The use of ethical, legal and operational issues in..
Contents: Data protection act:
Page 3
Computer misuse act:
Page 5
Freedom of information act: Page 6 Whistle blowing:
Page 7
Use of email/internet:
Page 8
Procedures:
Page 9
Bibliography:
Page 11
Data protection act 1998 – “The Data Protection Act controls how your personal information is used by organisations, businesses or the government. Everyone responsible for using data has to follow strict rules called ‘data protection principles’” https://www.gov.uk/data-protection/the-dataprotection-act This means that Nintendo has to follow a set of rules to ensure that use of personal information is used in an appropriate manner, by:
Using it for specifically stated purposes If they’re to use it, it has to be relevant and not excessive. Shouldn’t be kept for longer than necessary It has to be kept in a safe & secure location Cannot travel outside the UK without protection If information is to be used, it must be accurate & where necessary, kept up-to date Processed fairly & lawfully Nintendo like any other company will keep information on their consumers & will have to abide by these principals when keeping it, the use of information they keep is in different categories, this is how they abide by the current legislation, thus these policies and code of conduct has been made by Nintendo: “YOUR INFORMATION Information you provide to us. We collect information that you provide to us when you use our products and services or anytime you are in contact with us. Some types of information you may provide include:
Registration information that you may be required to provide when you sign up to use our services, including your name, address, telephone number, and email address; Login information that you use to sign in to our services, such as your username and password; Demographic information about you, including your age, gender, hobbies, interests, and country of residence; Payment information that you submit, including your credit card number, expiration date, and credit card security code, where needed to complete a transaction you have initiated;
Messages, photos, videos, drawings, audio recordings and other information shared by you through the interactive features of our products and services; Correspondence you send directly to us; and Information you provide to us offline (through, for example, regular mail, in-person sweepstakes entry forms, and consumer service transactions such as repairs, part orders and direct purchases).
Information we collect automatically. We collect some information automatically when you use our products and services. Some types of information we collect automatically include:
Information about your use of our products, services and websites, including your browser type, operating system, platform, IP address, MAC address, language and region; Information about websites you visited before and after visiting our websites, search queries that landed you on our websites, search queries you conducted on our websites, and pages and advertisements you viewed and links you clicked on while using our websites; Information about your Nintendo device including device serial number, device ID, wireless access point, and other technical information about your device; and Information about your game play, online status, use of our online services, friends and friend codes, purchases, and other information about your interactions with our products and services.
DISCLOSURE OF INFORMATION At times we may make certain information that we collect available to our affiliated companies, to our third party partners, to other Nintendo users, and for other legal and business purposes. For example:
Nintendo Affiliates. We may share information with other Nintendo affiliated companies that use it consistent with this Privacy Notice. Third Parties. We may share information with our third party partners to help us perform various functions necessary to operate our business or fulfill your requests (for example, completing downloads or purchases, developing and executing marketing campaigns). We also may share such information to, for example, complete your transactions, provide you with advertising and other promotional materials, and assist in the creation of user accounts with third parties. Other Users. We may share information, including, for example, your Mii name, Mii profile information, online status, Mii greeting, and other game play information, with other Nintendo users when you use the online features of our products and services.
General Public. When you use our online services, for example Miiverse, your Mii name, Mii profile and certain gameplay information may be displayed on the internet and be seen by the general public. Friends. Some of our products and services allow you to add friends to a friend list. Through the friend list and friend messaging features, certain information that you have provided, or that is stored on your Nintendo device, including your Mii name, Mii profile information, Mii greeting, online status, rankings, and other user or game play information, may be shared with your friends. Local Communications. Some Nintendo devices have local communication features that can be activated by you. These features allow some of your information to be collected and shared, automatically, with us and with other Nintendo users. These features also allow us, and other Nintendo users, to automatically contact and interact with you. When these features are enabled by you, you may receive information about, and communications from, other Nintendo users, and you may also receive advertising and promotional materials from Nintendo and its third party partners. You may disable these local communication features at any time through the system settings on your Nintendo device. Legal and Business Purposes. We may disclose your information in order to comply with legal process, to respond to claims or inquiries, or to protect the rights, property or personal safety of Nintendo, our users, or the public. Your information may also be disclosed as part of any sale or transfer of company assets, if legally permitted.”
