Information Systems Unit 3 – Outcome 3 Legal Obligations of Programmers Student Lecture

Unit 3 – Outcome 3 (DP 10) Legal obligations of programmers, including adherence to amendments made to the copyright act with respect to digital content, (copyright amendment (digital agenda) act 2000), and ethical considerations regarding the development of programming solutions;

The Privacy Act 1988 and the Privacy Amendment (Private Sector) Act 2000 The Privacy Act has different guidelines for Government and non-Government Sectors. The Government Sector - The Privacy Act 1988 The Private Sector - Privacy Amendment (Private Sector) Act 2000 Two separate acts, closely linked, and in many ways are complementary. Students, do not need know all the specifics of each Act, need to be aware which act is applicable to different organisations.

The Government Sector There are 11 Information Privacy Principles (IPP) that underpin this act in relation to the Government Sector.

The Government Sector Principle 1. Manner and purpose of collection of personal information Principle 2. Solicitation of personal information from individual concerned Principle 3. Solicitation of personal information generally Principle 4. Storage and security of personal information

The Government Sector Principle 5. Information relating to records kept by record-keeper Principle 6. Access to records containing personal information Principle 7. Alteration of records containing personal information

The Government Sector Principle 8. Record- keeper to check the accuracy of personal information before use Principle 9. Personal information to be used only for relevant purposes Principle 10. Limits on use of personal information Principle 11 Limits on disclosure of personal information

The Private Sector The Private Act, for the Private Sector, is based upon the National Privacy Principles(NPP). There are 10 NPP’s. These cover the full range of activities that an organisation undertakes with people’s data.

The Private Sector Principle 1: Collection Principle 2: Use and Disclosure Principle 3: Data Quality Principle 4: Data Security Principle 5: Openness Principle 6: Access and Correction Principle 7: Identifiers Principle 8: Anonymity Principle 9: Transborder data flow Principle 10: Sensitive Information

Other Acts The Information Privacy Act (Vic.) The Health Records Act 2001 (Vic)

The Copyright Amendment (Digital Agenda) Act 2000 The Copyright Amendment (Digital Agenda) Act 2000 covers the various copyright issues that exist with digital media. This is a particularly lengthy document (as one would expect) that covers all aspects of digital copyright.

Copyright Protection is Free and Automatic No system of registration for copyright protection in Australia. Copyright protection is free and automatic. This also applies to non-Australian works published or accessed in Australia. A copyright notice (or the ©) while signifying copyright protection is not actually needed – items are protected even though the copyright notice is not on it.

Who Owns Copyright The general rule is that the creator of the item is the first owner of copyright. This right can be varied by agreement, but there are also some specific exclusions that are relevant to digital items.

Who Owns Copyright When the work is made by an employee in the course of employment, and as part of the employee’s usual duties, then the first owner of copyright is the employer. This includes programs / websites / documents etc. that are written by an employee, but does not include those written in a freelance or contract arrangement.

Who Owns Copyright The government is the first owner of copyright in material created or first published under its direction or control. It is important to note that owning a disk or piece of hardware does not mean that you own the copyright to that material.

Rights of Copyright Owners Owners of copyright materials, including computer programs and other digital forms, have a number of exclusive rights including the right to: Reproduce the item in a material form (this includes copying the program to the hard disk of a computer, and writing or typing the source code of the program); Publish the item (meaning to make the item available to the public for the first time in Australia);

Rights of Copyright Owners make an “adaptation” of the item (this includes making a version of the item in a different programming language, code or format); and communicate the program to the public (including by making it available online, or by electronically transmitting it including posting it on the internet.)

Rights of Copyright Owners If anyone other than the copyright owner wants to do any of these things with the program / item, he or she will generally need the owner’s permission. Copyright protection last for the life of the author plus 50 years. Note that the author is the individual or individuals that created the materials, not the company that published it. If there is more than one author, copyright will last for the life of the last surviving author plus 50 years.

Copyright Infringement Copyright infringement in regards to electronic products occurs whenever protected material is dealt with in a manner that is exclusively controlled by the copyright owner. This can include making reproductions, making “adaptations” or something similar. Where a digital item has been made commercially available with a licensing agreement, actions that are in breech of that agreement would be an infringement of the copyright owner’s rights.

Copyright Infringement Copyright is also infringed by someone who “authorises” someone else to infringe copyright. In addition, a person may infringe copyright by importing computer programs (even legitimatecopies) for sale or other commercial purposes without a licence from the copyright holder. It should be noted though, that some forms of digital media are no longer covered by this legislation, and “parallel importing’ is now permitted (particularly in the case of music CD’s).

Technological protection measures It is illegal to make, import or commercially deal with devices and services which circumvent technological copyright measures (such as decryption software, or the chips in play stations). There are exceptions to this if it is for a permitted purpose.

Exceptions There are a number of exceptions where permission from the copyright owner would not be required. These include:

Exceptions Making a backup copy of a computer program – the legitimate owner of a computer program may make a backup copy of the program either to use in place of the original copy or to store in case of the original is lost or destroyed. This exemption does not apply if the licensing agreement of the software prohibits it or has expired, or the original program has a technological block to prevent the copying of the program. Further, this exemption only applies to computer programs – it does not apply to music CD’s, computer games or CD-ROMS.

Exceptions Making inter-operable products - a program may be adapted in order to get information necessary to enable an interoperable product to be made. Security testing and error correction – a copy may be made for various security testing and to correct errors and security flaws. Government use – the government may use copyright material without the copyright holders permission provided the use is “for the services of the government”.

Other Issues There are a number of other issues that are covered in this act, such as rights management, retransmission of free to air broadcasts and the liability of carriers and ISP’s – however, they are not of significance to the study design.

Other Issues Students should be able to provide general responses to questions like: If I wrote a computer program, who owns the copyright of it? Is it an offence to copy program code? Am I allowed to copy software? Am I allowed to include pictures from a website in my website?

Acknowledgements: The following were used in the writing of this article: Internet: copying from Digital Agenda amendments: an overview Computer software and copyright (All from the Australian Copyright Council) Guidelines to the National Privacy Principles (From The Office of the Federal Privacy Commissioner)

Acknowledgements: Information Privacy Principles under the Privacy Act 1988 David Patrao – for VITTA’s Infonet publication – Issue

Further Information: : Victorian Privacy Commissioner tm : Victorian Health Records Act The Office of the Federal Privacy Commissioner Copyright info for schools