Investigating Ethical and Legal Issues in Web Technology Startup

This report examines the ethical and legal challenges faced by a startup company launching a web application in Australia. Focusing on data privacy requirements under laws like the Privacy Act 1988 and the Australian Privacy Principles, it emphasizes the need for transparency, consent, accountability, and purpose limitation in handling shopper data. The report also addresses the ethical implications of the company's advertising policy, particularly concerning the use of previously collected data for targeted product recommendations without explicit consent, potentially violating APP3. By consulting various resources, including Australian laws, OAIC guidelines, and peer-reviewed journals, the report concludes that startups must prioritize ethical and legal compliance to compete effectively, especially in areas like data handling and advertising practices, while also respecting shopper's rights regarding their personal data.

Running head: ETHICAL AND LEGAL ISSUES IN WEB TECHNOLOGY 1
Ethical and Legal Issues in Web Technology
Student’s Name
Date

ETHICAL AND LEGAL ISSUES IN WEB TECHNOLOGY 2
Introduction
Online businesses need to abide by ethical and legal issues which are crucial and
fundamental in launching and management of such businesses. When starting a business some
ethical and legal issues could include establishing and signing contracts, business licenses,
employment of new employers, establishing and registering trademarks, coming up with policies
and carrying out other business operations (Bennett & Raab, 2017). As an intern in a company
assigned to investigate legal and ethical issues around a startup company intending to launch an
online web application, my focus will be on requirements for data privacy as a legal issue and
identification of policies for advertising of illegal or unethical products as an ethical issue. Data
privacy is a branch of data security which is concerned with how organizations handle and use
client’s data (Martin & Murphy, 2017). Advertisements on the other hand are notices that are
aimed at promoting products, services or platforms.
I focused on these topics because of their importance for startup companies and due to
the recent trends in misappropriation of customer and employee data as reported on 30th May
2019 ABC News. Other global misuse of data has recently been witnessed in Facebook and
Twitter according to OAIC (Mittelstadt et al., 2016). Several companies have also been reported
for wrong, misleading or unclear advertisements aimed at fulfilling their business ambitions as
seen in Brisbane times in the lawsuit over weed killer Roundup (Leikas & Kulju, 2018). This
report therefore looks into these issues in Australia consulting a wide range of resources as
discussed below.

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Resources
While conducting my research on the legal and ethical issues around the web application
by the startup company, most resources on legal issues were intertwined with ethical issues
which made my work easier given my major focus was on Australia. Some of the resources
consulted in coming up with this paper include: Australian laws and regulations such as Privacy
Act 1988, The Australian Consumer Law and Australian Privacy Principles. The privacy Act
1988 is an important and major Australian law that helps in dealing with the issue of privacy, it
captures and contains vast details from other laws such as Invasion of Privacy Act 1971,
Information Privacy Act 2014, Workplace Privacy Act 2011, Personal Information Act 2004 and
Privacy and Data Protection Act 2014. The Australian Consumer Law has also been key in the
protection of consumer rights since its amendment (Pearson, 2018).
Other resources that have been used are publications and information from organizations
such as Office of the Australian Information Commissioner (OAIC) and European Union
General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) (Bennett, 2018). GDRP are regulations by the
European Union that organizations under it must follow while OAIC is government agency
formerly known as Office of the Australian Privacy Commissioner whose purpose is to enforce
Privacy Act 1988, Freedom of Information Act 1982 and other government information policies
(Witzleb & Wagner, 2018). Lastly, other peer reviewed journals have been used in expounding
into the research topics. These resources are very useful in this research due to their in-depth
analysis of the research topics.

