Privacy And Surveillance In It

The development in Information Technology (IT) plays an important role in the greater fundamental interaction and communication of lot in various parts of the globe. During the process of communication, the transfer of personal information could non be prevented among people. However, this kind of activity also threaten the privacy of people because the emergence of the Internet and opposite technological tools have made it possible to have easy access to information even the ones that ar consider as private. Being the case, it is important that privacy and surveillance in IT is given due attention.Privacy is defined as . . . he interest that individuals have in sustaining a personal space, free from interference by other people and organizations (Clarke, 1999). Nevertheless, according to Brock Meeks (1999) the privacy of people during this information age is being eaten away and is already dead because of the various means that could be use in order to infringe upon it. Cyber space is trespassing(a) the privacy of individuals and this could be seen through spam, cookies, and the clickstream. However, there atomic number 18 also invasion of privacy that could be insalubrious to the security of a person like the real-time person-location technologies (Clarke, 1999).Furthermore, ethical issues have also emerged in the exchange of information and communication of people especially in the study. Employees are expecting their privacy would be respected in the e-mails that they exchange with other people but this is sometimes not satisfied because of the need of the company to swan and monitor the flow of information in the workplace (Weisband and Reinig, 1995). As such, this has become one of the most debated ethical as well as legal issues that need to be addressed.Personal information privacy is the ability to restrainer information about oneself is becoming more important than ever (Millberg et. al, 1995). In relation to this, there are several preve ntive measures and laws that could be implemented in order to encourage the privacy of individuals. Some of the programs that protect the privacy of people in relation with the use of the Internet are the Privacy Preference bemuse (P3P) which is a simple automated way of controlling the use of personal information on websites, filing cabinet encryption, firewalls, and access control systems (Quinn, 2005).The Australian government has its Australian Privacy Act that is mainly responsible in controlling privacy matters in the country (Australian Privacy Foundation, 2009). Moreover, surveillance of the flow of information in the workplace and other organizations is still debatable but it is indeed helpful in protecting the privacy of people against those who would want to have access of their personal information. However, surveillance in IT should also be responsibly used for security purposes only and not to cause harm to other people.