The Computer Misuse Act 1990

Prasad Perera

2102875

Legal Directory

The Computer Misuse act is in place to prevent users using computers in an abusive way to the owner, whether this is a single owner or business/organisation. It covers activities such as hacking & viruses E.g. Trojans & Worms.

The act applies to all users of computers in a business/organisation or single user. There are no obligations by an organisation to comply with the act. However, there must be sufficient evidence that such an offence has been committed.

Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act 2000

This act governs the rules under which it is legal to spy on someone

Tape their phone
Open their mail
Bug their home, office or vehicle
Intercept email
Monitor web usage.

The act is in place to protect the rights of humans by public authorities, so they cannot be unlawfully harassed or disturbed. However, if a warrant is issued then authorities have the right to do the needful. In the event of a warrant being issued all communication service providers (CSP’s) may also be obliged to provide the necessary assistance in giving effect to an interception warrant. The CSP’s may also be obliged to maintain permanent access for the authorities.

Data Protection Act 1998

The Data Protection Act 1998 came into force 1st March 2000. The act is concerned with processing personnel information (bank details, National Insurance Numbers, Tax Information etc) and it applies to personnel information held electronically or via paper media.

The act requires people who are in a position to control data to co-operate with rules of good practise for information handling.

It is the job of the Information Commissioner to enforce the act by providing assistance and advice to the data controller (Person/s that controls the data within an organisation or office) e.g Human Resources Department within a business& the data subjects (people who have personal information kept about them). If an individual believes that they have been the victim of any type of processing of personal information, then it is the job of the information commissioner to assess whether the crime has been committed or not in compliance with the act.

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Freedom of Information Act 2000

The freedom of Information Act 2000 gives the general public the right to have access to any “information held by or on behalf of public authorities” The act is in place in order to promote an openness between public bodies & the general public. It does also allow the disclosure of certain types of information to general public such as; accountability of public money, how public bodies carry out their duties, what constitutes any decisions made on behalf of the public etc.

This act is enforced in two ways, those being:

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Freedom of Information Act 2000

This act is enforced in two ways, those being:

A requirement by public authorities to up keep and maintain “publication scheme’s”
The right for any member of the public to request information kept about public bodies.

Human Rights Act 2000

The Human rights act 2000has been passed on 2nd October 2000 for the following reasons.

To make it unlawful for a public authority e.g. police, government department or local authority to breach your basic rights as human.

Your basic rights as a human are:

Right to life
Prohibition of torture
Prohibition of Slavery & Forced labour
Right to liberty and security
Right to a fair trial
No punishment without law
Right to have respect for a person’s private and family life.
Freedom of thought, conscience and religion.
Freedom of expression
Freedom of Association & Assembly
Right to marry
Prohibition of discrimination
Protection of property
Right to education
Right to free elections
Abolition of the death penalty.

The Human rights act 2000 cannot be directly enforced. However, if there is reason to believe that your basic rights have been breached and there is evidence to prove this then the case can be brought to court.

Access to Health Records Act 1990

The act allows patients & close relatives to access health records being “consists of information relating to the physical or mental health of an individual who can be identified from that and other information in the possession of the holder of the record”

Proceeds of Crime Act 2002

Under the above act it is deemed an offence for an individual to be involved in arrangements that have indications of being of assistance to another person in “acquiring retaining, using or controlling the proceeds of crime”

Anyone that suspects that any type of criminal activity is going on e.g. Money Laundering is under obligation to report this to the firm’s money laundering officer. The officer would then report this to the governing agency. If this was a money laundering offence then the governing body would be the National Crime Intelligence service (NCIS).

Money Laundering Regulations 2003

The act is concerned with an individual trying to launder money through a financial organisation e.g. bank, building society, estate agency.

If a person is found guilty of carrying out such a crime then they can be sentenced for up to 14 years. A person who assists a money laundering operation can receive up to 5 years imprisonment.

Electronic Communications Act 2000

To make provision to facilitate the use of electronic communications & electronic data storage; to make provision about the modification of licences, granted under section 7 of the Telecommunications Act 1984 & for connected purposes”

The act is in place to protect people who conduct their business via an electronic means.

Electronic Commerce (EC Directive) Regulations 2003

The above regulations are in place to cover a variety of online activities , which also concern the selling of goods and services electronically.

Points taken from the Regulation:

The seller must provide certain details e.g. Name, Geographic address, Contact details including email address etc. There must also be clear and precise steps provided to the buyer e.g. “different steps to follow to conclude the contact”, “ different steps to follow to conclude the contract”

In the event that any of the regulations are not met and a contractual dispute occurs, then under the Brussels regulation the buyer has the right to prosecute in his or her country of residence.

Privacy & Electronic Communications (EC Directive) Regulations 2003

The above act concerns the processing of personal data & the protection of privacy in the electronic communication sector.

In today’s world, keeping up to date with new legislation is very simple. This is due to the Internet. The invention of the Internet has made keeping up to date with new legislation a simple task. The Internet has a number of sites with readily available information about any act or regulation that you wish to know about. Some of the documents are fairly lengthy, but explain the sections of each act or regulation in great depth.

This was the most resourceful website that I used. It has the full range of Information about the all the acts and regulations that I needed to know about. The site is fairly detailed and explains each section of each regulation and act in great depth. The only fault that this website has is that some of the sections are fairly hard to understand, due to the style of English that they have used. It has been written in a style that was difficult for a native speaker to clearly understand.

This was the next site that I used fairly concisely. I felt that it was the easiest site to use and probably my favourite out of all the sites that I used. The Information was very easy to understand as it was written in a clear and concise way. The acts that it helped me with the most were The Freedom of Information act 2000 and The Data Protection Act 1998. These two acts were clearly explained and examples were given.

Although I did not use this site as much as I used the other two sites, this site helped me a fair amount with two legislations in particular. These were: Money Laundering Regulations 2003 & Proceeds of Crime Act 2002. The HM-treasury website is a financial Information site, the above two legislations are financially linked, which is why the site gave in depth information about the legislations.

The final website that would be of use would be one to do with EU(European Union) rules and regulations. The United Kingdom is a member state of the EU, therefore must go by what rules and regulations are set by the EU. Although I did not use this site a deal, it always came up when acts or regulations were inputted into the search engine.