ETHICAL AND LEGAL ISSUES IN WEB TECHNOLOGY 4
Discussion
Legal Issues Discussion
The following are the requirements for data privacy given that the company will be
keeping personal information on the shoppers. Firstly, they are required to abide by Privacy Act
as per s5B (2) due to their business involvement in Australia as specialized under that section,
secondly as per APP1 the company is required to act transparently when handling personal
information. Which means that the organization has to come up with means of achieving
transparency (Schlehahn & Wenning, 2018). Thirdly one of the key requirement is consent, also
referred to as lawful processing consent entails an individual agreeing to the processing of their
data. The startup company should ensure that before they use the data of shoppers in carrying out
rating or other activity they notify them as per article 6 and 9 of GDPR.
The company should also demonstrate accountability and governance in actions such as
complying with all principles as per article 24, and implementing measures that ensure
accountability as per article 25. Other requirements are purpose limitation and data
proportionality, purpose limitations entails that the data collected from the shopper for its
specific purpose should only be used for that purpose and any other use is illegal as per APP6,
proportionality on the other hand entails ensuring that data is updated and relevant as per APP10
(Cornock, 2018).
The startup company is supposed to ensure that it does not interfere with the shoppers
right in regards to their data which is right to restrict and change processing, delete and change
errors, remove consent and refuse use of the data for marketing. The company is required to

ETHICAL AND LEGAL ISSUES IN WEB TECHNOLOGY 5
notify the shoppers in the case that their data has been breached or interfered with in any
unintended manner within 72 hours as per article 33 and 34 of GDPR.
Ethical Issue Discussion
The new company has a policy of advertising its new products through recommendation
of new products to previous clients using prior information that is collected by the application
when they did their first shopping. While this policy seems tactical and effective it can also be
illegal based on the requirements that were discussed earlier when handing legal issues. It is
illegal to undertake such an act given that there is no information on the consent of the shoppers.
Yet, in order to use or manipulate data provided by the shopper they are supposed to get the
consent from the shopper as per APP3. O Otherwise, they can be reported to Office of the
Australian Information Commissioner (OAIC).
Conclusion
In conclusion, there is a great need for starting companies to abide by ethical and legal
issues as they struggle to battle their older competitors in the business world. This need entails
abiding by legal requirements which are consent, transparency, accountability and governance,
notifications and enforcement of the shopper’s rights (Watts & Casanovas, 2018). However, the
advertising policy of the startup company is illegal given that it does not meet the requirements
that are to guarantee its legality. This report has consulted several laws and regulations, polices
and other peer reviewed articles in its compilation.

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Reference
Bennett, C. J., & Raab, C. D. (2017). The governance of privacy: Policy instruments in global
perspective. Routledge.
Bennett, S. (2018). GDPR: Change to European privacy laws and its impact on Australian
businesses. Governance Directions, 70(2), 85.
Cornock, M. (2018). General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and implications for
research. Maturitas, 111, A1.
Leikas, J., & Kulju, M. (2018). Ethical consideration of home monitoring technology: A
qualitative focus group study. Gerontechnology, 17(1), 38-47.
Martin, K. D., & Murphy, P. E. (2017). The role of data privacy in marketing. Journal of the
Academy of Marketing Science, 45(2), 135-155.
Mittelstadt, B. D., Allo, P., Taddeo, M., Wachter, S., & Floridi, L. (2016). The ethics of
algorithms: Mapping the debate. Big Data & Society, 3(2), 2053951716679679.
Pearson, G. (2018). Enforcement and Effectiveness of Consumer Law in Australia.
In Enforcement and Effectiveness of Consumer Law (pp. 75-97). Springer, Cham.

ETHICAL AND LEGAL ISSUES IN WEB TECHNOLOGY 7
Schlehahn, E., & Wenning, R. (2018, August). GDPR Transparency Requirements and Data
Privacy Vocabularies. In IFIP International Summer School on Privacy and Identity
Management (pp. 95-113). Springer, Cham.
Watts, D., & Casanovas, P. (2018). Privacy and Data Protection in Australia: a Critical overview.
Witzleb, N., & Wagner, J. (2018). When Is Personal Data about or Relating to an Individual a
Comparison of Australian, Canadian, and EU Data Protection and Privacy Laws. Can. J.
Comp. & Contemp. L., 4, 293.