Assessment of Privacy, Copyright, Ethics, and WHS in IT Context

This assignment addresses key aspects of IT law, covering privacy and copyright issues within an organizational context. It begins by identifying types of data protected by privacy and copyright legislation, followed by an analysis of the legality of circumventing region coding on DVDs. The assignment then delves into copyright considerations for sourcing IT images from the internet, including different types of copyright, usage restrictions, and required acknowledgements. Further, the assignment explores the relationship between an organization's privacy policy, code of ethics, and the concepts of access and equity. Finally, it examines the intersection of Work Health and Safety (WHS) policies and procedures with privacy and ethics. The provided solution offers comprehensive answers to each question, providing insights into legal and ethical considerations relevant to IT professionals and organizations. This assignment helps students understand the importance of protecting data, respecting intellectual property, and adhering to ethical guidelines in the IT industry.

Question 1:
The potential impact of Privacy and Copyright breaches on an organisation can be great. List the
types of data within an organisation that you believe could be protected by Privacy and
Copyright legislation.
Software/Computer Programs
Personal Information
Audio/visual
Music
Designs
Trade marks
Trade Secrets
Question 2:
Through legitimate sources, you have purchased an overseas DVD. You have found that the
region coding on the DVD is for a different region and will not play on your Australian DVD
player. Are you able to legitimately circumvent this region coding, either by using software or
hardware, to enable the DVD to be played? Explain your answer.
Circumventing the region code on your DVD is perfectly legal but may result in a void of warranty.
The purposed explanation for region code locking boils down to money. Due to movies being
released in different parts of the world at different times, a leaked copy of a movie from overseas
before its released in theatres here in Australia has the potential to reduce financial returns. The
region code acts as a soft mitigation for this scenario.
Methods of circumventing the region coding include; purchasing region-free or multi-region DVD
players, changing the region code of the current DVD player (this may only have a limited amount of
changes available e.g. five times) or utilizing software to change or bypass the region code.
Question 3:
You have been asked to source ‘IT technology’ images from the internet. In one to two
paragraphs:
a) Explain the types of copyright that can apply to these images,
b) The restrictions that apply to using the different types of copyright,
c) How these images can be used, and
d) What type of acknowledgement is required.
Copyright attaches automatically to original works published or unpublished. This means that
creators of images online can take legal action against infringers of their work. I have two main
options when using images pulled from the internet, these include Copyrighted works or Copyright-
free works. I can use Copyrighted images if I am complying one or both of the following
circumstances.
1. If I am granted permission by the owner (from purchase or good will) to use their image. I
need to include a note somewhere on the page or in a caption that attributes the image
source. It is also highly recommended that the works are not featured too much or altered
without explicit permissions.
2. If I am using the image for purposes of commentary, review, or criticism.

Using Copyright-free images is a lot less hassle Copyrighted images. There are two main options with
Copyright-free works which are explained as follows.
Public Domain
This occurs when the copyright has expired, or the owner has declared the resource Public
Domain. These can be used freely without permission or attribution to the creator.
Creative Common
These resources can be used freely without permission as long as the following
requirements are met.
 Creator is credited
 Title of the work is provided
 The URL where the work is hosted is provided
 Provide a link to the licence and indicate the type of licence the work is available under
 Keep intact any copyright notice associated with the work
There are Sub-categories of Creative Common copyright licences that may let the work be
changed or altered or may require it to never be altered. These should be adhered to.
Question 4:
Explain your thoughts on the following statement – ‘An organisation’s privacy policy, and code of
ethics, do not need to consider access and equity.’
In response to the statement, “An organisation’s privacy policy and code of ethics, do not need to
consider access and equity” I feel the statement is somewhat ambiguous with its mention of access
and equity. In this context, my interpretation of access and equity I believe refers to access to
resources and an equal right to access them among either staff or clients. Based on this
interpretation I consider the statement to be incorrect. This is because if an organisation is covered
by the Privacy Act it must comply with the rules of the Australian Privacy Principles which govern
how companies collect, use, store and disclose personal information. This directly relates to what
information staff and clients legally have access to and therefore for an organisation to not consider
the access of this information within their privacy policy or their code of ethics would be
unsatisfactory. It would additionally go against the social implications within the Code of Ethics.

Question 5:
You are aware that there are Work Health and Safety (WHS) policy and procedures in your
organisation.
In one to two paragraphs explain how WHS relates to the areas of privacy and ethics.
Work Health and Safety policy and procedures are intertwined with privacy and ethics. The code of
ethics is built upon honesty and accountability and without those two traits alone, an employee
cannot be trusted with following WHS polices and procedures. Furthermore, as part of the code of
ethics it stipulates that one must do the following; make themselves aware of relevant standards
and acts, must advise clients or employers when a purposed project is not in their best interest,
must protect and promote health and safety of those affected by their work, must consider and
respect people’s privacy which might be affected by work. All this points directly back at the basis of
WHS policies and procedures.