Information Technology Acts What Were the Advances Essay

Information Technology Acts

What were the advances in information technology that resulted in new ethical issues necessitating the creation of each act?

One of the common challenges that most regulations will face is keeping up with the changes in the technology. As the law, is designed to provide everyone with some kind of protection against potential abuse. However, improvements in technology have transformed the way that everyone is living their daily lives. This is when the laws must be updated to reflect these advancements. In some cases, this involves taking existing regulations and addressing specific issues. While at other times, this requires implementing new guidelines that will address specific moral and ethical issues. Two such regulations are: the Fair Credit Reporting Act of 1970 and the Do Not Call Implementation Act of 2003.

Fair Credit Reporting Act of 1970

The Fair Credit Reporting Act of 1970 was implemented to address the large amounts of information that were being collected, stored and evaluated about consumers.This was part of an effort to provide lenders, employers and other organizations with a history of the person (based on their ability to pay their bills / residential history / employment related issues). However, the fact that large amounts of personal data were collected raised concerns about possible civil rights abuses. As a result, the federal government enacted the Fair Credit Reporting Act of 1970. ("The Fair Credit Reporting Act," 2004)

This required that certain provisions must be followed at all times for various entities such as: credit bureaus, consumer specialty reporting agencies and information fund raisers. Under the law, credit bureaus are required to provide consumers with: all information about them inside the agency's files, take steps to verify accuracy and they cannot hold onto negative information for more than 10 years. In the case of consumer specialty reporting agencies, they are required to disclose to the individual all information they have about them to include: medical records, check.....