ICT Legislations

ICT Legislations

ICT Legislations

Computer Misuse Act (1990)

Copyright, Designs and Patents Act (1988)

The Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988, is the current UK copyright law. It gives the creators of literary, dramatic, musical and artistic works the right to control the ways in which their material may be used.

The Computer Misuse Act (1990) recognised the following new offences: Unauthorised access to computer material. Unauthorised access with intent to commit or facilitate a crime. Unauthorised modification of computer material.

• Data Protection Act (1998)
• Copyright, Designs and Patents Act (1988)
• Computer Misuse Act (1990)
• Health and Safety At Work Act (1974)
• EU Health and Safety (Display Screen Equipment) Regulations (1992)
• Electronic Communications Act (2000)

Reasons for the act

Example

• Protects the investment of time, money and effort by the people who create the original work.
• The act gives full ownership of a product to its original creator(s).
• Only the creator can copy, adapt or distribute copies to the public. Other people can do this, but only with the permission of the creator.
• It does allow some copyright material to be used for educational purposes.
• Ensures people are rewarded for their effort.
• Gives protection and copyright to owner in the event of someone copying or stealing their work.

Your idea for a book would not itself be protected, but the actual content of a book you write would be. In other words, someone else is still entitled to write their own book around the same idea, provided they do not directly copy or adapt yours to do so.

Example

Reasons for act

Hacking is where an unauthorised person uses a network, Internet or modem connection to gain access past security passwords or other security to see data stored on another computer. Hackers sometimes use software hacking tools and often target, for example, particular sites on the Internet.

Data Protection Act (1998)

The data protection act is an act of parliament of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland which defines UK law on the processing of data on identifiable living people. It is the main piece of legislation that governs the protection of personal data in the UK.

Advantages

Why it was created

During the second half of the 20th century, businesses, organizations and the government began using computers to store information about their customers, clients and staff in databases.

For example:

• names
• addresses
• contact information
• employment history
• medical conditions
• convictions
• credit history
• Databases are easily accessed, searched and edited. It’s also far easier to cross reference information stored in two or more databases than if the records were paper-based. The computers on which databases resided were often networked. This allowed for organization-wide access to databases and offered an easy way to share information with other organizations.

The law aside, it also makes good business sense to have a policy as:

• Keeping the information that organizations have about their customers secure will help protect their customers information;
• Sending out a mailing from incorrect or out-of-date records could not only annoy their customers but also wastes your time and money;
• Good information handling can improve the business’s reputation by increasing customer and employee confidence in the organization;
• Good information handling should also reduce the risk of a complaint being made against the organization.