Information Technology Acts What Were the Advances

Information Technology Acts

What were the advances in information technology that resulted in new ethical issues necessitating the creation of each act?

One of the common challenges that most regulations will face is keeping up with the changes in the technology. As the law, is designed to provide everyone with some kind of protection against potential abuse. However, improvements in technology have transformed the way that everyone is living their daily lives. This is when the laws must be updated to reflect these advancements. In some cases, this involves taking existing regulations and addressing specific issues. While at other times, this requires implementing new guidelines that will address specific moral and ethical issues. Two such regulations are: the Fair Credit Reporting Act of 1970 and the Do Not Call Implementation Act of 2003.

Fair Credit Reporting Act of 1970

The Fair Credit Reporting Act of 1970 was implemented to address the large amounts of information that were being collected, stored and evaluated about consumers. This was part of an effort to provide lenders, employers and other organizations with a history of the person (based on their ability to pay their bills / residential history / employment related issues). However, the fact that large amounts of personal data were collected raised concerns about possible civil rights abuses. As a result, the federal government enacted the Fair Credit Reporting Act of 1970. ("The Fair Credit Reporting Act," 2004)

This required that certain provisions must be followed at all times for various entities such as: credit bureaus, consumer specialty reporting agencies and information fund raisers. Under the law, credit bureaus are required to provide consumers with: all information about them inside the agency's files, take steps to verify accuracy and they cannot hold onto negative information for more than 10 years. In the case of consumer specialty reporting agencies, they are required to disclose to the individual all information they have about them to include: medical records, check writing history, work experience, residency information and insurance claims. Information providers must follow different provisions of the law including: ensuring that all information is accurate, investigating all disputes and informing consumers about any negative information they have on them (inside their files). To enforce possible breaches of the act, consumers can sue agencies in the form a civil lawsuit. The penalties for violating these provisions include: a $1,000 fine, attorney's fees and punitive damages for these actions. This is showing how the law was designed to prevent the misuse of consumer information from changes in technology. ("The Fair Credit Reporting Act," 2004)

Do Not Call Implementation Act of 2003

As time went by, the advancement in technology meant that consumer information was provided to marketers. They began using this data and the telephone to contact potential customers. The problem with this kind of approach was that improvements in technology lowered the costs of reaching out to customers. Once this occurred, is when a wide variety of organizations began continually calling consumers at various times of the day. This lead to frustrations about the tactics many firms were using to make sales and the volume of calls that were made by these companies. ("Do Not Call List," 2012) ("Pursuant to Do Not Call Implementation Act," 2005)