Information Technology Industry in Washington, DC: Regulatory Frameworks

Law and Policy Case Study

Overview of legal environment of Washington, DC

Washington, DC is among the U.S. states that hold most of the U.S. economy. The central location of Washington, DC, provides it with strategic business opportunities and other related economic activities that contribute to the overall economy of the U.S. The strategic location of Washington, DC, implies that it has various legal regulations that influence the execution of different activities within the state. Among the regulations, include those issued by the federal, state, local, and tribal governments alongside the organizational policies that influence the behavior of organizations in Washing, DC. These laws comply with the constitutional, civil, criminal, due diligence, and administrative laws of the U.S. The presence of these regulations mean that the environment provided in the Washington, DC favors various activities aimed at stimulating overall economic growth (Mann & Roberts, 2013).

Applicable laws and regulations to the Information Technology Industry

A variety of laws, regulations, and policies regulate the behaviors of the IT organizations in the Washington, DC. Civil law governs the state and focuses on the relationships and conflicts existing between various organizational entities and their consumers. Criminal law oversees the activities and behaviors considered harmful to the society and is the responsibility of the federal state government. The criminal laws also oversee the behavior of the private and the public corporations held with the responsibility of ensuring social security and environmental protection. Private and public laws also govern the behaviors of the information technology organizations in the Washington, DC. Private law comprises of the commercial and labor laws that regulate the relationship that exist between individuals and the IT organizations. Public laws control the administration and the structure of the IT organizations affiliated with the government agencies and their relationship with its citizens, organizational stakeholders, and other governments (Li, 2007).

IT organizations in the Washington, DC also conform to different regulations to ensure they promote a healthy environment that ensures equity and healthy competition between the organizations. They adhere to regulations that promote privacy of consumer information. The regulations ensure the responsibility of the IT organizations to common carriers and protection of individual privacy. IT organizations also have to adhere to cyber security regulations. Federal and state governments provide regulations for preventing cyber security. Among the cyber security regulations, they adhere to include Federal Information Security Management Act, Homeland Security Act, and Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (Cross & Miller, 2007).

In addition, the IT organizations in the Washington, DC comply with various organizational policies that ensure the creation and promotion of a healthy environment characterized with compliance with laws, regulations, and policies. IT organizations adhere to organizational ethics that ensure compliance with the stated organizational laws, policies, and regulations. As stated in the Washington, DC business regulations, organizations should adhere to varied organizational policies, including ensuring privacy of the information of their consumers, environmental safety and sustainability, preventing cyber insecurity, and recognition of one's intellectual outputs (Mann & Roberts, 2013).

Impact of the above policies, rules, and regulations in the performance of the IT organizations

The above stated organizational policies, regulations, and laws influence significantly the management of operations and decision-making in the IT organizations in the Washington, DC. When there is a lack of sound policies, laws, and regulations regulating the activities of organizations, low organizational performance has often resulted. Robust governance as evidenced by the presence of sound regulations, policies, and laws that control the behavior, activities, and decision-making of different organizations result in improved and sustained performance. Similarly, presence of rules, regulations, and policies influence the performance and behavior of the IT organizations significantly. Presence of legal regulations, policies, and laws contribute to the adoption of the desired organizational behaviors by the IT organizations. As such, adoption of the desired behaviors ensures safety of the employees, consumers, and the environment of the organization. The legal frameworks ensure the IT organizations ensure responsibility and accountability of the IT organizations for their actions. The responsibility contributes to the creation of the business environment that promotes healthy competition and recognition of employee and consumer value to organizational performance. In addition, the legal frameworks ensure that the IT organizations uphold their responsibility of maintaining confidentiality of the information of their publics (Goodwin & Calabrese, 1994).

The legal frameworks also ensure that the IT companies collaborate with other agencies involved in ensuring security and privacy of the consumer information. The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) that handles the responsibility of analyzing information from different sources, including the IT organizations to give national security intelligence assessment to the policy makers for the execution of responsive measures is among the agencies that collaborate with the IT organizations. It is inarguable that the CIA provides the IT companies with the required security programs considered effective in ensuring the privacy of the information about the clients they serve. As recognized by Beatty, Samuelson, and Bredeson (2013), the CIA provides recommendations for the IT organizations with the most effective strategies against breach of privacy of their data depending on threat assessment and analysis reports.