The Four Laws relating to ICT

• Health and safety • Data protection act • Copyright• Computer misuse act

By Marcus Ellis

Health and safetyHealth and safety is for the workers which work for the company this

law ensures there safety.

• The Health and Safety at Work Act is the foremost piece of legislation for securing the health, safety and welfare of people at work.

• It stipulates rules for the possession and use of dangerous substances and sets targets for controlling certain emissions. The Act aims to place general duties on employees, managers and people in control of work premises.

• Both the Health & Safety Commission (HSC) and Health and Safety Executive (HSE) were established by the Act which includes penalties for breaches of law and is the source of Crown Immunity.

Data Protection act• The Data Protection Act 1998 gives you the right to access

information held about you by organisations. The act governs how organisations can use the personal information that they hold - including how they acquire, store, share or dispose of it.The act is administered and enforced by the Information Commissioner - an independent authority who is appointed by the Queen and reports directly to parliament.

• Data protection is an international issue which results from European legislation

Computer misuse act• The Computer Misuse Act 1990 (CMA) is an act of the UK

Parliament passed in 1990. CMA is designed to frame legislation and controls over computer crime and Internet fraud. The legislation was created to:

• Criminalize unauthorized access to computer systems. • Deter serious criminals from using a computer in the

commission of a criminal offence or seek to hinder or impair access to data stored in a computer.

• The CMA is broad and sweeping, but has also been broadly and liberally applied in the courts. This has raised concerns among privacy advocates and those who believe in circumscribing government influence on daily life and behaviour. Nevertheless, the CMA has served as a model for computer crime legislation in other Commonwealth countries, most notably Ireland and Canada.

Copyright • The Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988, is the current UK copyright law. It

gives the creators of literary, dramatic, musical and artistic works the right to control the ways in which their material may be used. The rights cover: Broadcast and public performance, copying, adapting, issuing, renting and lending copies to the public. In many cases, the creator will also have the right to be identified as the author and to object to distortions of his work.

• Copyright arises when an individual or organization creates a work, and applies to a work if it is regarded as original, and exhibits a degree of labour, skill or judgment.

• Interpretation is related to the independent creation rather than the idea behind the creation. For example, your idea for a book would not itself be protected, but the actual content of a book you write would be. In other words, someone else is still entitled to write their own book around the same idea, provided they do not directly copy or adapt yours to do so.

• Names, titles, short phrases and colors are not generally considered unique or substantial enough to be covered, but a creation, such as a logo, that combines these elements may be.

• Normally the individual or collective who authored the work will exclusively own the rights. However, if a work is produced as part of employment then normally the work belongs to the person/company who hired the individual. For freelance or commissioned work, rights will usually belong to the author of the work, unless there is an agreement to the contrary, (i.e. in a contract for service).

Consequences There are consequences for failing to obey the rules of ICT and they are

Copyright violation This will mostly result in fines but repeated offences may cause court action to the

company/person responsible Health and safetyThis is more serous one violation that causes a injury or death could be a £300.000

fine or up to two years in prison for the person responsibleData Protection actIf the data protection act is not followed the information commissioner has the

power to fine someone £5000 and issue the person responsible with a criminal record

Computer misuse actFailure to obey this rule can lead to many things the first offence will only lead to a

warning but if the crime committed is more serous such as transferring money from someone's bank account this could result in permanent ban from using a pc anywhere and possible imprisonment