Computer misuse act 1990 – “An act to make provision for securing computer material and against unauthorised access or for modification; and connected for purposes” http://www.teachict.com/as_a2_ict_new/ocr/AS_G061/317_role_impact_ict/computer_misuse_act/miniweb/ Prior to 1990 Hacking was becoming a real issue, and there was nothing in place to persecute those who were part of it, thus this act was introduced it prevents from:
Unauthorised access to computer material Unauthorised access with intent to commit or facilitate a crime Unauthorised modification of computer material Making, supplying or obtaining anything which can be used in computer misuse offence
Nintendo complies with this current legalisation with part of their code of practice being an agreement under “Terms of use” by continuing to use the Nintendo website; it means that they agree to not break the computer misuse act. This is a quote from The Nintendo’s terms of use:
This is a quote from The Nintendo’s terms of use:
“You must only use the Website for lawful purposes. You must not misuse the Website by introducing viruses, trojans, worms, logic bombs or other material which is malicious or technologically harmful. You must not attempt to gain unauthorised access to the Website, the server on which the Website is stored or any other server, computer or database connected to the internet. You must not attack the Website via a denial-of-service attack, distributed denial-of-service attack, or similar. By breaching this provision, you may commit a criminal offence under the Computer Misuse Act 1990 or other applicable law. We may report such breaches to the relevant law enforcement authorities and will co-operate with those authorities by disclosing your identity to them. In the event of a breach by you, your right to use the Website will cease immediately without further notice.”
Freedom of information act – “The Act covers any recorded information that is held by a public authority in England, Wales and Northern Ireland, and by UK-wide public authorities based in Scotland. Information held by Scottish public authorities is covered by Scotland’s own Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002.” http://ico.org.uk/for_organisations/freedom_of_information/guide/act In short, this act provides access to information held by public authorities. Nintendo does not need to comply with this act as they’re not part of public authorities. “Public authorities include government departments, local authorities, the NHS, state schools and police forces.”
Whistle blowing – This is when a worker speaks out, about anything that is wrong with inside the company. Officially this is called “making a disclosure in the public interest”. https://www.gov.uk/whistleblowing/overview A worker can report: Illegal activity inside the business People at work neglecting duties People’s health and safety is in danger Damage to environment Covering up wrongdoing Although, Nintendo has no policy on whistleblowing, it would be illegal for them to fire anyone from doing so and there are no reported cases of this happening. Employees from Nintendo have spoken out about the company, this was written on May 23rd of 2011: “Cons – No layoffs means no change. Many of the management are there for 20+ year, and proud of it. Many of them joined Nintendo fresh out of college, or in some cases, high school. They do not know how the world outside Nintendo works. They do not know managers in the other successful companies are highly educated and competitive. Because the old timers won't leave, there's no room for young talented people to move up. Many smart young people left. Those who get promotions are lazy workers who spend 50% of his day sucking up to management, lying about his achievements. Very disappointing for honest, hardworking, capable people. Advice to Senior Management – The review in ONLY top down. No manager gets comments from subordinates. No use to complain to manager above, as they all protect themselves, knowing the limitation of their competencies. They really need 360 degree review process.” As Nintendo have no policy on whistleblowing in their code of conduct, this Nintendo employee was able to say exactly how they feel.
Use of email – Organisations have policies regarding on the correct use of email to ensure that it is used properly. This will be such as: Use email as a memo Do not use email to send large documents Use email to give information to a large group of people Do not use email for long term storage Nintendo sends out emails to their customers showing promotions, new games, events, confirmation emails for orders, keeping customers up-to date with the latest going on in Nintendo, and Nintendo uses customer’s email to reply to any emails set in by the customer as responding to their questions. Use of internet – Companies also have code of practices on the use of internet, on what their employees can and can’t do with it. This also manages selling on the internet. Nintendo uses the internet to sell to customers as they have an e-shop, where products can be downloaded and delivered. They use it to advertise new products, old ones and future ones. They use it to inform customers about what is going on in Nintendo and to have it as a social space for people who are members.
