisation or private company
“Whistle-blowers” can make their allegations
internally eg to other people within the accused organization
externally eg to regulators, law enforcement agencies
the media
groups concerned with the issues involved

29. What can you disclose …
Unlawful, corrupt, or irregular use of public funds (FRAUD)
Conduct that poses a serious risk to public health or safety
An act, omission, or conduct, that constitutes a serious risk to the maintenance of law
An act, omission, or conduct, that constitutes an offence (breaks the law)
Conduct by public officials (people employed in any government or local government department) which is grossly improper

30. What are you protected against …
The Protected Disclosures Act 2000 protects you if you follow your employer’s procedures to disclose information about illegal or harmful acts that are committed by your employer or by one of your co-workers

31. No disciplinary action …
If you are a "whistle-blower" in terms of the Act then no-one can take any legal or disciplinary action against you
If your employer retaliates in some way at work, you can bring a personal grievance under the Employment Relations Act 2000 or a complaint of unlawful discrimination under the Human Rights Act 1993
Your protection against legal action also applies if you have already left the job at the time that you disclose the information

32. Policy of any organisation to lessen the implications and impact ..
Internal policy must be in place to allow employees to use the Protected Disclosure Act 2000 to report wrong- doing. Policies should contain:
How to report eg immediately
Who to report to eg CEO
Investigation process eg what will happen now, how long will it take?
Remedial action to be taken eg disciplinary procedures
Recording and security of information relating to the investigation eg could be requested under the Official Information Act

33. How does this apply to EIT students?
The Ethics of using information from the internet:
In particular the storing, displaying, downloading, receiving or forwarding by of any materials on the EIT computer systems, which are objectionable, offensive, pornographic, slanderous, abusive or illegal (including, without limitation, materials which infringe copyright) is prohibited
Information (including s) from the EIT network can be disclosed as part of a legal process
EIT monitors systems at EIT
These systems will be used to ensure compliance with policy and legislation Where a user is believed to be in breach of policy or law based on system monitoring, the information collected in system monitoring will be passed to the appropriate enforcement agency

34. Official Information Act 1982

35. Official Information Act 1982
Intention of the Act
An Act to make official information held by the government (or government agencies) more freely available –
to provide for proper access by YOU to official information relating to YOU
to enable people to more effectively participate in the making and administration of laws and policies
to promote the accountability of Ministers of the Crown and officials
to establish procedures for the achievement of those purposes, to enhance respect for the law and to promote the good government of New Zealand
to repeal the Official Secrets Act 1951

36. There are Exceptions to the Act when you cannot access information if it may …
prejudice the security or defence of New Zealand or the international relations of the Government of New Zealand
prejudice the maintenance of the law
endanger the safety or privacy of any person
damage seriously the economy of New Zealand
not be in the public interest
Official information should be made available unless there is good reason to withhold it
Employers are required to provide reasonable assistance to any individual making a request for information held about them

37. Why are you looking at all these Acts
Why are you looking at all these Acts? As part of Digital Citizenship, you need to demonstrate honesty and integrity and ethical behaviour in your use of Information Communication Technologies (ICT)

38. Back to the workbook now!!