An Analytical Essay on Online Privacy for NIT2201 Course

This essay delves into the multifaceted realm of online privacy, commencing with an exploration of its fundamental significance in safeguarding human dignity and personal information in the digital age. It examines the concept of internet privacy, encompassing the security of personal data published and transacted online, and its broad application across activities such as online purchases and social media interactions. The essay then focuses on the Australian context, outlining the Privacy Act of 1988 and the role of the Australian Privacy Principles (APPs) in data protection. It further addresses the challenges posed by digitization, including issues related to data durability, software dependencies, and intellectual property rights. The essay proposes mitigation strategies such as self-awareness, strong password protection, and the protection of internet servers. Furthermore, it compares the privacy laws of Australia and the European Union, highlighting the GDPR's emphasis on user education. The essay concludes by emphasizing the role of effective security laws in mitigating vulnerabilities and enhancing digital privacy. The essay also discusses the need for individuals to take responsibility for their own privacy, by being aware of the technologies and functions they use to avoid fraud.

Running head: REPORT ON INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY PROFESSION AND
ETHICS
REPORT
ON
INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY PROFESSION
AND
ETHICS
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note:

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Introduction:
The aim of this paper is to elaborate one of the most trending aspect which has a
significant impact nowadays while considering the growth of information technology. In
order to the above discussion this paper will also a detail explanation on the digital privacy,
followed by which it will also discuss about the regulations of digital privacy present in
Australia. Along with focusing on the issues raised due to investigation on the digital privacy
concern, this paper will discuss about the mitigation approaches which will ensure to protect
the digital equipment. Considering the above mentioned aspects it will also elaborate how the
identified issues can be mitigated by the incorporation of the effective legislation as well as
how individual can take the responsibility to reduce these (Athey et al., 2017). Followed by
this it will also consist discussion in which the comparison between the laws of digital
privacy of Australia and European Union. Lastly, it will be concluded by the discussing how
these identified laws are effective to mitigate the above findings.
Discussion:
Followed by the aspect to elaborate the significance of digital privacy it has been first
identified that privacy it nothing but the fundamental right which protects the human dignity
as well as it protects human from unwanted interference. Considering this aspect it can be
stated that internet privacy or online privacy is represents a security to the information of an
individual which has been published or transacted via the internet (Keith et al., 2017). The
term digital privacy consists of a vast area where it can be applied as it intended to influence
private data, techniques, as well as the communications which has been performed via the
utilization on internet. Along with it internet privacy is always bothered with the activities
such as internet purchase, chatting as well as any sort of online activities. Based on the aspect
of digital privacy in Australia it has been noticed that in the year 1988 a Privacy Act has been
introduced which includes the Australian Privacy Principle (APPs) (Elhai et al., 2017). In the

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Australian Privacy Principle it is mentioned that there is a significance of data protection in
order to enhance the digital privacy. After a thorough investigation on the digital privacy it
has been noticed that the government of Australia is highly concerned with the data
protection as it is significant that digital privacy it highly important in order to protect the
users private data which will enhance the security of individuals, Nowadays, this has been
high concerned topic hence, The Office of the Australian Information Commissioner
(‘OAIC’) has introduced effective legislation to enhance the data protection in Australia
(Montgomery et al., 2017).
Followed by the aspect of getting digital in every aspect with every activities it can
be state that digitization has significantly impacted our daily life as well as the working
process. However, along with the identified benefits there are several concerns present related
to the digital materials significantly affects the services as well as the activities. Considering
this aspect the identified issues related to the digital material includes the durability of the
digital products as it has been identified that since, most of the documents or files are stored
in an encrypted format hence, it becomes difficult to access or read those files as it also
required necessary hardware and software as well (Thomas et al., 2016). Thus, it can be state
that in the digitization process the staffs as well as the operators and users must be aware of
the digital components. Along with is one of the most significant issues is the short life time
of the digital devices like optical devices and the magnetic materials. Followed by this, the
issues raised due to the problems related to the software dependency. Along with this there is
a problem related to the intellectual property rights (IPR) as it is a significant barrier to the
digital materials (Isin et al., 2015). Hence, followed by the above discussion it has been
notice that there are several limitation present such as the hardware failure, media failure,
communication error, network services failure, software failure as well as the obsolescence of
hardware and media. Followed by the approach to enhance the digital privacy it has been

