Information Technology Acts Paper

Information Technology Acts Paper


Information Technology Acts Paper
According to the book, Introduction to Information Systems (2011), Information Technology relates to any computer-based tool that people use to work with information and to support the information and information-processing needs of an organization. Information technology has grown over the years becoming more and more accessible. Due to the advancement or demand of information technology, laws or acts have been put in place to protect the rights of all citizens.
One example of an act that has been implemented is the Children’s Internet Protection Act, 2000.   The Children’s Internet Protection Act (CIPA) is a mandate that “requires the installation and use by schools and libraries of technology that filters or blocks Internet access to various types of images on all computers” (Caywood, 2001). This legislation was created due to the popularity of the Internet especially by our youth of today. Today’s youth uses the Internet everyday whether it is for research, socializing or downtime which may give them access to predators or inappropriate materials. Therefore, Congress felt that this legislation would help to protect “children from viewing pornographic and other harmful images through cyberspace” (McCarthy, 2004).
Another Act that was passed because of the advancement of information technology was the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act (CFAA), 1986. The Computer Fraud and Abuse Act (CFAA) is a legislation that “provides criminal sanctions and a civil action for misappropriation of trade secrets stored on protected computers” (Min Ae, Lehrer, & Roland, 2008). In other words, this law was enacted in order to discourage criminal entities from accessing “protected computers” (Min Ae, Lehrer, & Roland, 2008) and using the information to defraud or sell valuable information for their own gain. Many businesses such as banks and international companies rely on information technology to store...