Decision Mkaing Process

Individual Information Technology Acts

Joey Wiseman

BIS220

October 7, 2013

Samuel Fowler

Individual Information Technology Acts

There have been many laws passed over the years relating to protection of information as technology and the way to pass information has evolved. With the way telephone calls and other electronic communication have multiplied, new security measures have been needed in order to ensure abuse from criminals and governments are kept to a minimum. But it does not always work.

In 1986, the Electronic Communications Privacy Act, also known as The Wiretap Act, was passed in the United States Congress as an amendment to Title III of the Omnibus Crime Control and Safe Streets Act of 1968. According to The United States Department of Justice (2012), “The ECPA, as amended, protects wire, oral, and electronic communications while those communications are being made, are in transit, and when they are stored on computers. The Act applies to email, telephone conversations, and data stored electronically.” This was added to the “Wiretap Act” as a restriction on civilian, law enforcement, or government intrusion into a private communication without just cause. As stated in Section 18 USC ss2516-18 (1986), “It provides procedures for Federal, State, and other government officers to obtain judicial authorization for intercepting such communications, and regulates the use and disclosure of information obtained through authorized wiretapping.”

This amendment was added with the advancement of telephone communications and the vulnerability to them, and to keep ethical misjudgments to a minimum at best on the part of government and law enforcement agencies, both of which would face serious ethical charges and accusations by using any information obtained without probable cause or a warrant to wiretap a telephone, or with modern technology today, email and text messages. According to The US Department of Justice (2012), “Title I provides procedures for...