Analytical Essay on Online Privacy

Running head: IT PROFESSION AND ETHICS 1
Assignment 1: Analytical Essay on Online Privacy
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IT PROFESSION AND ETHICS 2
Assignment 1: Analytical Essay on Online Privacy
Introduction
The progression of internet technology has been characterized with an extraordinary
increase in availability of information. The increased online services and instantaneous
communication has considerably made life easier. Nowadays, nearly everything is available
online from banking, retailing, shopping to education. The online service providers are shifting
to a more personal and customized strategies from product centric strategies to market their
goods to reduce service costs. However, such developments may make life easier, they are also
accompanied by their dark sides. The dark side is that such innovations raise questions
concerning ethical value of privacy either through ignorance or through the direct efforts by the
stakeholders to access confidential data without the user’s conscience. The advancement in the
internet could also imply that improper use of internet could be a threat to people’s privacy. This
article seek to explore the issues that have emerged around this subject and offer opinions based
on case studies. In particular, it will present a discussion on the “Retail rewards programs: what’s
the price of loyalty” case study.
What is privacy? What is digital privacy? Describe digital privacy in Australia.
In the background case, two loyalty programs (Coles and Woolworth) are examined by
Australian privacy Commissioner who are found to be awarding privacy notices consistent with
their practices. However, some key issues regarding privacy breach need clarification. On
matters with loyalty programs, people value saving than anything including privacy. But privacy
is an issue that has taken a significant portion of internet since its innovation. It has attracted the
attention of various researchers. Studies view privacy from various perspectives. However, the

IT PROFESSION AND ETHICS 3
views burn down to the ability of an individual to seclude themselves or their information. The
privacy as far as digital error is concerned is known as digital privacy. The digital privacy
include the protection of the information of an individual that is used in or created through
internet on a personal device or computer. It is concerned with the information available online
about a given individual or a group.
According to studies, 80% of population expound that the loyalty programs are worthy
for the rewards and savings they provide (Yoo, Bai & Singh, 2018, June). This comes after 30
percent of the respondents agree that the program require a lot of personal data. 20% of
consumers however says they would not get involved in the program for the reason that is not
ideal as far as privacy is concerned. A good number are not careful while signing up for the
reward programs. The programs are worthwhile anyway. However, there has been many issues
revolving around the loyalty programs and privacy (Kumar & Reinartz, 2018; So, Danaher &
Gupta, 2015). Cyber criminals have found ways to illegally acquire sensitive information and use
them in various ways.
Other cases pertaining to privacy breach are Cambridge analytica of the US and the
Office of the Australian Information Commissioner OAIC breach. The British political data
organization accessed and manipulated for more than 8.7 million US citizens in Facebook in
unethical manner for political gains. A scandal which elucidate a serious breach of IT ethics and
professionalism. In another case, the OAIC reported that personal information for over 10
million Australians suffered a breach. The breach was revealed January 2019 under the notifiable
data breach scheme in the quarterly statistics report (Johnston, 2019).
In the face of digital privacy associated with the loyalty cards, the Australian government
are looking for options to address such issues. The government, as noted in the law library of