Legal and Ethical Issues in Business Communication in 2022

Businesses store information about people in their organization. Data protection legislation prevents the misuse of information held about people. The information stored must be:

• Obtained fairly and legally
• It will be used only for the purposes stated at the time of collection
• Adequate, appropriate and not excessive in relation to the intended use
• Accurate and up-to-date
• It is not kept longer than necessary
• It is done in accordance with your rights
• They are subject to procedures to prevent illegal processing, accidental loss, destruction and damage to personal information
• It is protected against transfer to an area outside the European Economic Area unless adequate protection is provided for the local information.

This action means that Trinity Communications cannot use anyone’s personal details without the right person’s consent. For example, you cannot give out someone’s address or date of birth without that person’s permission. If you hold information on customers or members, you should ensure that the information is secured in a secure database to prevent unauthorized access. Trinity Communications shall ensure that all personal data is backed up in case the original data is damaged or deleted. Trinity Communications could face fines totaling £1,120,000 if they fail to comply with the Data Protection Act.

Computer Misuse Act

This is a law in the UK that prohibits certain actions using computers, such as hacking into other people’s systems, misusing software or helping someone to access protected files on someone else’s computer. The Computer Misuse Act is divided into three sections:

• Unauthorized access to computer material
• Unauthorized access to computer systems with intent to commit another offense
• Unauthorized modification of computer material

This action means that Trinity Communications cannot use illegal software pirates or any other kind of program. They are not allowed to access other people’s computer data without permission. They are not allowed to use unauthorized data as fraud. It is unlawful for Trinity Communications to access computer data with the intent to alter or delete it. In addition, Trinity connections cannot plant viruses. If Trinity Communications fails to comply with this rule, it may face two types of penalties, summary judgment and prosecution. The summary penalty can be up to 12 months in prison for triage relationships or the maximum penalty provided by law. Penalties for prosecution may subject Trinity Communications to up to 2 years in prison and/or a fine.

Freedom of Information Act

This law gives individuals and organizations the right to request information held by a public authority. The public authority must inform the applicant that it has the information, and must provide it within 20 working days. There are some exemptions from this rule. For example, if the value of the information request exceeds the reasonable threshold, the public authority may decide to deny the request because they may choose to serve the greater public interest. If there is a dispute, the Commissioner’s office may investigate and decide whether the information should be released.

Trinity Communications must treat all requests for information equally, treating any information it releases as if it had been released to the world at large. Trinity Communications may not respond adequately to a request for information, follow a template publication method, fail to publish accurate information, willfully delete, conceal, or otherwise alter information. If Trinity Communications fails to comply with this rule, it is committing a criminal offense that could land you in jail.

Copyright law

Copyrights for certain types of media give creators rights to control how they are used and distributed. For example, when you buy software, copyright law prohibits: giving a copy to a friend, making a copy and then selling it, using the software over a network (unless the license allows it), and renting the software without the permission of the copyright holder.

This rule means that any software you decide to purchase from Trinity Communications must have a valid copy. You may not sell original copies of purchased software to any third party. If Trinity Communications fails to do this, it faces fines of £200 – £150,000 for each breach and jail time.

Discrimination Act

The Act simplifies, strengthens and harmonizes existing legislation to provide Britain with new discrimination laws that protect individuals from unfair treatment and promote a fairer and more equal society.

The nine main parts of the law that have been merged are:

1. Equal Pay Act 1970
2. 1975 Sex Discrimination Act
3. Race Relations Act 1976
4. The Disability Discrimination Act 1995
5. Employment Equality (Religion or Belief) Regulations 2003
6. Employment Equality (Sexual Orientation) Regulations 2003
7. Employment Equality (Age) Regulations 2006
8. Section 2 of the Equality Act 2006
9. Equality Act (Sexual Orientation) Regulations 2007

This rule means that Trinity Communications cannot discriminate against anyone in any way. This can range from pictures to words and even verbal abuse. They are not allowed to harass and victimize anyone based on age, disability, gender, race, religion or belief. Regardless, they should treat everyone equally. If Trinity Communications fails to comply with this law, it could face jail time and heavy fines.

Business ethics

These are moral principles regarding what is and is not acceptable behavior in businesses. There are codes of practice to maintain business ethics in an organization: use of e-mails, Internet, whistle-blowing, organizational policies and ownership of information. Trinity Communications cannot use email to send large documents/attachments, especially to multiple people. This stops information/personal data from getting into the wrong hands. Trinity Communications should not use email as a substitute for face-to-face/telephone communication with colleagues as it is important to maintain good interpersonal relationships with colleagues.

Regarding the Internet, there are many rules of conduct that Trinity Communications Internet can and cannot use. There are several rules of conduct that Trinity Communications must follow when selling on the Internet.

A whistleblower is an employee who raises concerns about the business, both inside and outside the organization. The risk may be related to fraud, crime, accidents, or any other serious risk that affects customers, colleagues, shareholders, the public, the environment, or the organizations reputation. Whistleblowers may receive legal protection through the Public Interest Disclosure Act.

Organizations can have many policies in place to ensure that their businesses operate in a more ethical manner when it comes to data. This can be anything from how you manage data to ensure that marketing and other business practices are fair and equitable.

Data ownership is simple – if you create data in your daily work, you should be responsible for it. For example, writing a report following an annual employee review. This report is somewhat confidential and should only be viewed by selected people. Trinity Communications will not disclose this information to anyone outside of the selected group. As the data owner, Trinity Communications is responsible for maintaining this document in an appropriate manner.

Organizations must store and manage a myriad of data, some more important than others. At the heart of any information system are two fundamental issues: that the organization receives the information it needs, and that the appropriate staff member(s) receive the information.

To ensure that information is handled properly, a number of procedures and policies should be implemented regarding information security, backups, health and safety, organizational policies and business continuity plans.

Security information

Much information security management focuses on digital data; However, the subject includes records and knowledge management. For businesses like Trinity Communications, having access to the right information when and where you need it is essential to making sound business decisions. For this reason, many companies keep their information on IT systems, but as dependence on technology increases, so does the risk of system failure and malicious attacks such as viruses. An IT security policy should take into account the common threats to the data that their business relies on. This policy may include a secure login account for using IT systems and controls that limit access to information.

Backups

Large businesses have developed business continuity programs to try and reduce the risk of losing valuable business information stored on IT servers. For Trinity Communications this includes creating backups of data stored on its servers – some companies create backups every hour, others do this more frequently. This means that if live data is corrupted or damaged, a copy of this on backup services allows a company to continue with as little disruption as possible. Backups are normally stored on separate hardware from the live versions of the data to ensure protection. This means that if the live version crashes, the backup data won’t crash with it.

Health and safety

so true…