This is their e-shop.
Operational issues in relation to use of business information – Nintendo has to store and manage a lot of information, thus there are two fundamental issues ensuring that Nintendo receives the information it requires and the appropriate members of staff receives the information. To make sure that information is managed in the appropriate method, policies and procedures have been put in place. Security of information – This procedure deals with managing and maintaining the availability and integrity of Nintendo’s information and knowledge. Nintendo needs to have the right information available to be able to make the best decisions that affect the company, for this reason most of their data is stored on IT based systems, however this leaves the risk of malicious attacks and system failure. Thus, the IT security policy will take into account the common risks of viruses and such and defends against them; this includes, secure login identification and controls that limit access to information; Nintendo has a lot of information on customers and the company stored online, making this procedure very important. Backups – With generating information, there is always the risk of losing it, which can really disrupt the business day and cause a lot of time being wasted into reproducing the information. Because of this risk a procedure has been put into play where backups are made of information, some companies do this more frequently than others. This means that if any of the live data has been damaged or lost, there is a backup waiting with all the information that is needed, these backups will be stored on a separate hardware from the live information, meaning that if the whole live system is affected the backup information will not be lost with it. Nintendo generates a lot of information on things such as, developing new games or consoles, it is important to back up this information so that they can keep any new development plans going as quickly as possible and have edge over the competition. Health and safety – Computers can be hazardous, and the jobs at Nintendo require a lot of time spent sitting at the computer, this can lead to bad posture, and incorrect positioning of equipment can lead to susceptibility to repetitive strain injury (RSI) thus, these are health and safety risks that employers need to take seriously to ensure the wellbeing of their employees. Legislation has come into effect since 1992 to help employers make their workplace safe.
The health and safety (display screen equipment) regulations 1992, Management of health and safety at work regulations 1992, Provision and use of work equipment regulations 1992 and the workplace (health, safety and welfare) regulations 1992, all of those legislate on how the use of computers should be used within the working space. Employers of Nintendo will carry out regular workstation assessments to make sure that computer screens are at the right level, the right brightness (Etc.). Employees who suffer with RSI can be provided with ergonomic equipment such as mouse or keyboard designed to help reduce their risk of injury.
Organisational policies – these policies relate to business information, they are put into place to help ensure that decisions affecting staff are understandable and consistent, meet legal requirements, take full account of their impact and contribute to productive working relationships. These policies help to make sure that their staff in Nintendo comply with legislation. This is their code of conduct http://www.nintendo.com/corp/coc.jsp Business continuance plans – These are plans that Nintendo will put in place to help them survive any worst case scenarios, such as natural disasters, human error and malicious attacks. As a result of these plans it will change the way employees work, such as encouraging them to do backups every hour and storing information on a central server instead of a personal hard drive. Nintendo has not made public any continuance plans.
Costs – Although there are benefits to implementing the measures listed, there are drawbacks with it, such as the expense. Thus, when Nintendo decides what policies they can adopt and what measure will be put in place for them, they will consider alongside it the implementation and maintenance cost versus the benefit to Nintendo. The key considerations are: Additional resources needed – Will Nintendo have to purchase new equipment and employ additional staff? Cost of development – Is the solution already available, or will Nintendo have to develop it themselves?
Bibliography: http://www.nintendo.com/corp/csr/ http://www.nintendo.com/ http://www.nintendo.com/corp/coc.jsp https://www.gov.uk/data-protection/the-data-protection-act https://www.gov.uk/whistleblowing/overview http://ico.org.uk/for_organisations/freedom_of_information/guide/act http://www.teachict.com/as_a2_ict_new/ocr/AS_G061/317_role_impact_ict/computer_misuse_act /miniweb/ BTEC LEVEL 3 BOOK 1 – John Bevan, Helen Coupland-Smith, Rob Dransfield, John Goymer, Catherine Richards