Ch 9 Information Systems

CHAPTER 9

INFORMATION SYSTEMS CONTROLS FOR SYSTEMS RELIABILITY – Part 2: Confidentiality and Privacy

SUGGESTED ANSWERS TO DISCUSSION QUESTIONS

9.1 From the viewpoint of the customer, what are the advantages and disadvantages to the opt-in versus the opt-out approaches to collecting personal information? From the viewpoint of the organization desiring to collect such information?

For the consumer, opt-out represents many disadvantages because the consumer is responsible for explicitly notifying every company that might be collecting the consumer’s personal information and tell the company to stop collecting his or her personal data. Consumers are less likely to take the time to opt-out of these programs and even if they do decide to opt-out, they may not know of all of the companies that are capturing their personal information.

For the organization collecting the data, opt-out is an advantage for the same reasons it is a disadvantage to the consumer, the organization is free to collect all the information they want until explicitly told to stop.

For the consumer, opt-in provides more control to protect privacy, because the consumer must explicitly give permission to collect personal data. However, opt-in is not necessarily bad for the organization that is collecting information because it results in a database of people who are predisposed to respond favorably to communications and marketing offers.

9.2 What risks, if any, does offshore outsourcing of various information systems functions pose to satisfying the principles of confidentiality and privacy?

Outsourcing is and will likely continue to be a topic of interest. One question that may facilitate discussion is to ask the students if once a company sends some operations offshore, does the outsourcing company still have legal control over their data or do the laws of the off shore company dictate...