Unit 4: Business Communications
Assignment 3
Legal, Ethical and Operational
P5 - Explain the legal and ethical issues in relation to the use of business
information
And
M2 - Analyse the legal, ethical and operational issues in relation to the use of
business information, using appropriate examples.
Legal Issues
There are many different pieces of legislation that are used to ensure that businesses and
customers are protected from having their information used in an inappropriate way. Three
pieces of legislation that are used to ensure information is used in the correct way is The
Data Protection Act 1998, The Freedom of Information Act 2000 and The Computer Misuse
Act 1990.
Date Protection Act 1998
This act is important as it ensures that any information a business holds about people is
used in the correct way. If the information was to be misused, then they would be breaching
the act and legal action could be taken against the business. This act sets out how the
information on databases should be stored.
The act states that information should:
o Be collected in a fair and lawful way
o Be used for the purposes stated when it was collected
o Be relevant to the intended use
o Be up to date and accurate
o Not be kept any longer than necessary
o Have procedures carried out to prevent damage to the data or the data being lost.
o Be protected from being transferred elsewhere outside of the European Economic
Area.
This legislation was reviewed and updated to the General Data Protection Regulation
(GDPR) but still is used to ensure that all data is protected.
Transport for London (TFL) would need to ensure that they comply with the regulations
outlined by The Data Protection Act to ensure all the data they store is safe and isn’t
transferred anywhere outside of the business. TFL holds a lot of personal data of both their
employees and their customers so it is crucial that this information is protected. Information
including email addresses, billing addresses, telephone numbers and credit card details
would all be stored within a customer data base that would be protected to ensure the
legislation is complied with effectively. TFL complies with this legislation effectively as they
have a data protection officer to ensure they are always complying with The Data Protection
Act. They also give details on their website on how they put measures into place to ensure
all staff and customer data is secure and protected from being misused in anyway.
Assignment 3
Legal, Ethical and Operational
P5 - Explain the legal and ethical issues in relation to the use of business
information
And
M2 - Analyse the legal, ethical and operational issues in relation to the use of
business information, using appropriate examples.
Legal Issues
There are many different pieces of legislation that are used to ensure that businesses and
customers are protected from having their information used in an inappropriate way. Three
pieces of legislation that are used to ensure information is used in the correct way is The
Data Protection Act 1998, The Freedom of Information Act 2000 and The Computer Misuse
Act 1990.
Date Protection Act 1998
This act is important as it ensures that any information a business holds about people is
used in the correct way. If the information was to be misused, then they would be breaching
the act and legal action could be taken against the business. This act sets out how the
information on databases should be stored.
The act states that information should:
o Be collected in a fair and lawful way
o Be used for the purposes stated when it was collected
o Be relevant to the intended use
o Be up to date and accurate
o Not be kept any longer than necessary
o Have procedures carried out to prevent damage to the data or the data being lost.
o Be protected from being transferred elsewhere outside of the European Economic
Area.
This legislation was reviewed and updated to the General Data Protection Regulation
(GDPR) but still is used to ensure that all data is protected.
Transport for London (TFL) would need to ensure that they comply with the regulations
outlined by The Data Protection Act to ensure all the data they store is safe and isn’t
transferred anywhere outside of the business. TFL holds a lot of personal data of both their
employees and their customers so it is crucial that this information is protected. Information
including email addresses, billing addresses, telephone numbers and credit card details
would all be stored within a customer data base that would be protected to ensure the
legislation is complied with effectively. TFL complies with this legislation effectively as they
have a data protection officer to ensure they are always complying with The Data Protection
Act. They also give details on their website on how they put measures into place to ensure
all staff and customer data is secure and protected from being misused in anyway.
