Legal, Ethical and Professional Issues: Week 5

Links:
http://www.privacy.gov.au/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=629&Itemid=848
- Provides information on the Privacy Act, State and Territory privacy laws and other relevant Australian and international legislation.

http://www.efa.org.au/Issues/Privacy/cybercrimeact.html
- Overview of Laws and Acts concerning cybercrime/computer crime legislation

http://www-07.ibm.com/systems/au/information_infrastructure/solutions/information_security/
- Company that provides Information security to its clients, provides services in securing information.

http://www.oecd.org/document/62/0,3343,en_21571361_36139259_36296830_1_1_1_1,00.html
- Provides a list of Australia’s initiatives towards information security

http://www.aisa.org.au/
- Australian Information security association where members can come together and contribute information regarding security.

http://www.dsd.gov.au/
- The official website for the Australian government department of Defence Intelligence and security.

Research Methodology

Google was the only search engine used for research. Using the keywords provided in Moodle, I initially performed a search for pages within Australia. After this initial search, I tried a combination of words relating to security. Once I opened a couple of websites, it snowballed from there, where I opened one website that consisted of links to other websites. This is how found the above resources.

Important Resources

I felt all the resources above where important and relevant, however, I have narrowed it down to three most important resources and they are:

- Electronic Frontiers Australia (Cybercrime/Computer Crime Legislation)
- AISA (Australian Information Security Association)
- Australian Government Privacy Law

The first resource to me was important as it provides an overview of how the Cybercrime legislation was formed and for users who are interested; there are links to other pages with in-depth explanations as well. The EFA is a credible source and hence the information provided in the website is deemed to be correct.

The second resource is also important as it claims to be the ‘information security hub of Australia’. It ‘promotes awareness and understanding of Information Security Issues in an independent and unbiased manner’. As it is a portal for all Australians to come together and exchange information about security among each other, it seems like a great platform where users are able to put their views, ideas and news that they come across. As such, users who visit this site will be able to gain an overall idea about what Information Security is.

The third resource is the Australian Government website dedicated to Privacy Law. This source is credible, up-to-date and provides a detailed explanation of the Privacy Act for each of the states of Australia. It provides comprehensive information and people will be able to get a detailed explanation of rules and regulations regarding Privacy in Australia.

Local and International Privacy Laws

Local Australian Privacy laws are no doubt different from other countries such as America or the UK. This difference can make it difficult for countries to enforce their laws regarding Information Security if a breach was to take place from another country. Although almost all authorities can act against a domestic data controller for the benefit of a foreign individual, many are limited in or uncertain about their authority to protect their own citizens from privacy breaches by a foreign controller. A report by the OECD titled ‘Report on the Cross- Border Enforcement of Privacy Laws’ states that “Work by the Council of Europe, the European Union, and APEC has helped establish frameworks for enforcement co-operation among enforcement authorities on a regional basis.” Hence countries have started to work together to combat these grey areas that are present due to the differences in privacy laws in different countries.