Civil Rights

The civil rights act means that people have rights that protect them from the government and state power and assure the ability to participate in the civil and political life of the state. The data protection act was introduced in 1998 and was passed by Parliament to control the way information is handled and to give legal rights to people who have information stored about them. It takes place in other countries as well as the UK. Businesses, organisations and the government began using computers to store information about their customers, clients and staff in databases towards the second half of the 20th century. For example:

• Names
• Addresses
• Contact information
• Employment history
• Medical conditions
• Convictions
• Credit history

With more and more organisations using computers to store personal information there was a danger the information could be misused or get into the wrong hands. A number of concerns arose such as who exactly could access this information? and Could it be easily copied? The 1998 data protection act was made by parliament to control the way information is handled and also to give legal rights to those people who have information stored about them.

Countries now use a fingerprinting system to prove who they are because every person's finger will obviously be different. Also there is face recognition software so it is easier to track down criminals. This links to CCTV cameras which have been installed in a lot of places to monitor the safety of areas. They usually record 24 hours a day and are a good way of seeing what has happened in the area if a crime has taken place. The problem is that lots of people might not want information about themselves stored on a system because of privacy, however it could be said that if they do not want this information about themselves stored, then perhaps they have something to hide which makes them look suspicious regarding certain crimes.

The computer misuse act became law in August 1990. It aims to reduce hacking and the threat from viruses, the act identifies three main procedures:

• Unauthorised access to computer material (hacking). This includes copying software illegally (called software piracy).
• Gaining unauthorised access to a computer to carry out serious crimes like fraud or blackmail.
• Unauthorised changing of computer files, including planting viruses and deleting files.

If u commit any of the above, it can lead to an unlimited fine or 5 years in prison.