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determined that there are several activities which needs to be followed in order to ensure the
digital privacy. Those activity includes the self-awareness in which an individual must take
care of their online activities. Along with it the activities as well as the information present in
the social network or in the internet should be kept with strong password protection. Along
with the above instructions the digital privacy should be maintained by protecting the internet
server as well as the service providers from the external threats which may cause the huge
data loss. Hence, followed by this it can be stated that in order to ensure the digital privacy
the above mentioned activities needs to be obtained.
After a thorough investigation on the daily activities of the individuals it has been
noticed that nowadays all most every individual is present on the social media platform such
as Facebook, iCloud and Google. Thus, it is essential to ensure the data protection on the
social media platforms with effective control measures. Those measures includes the
protection towards the conversation as well as the comments with effective privacy settings
present on that platform, along with that taking care of the currents and the future posts on the
social media sites. Apart from the preventing the search engines such as Google, yahoo from
indexing the social media sites. Along with the above discussion it has been also noticed that
in order to protect the information on the social media sites it is essential to adopt the
measures which are described above. Considering the aspect of online privacy one of the
most significant topic has arrived which is concerned about the fact that do all individual
requires same level of privacy. In order to support the discussion it has been notice that
privacy is such thing which protects the dignity as well as the personal information of a
human being no matter what is the designation of that individual (Weiss et al., 2016). Hence,
it can be stated that there is no difference between the privacy levels that varies from person
to person. However, considering the current industrial growth as well as the vulnerabilities
which invokes the chances of digital privacy concern it has been noticed that apart from

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providing equal online privacy to each individual, there is a significant essentiality to provide
more protection to the financial industry, healthcare industry as well as the defence forces as
it can be stated that these industries are one of the most sensitive filed which holds several
informative contents related to individual, country and it also consists information related to
the organization as well. In order to support the privacy concern of the individuals digital data
as well as the internet activities it has been noticed that the legislators must pass effective
laws in order to protect the privacy for the utilization of the technologies (Russell et al.,
2018). Followed by this aspect it can be stated that there is a huge significance of the
incorporation of data privacy in the digital technology as in the operations of these
technology it gathers user information in order to provide more effective services to their
customers however, it is highly essential to restrict the collection of data within a limit for
any sort of business use. As per my convenient I can state that in case of any data privacy as
well as the security of an individual on the internet, the user must be aware of the
technologies as well as functions of the technology which they are using in order to avoid any
sort of fraud. Followed by this it can be stated that an individual should always take
responsibility of their own privacy (Stephen 2016). Considering this aspect it has been
noticed that most of the user does not even carefully read the terms and conditions of the data
collection which invokes the possibilities of data security issues (IGP et al., 2016).
According to Hale (2018) privacy laws of Australia and European Union has been
compared from which it has been noticed that in the Australian privacy act it is mainly
focused on the protecting the information from the external threats by enabling effective
techniques however, in case of the privacy laws of EU it has been noticed that the GDPR has
mostly concentrated about the education of the users about the gathered data followed by
which the users get fully aware of what they are doing and what information thy are sharing,
which may enhance the digital data protection (Buttarelli 2016).

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Conclusion:
Lastly, it can be stated that this paper has effectively discussed about the digital
privacy concern. Followed by which it has been determined that there are several other
functional activities which holds a significant influence towards enhancing the online data
protection. Hence, it can be concluded that followed by all of the above discussion this paper
has effectively elaborated how effective security laws may restrict the security vulnerabilities
which will enhance the Digital Privacy.

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Reference:
Athey, S., Catalini, C., & Tucker, C. (2017). The digital privacy paradox: Small money, small
costs, small talk (No. w23488). National Bureau of Economic Research.
Buttarelli, G. (2016). The EU GDPR as a clarion call for a new global digital gold standard.
Elhai, J. D., Levine, J. C., & Hall, B. J. (2017). Anxiety about electronic data hacking:
Predictors and relations with digital privacy protection behavior. Internet
Research, 27(3), 631-649.
Hale-Ross, S. (2018). Digital Privacy, Terrorism and Law Enforcement: The UK's Response
to Terrorist Communication. Routledge.
IGP, C., & CIPP, C. (2016). EU privacy regulations' impact on information
governance. Information Management, 50(1), 20.
Isin, E., & Ruppert, E. (2015). Being digital citizens. Rowman & Littlefield International.
Keith, B. E., & Steinberg, S. (2017). Parental sharing on the internet: Child privacy in the age
of social media and the pediatrician’s role. JAMA pediatrics, 171(5), 413-414.
Montgomery, K. C., Chester, J., & Milosevic, T. (2017). Ensuring young people’s digital
privacy as a fundamental right. In International handbook of media literacy
education (pp. 85-102). Routledge.
Russell, K. D., O'Raghallaigh, P., O'Reilly, P., & Hayes, J. (2018, August). Digital privacy
GDPR: a proposed digital transformation framework. In AMCIS 2018-24th Americas
Conference on Information Systems. Association for Information Systems.
Stephen, A. T. (2016). The role of digital and social media marketing in consumer
behavior. Current Opinion in Psychology, 10, 17-21.

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Thomas, J., Barraket, J., Ewing, S., MacDonald, T., Mundell, M., & Tucker, J. (2016).
Measuring Australia's digital divide: the Australian digital inclusion index 2016.
Weiss, M. A., & Archick, K. (2016). US-EU data privacy: from safe harbor to privacy shield.