Coriena Tuitt

Report on legal and ethical issues

Contents
Introduction…………………………………………………………………………………………..1
Ethical issues……………………………………………………………………………………….. 2
Legal issues………………………………………………………………………………………….3
Legal, Ethical and operational issues……………………………………………………………..7

* Introduction
This report will explain the legal and ethical issues that relate to the use of business information. l personally think that legal and ethical issues are usually to do with something that involves people having to abide to a law, in most cases there will be a consequence for not abiding with the law.
Tesco may collect and process information about you, including: * Information that you give to them. You may give them information about you by filling in forms on the Tesco website or by corresponding with them by phone, e-mail and more. The information you give Tesco may include your name, address, e-mail address, phone number, personal description and photograph. * Information they collect about you. With regard to each of your visits to the Tesco website they may automatically collect technical information and information about your visit. * Information they receive from other sources. Tesco may receive information about customers if they use any of the other websites they operate or the other services they provide. Tesco, as well as other business, also work closely with third parties, which mean they may receive information about you from them. * Ethical issues
Ethical issues are moral principles that govern a person’s or group’s behaviour businesses ethnics are moral principles that concern businesses behaving in an acceptable and unacceptable way. Codes of practice exist in companies to maintain businesses ethics on: * Use of email
A code of practice is common in businesses- this gives employees guidelines about appropriate use of email. Tesco state what you are allowed to use it for and what you’re not allowed to use it for. For example, Tesco’s email policy states you’re not allowed to use email for spam, using email to bully co-workers. Emails should be kept short, clear and straight to the point. * Internet
Similar to email- employees are guided as to what they can and cannot do when using the internet. Tesco have a code of practice on the use of the internet and what their employees are allowed to use the internet for. There a=can also be codes of practice which rule selling on the internet. The Tesco’s internet access is owned and operated by Tesco stores limited. To be able to use the service you need to register as an authorised user, to register you need to be over 18.

* Whistle-blowing
Whistle-blowing are ethical issues that are dealt with using organisational policies and codes of practise. This is an employee who has and raises their concerns about the business practice which can be either to the management of the company or to someone outside of the organisation. The employees concern could be to do with crime, fraud or other dangers which could have an impact on the business.

* Information ownership
In business ownership of information is regarded by Tesco is very important. Any information created by an individual then you are the owner of the information and it is you duty to protect and safeguard the work. * Legal issues * Data Protection Act 1998
The data protection Act 1998 protects information about people from being misused as most businesses store information that they have about people. This act governs the protection the protection of this data with eight key points, which are:

* Tesco must register with the ‘information commissioner’s office’. * Data must be used only for the reason that it was collected. * The data must not be passed on to the other businesses unless the person gives consent. * Tesco’s staffs are allowed to access the information that is held about them with a few exceptions.
Individuals at Tesco have the right to correct incorrect information themselves. * All information at Tesco must be kept up to date

The Data Protection Act relates to Tesco as they will be handling personal information of customers, employees and suppliers because they will be handling personal information it is likely that their activities will fall under the data protection act. If you are a data controller under that act and fail to notify Tesco to the information commissioner, the directors of Tesco could be criminally liable for failing to do this.

* Freedom of Information Act 2000
The freedom of information act ensures to provision for disclosed information held by public authority bodies. The act gives individual the right to request and access information that is held by the business. Tesco comply with this act by allowing customers to access information that is held about them and Tesco give customers the opportunity to write the data protection officer, legal and affairs department. There is a £10 payment that is required in order for the individual to access their information.

* Computer Misuse Act 1990
The Computer Misuse Act 1990 it is a law that does not allow certain activities when using computers, this include: hacking into other people's systems, misusing software or helping a person to gain access to protected files on someone's else's computer. Recently we have seen on the BBC news on how they were hackers on Tesco and how there was no password protection on users Tesco as the flaw meant that many accounts were viewable with only on click.

* Security of information
Security of information deals with the availability of the organisations knowledge and information. Most companies now keep their information on information technology systems but as people heavily rely on the technology the risk of these systems being hacked can rise. The companies IT policy might include having login Id for using he companies computer system. Tesco would need security of information as a protection against getting hacked; the staff at Tesco’s will have to do a staff log in with a password every time they use a till or computer. * Backups
Large organisations have developed their business backup programmes to reduce the risk of losing the important business information that’s stored on the IT system. Companies can do backups of their information every hour and some will do the backups less often which can depend on the circumstances or company. By producing backup, if information is damaged there will be another copy. The backups will be store on a separate hardware from the live versions of the information, If Tesco did not have backups of information of their stock, employees and customers they would gain a very bad reputation and not having any backups will throw the business back by a few feet. Tesco has an 8 hour back up window. If there are any problems with the backup process there is just enough time to be able to run the back up.

* Health & safety
Electrical equipment can be dangerous to the health of staff. These could include; bad posture, strain injury, headaches, eye aches, etc. Tesco’s employees should carry out regular assessments to make sure that the computer is in a suitable position. Many of Tesco’s employees sit at computers for hours a day, which could cause a bad posture and can cause a headache. Tesco should take the right precautions and then give the staff special chairs and give them breaks.

* Business continuance plans
Having a business continuance plan for Tesco would be essential as there happens to be a natural disaster (earthquake, flood), malicious attacks or even human accidents Tesco would be prepared for the outcome. If they did not have a business continuance plan and something happened they could lose out money, stock and gain very bad publicity if they lost out on personal customer information.

* Costs
Many aspects of storing information can cost money can be expensive. When deciding what policies the company needs to consider the running costs versus the positives that will bring to the organisation. The two main points that companies need to take into account are; if they need additional resources e.g. would the business be able to employ new staff and the costs of development e.g. will the company need to develop the product or service. Tesco would need to consider costs when they are storing information, but as they are very big successful organisation they probably wouldn’t need to consider costs as much as smaller organisations which will need to be more careful on their spending.

* The impact of increased sophistication of systems
As technology is always changing, Tesco need to make sure all staff are well trained and able to use the different types of software which is used in store, this helps to save money when jobs are done at a faster rate this is why it is important for staff to know how to fully use the equipment and software used by the company. Staff must know the same about knowledge.

In this last part l will analyse legal, ethical and operational issues in relation to the use of business information.

Security of information is producing backup copies, health and safety issues, organisational policies, business continuance plan and cost. These types of operational issues that companies including Tesco must make sure they improve how they manage the information they receive. In almost every organisation there is an IT apartment that deals with the information it receives and it is very important that they work in a healthy and safe environment this means that there are some requirements and that Tesco need to provide to their IT staff. This means they need healthy and safe conditions to work in. Even though and IT room may seem alright and safe, there are many hazards. For example, The way people sit at a computer can cause severe pack pain and long hours of looking at the screen can cause you to have a bad eyesight. Tesco need to make sure they provide healthy resources so the workers can be safe in the IT area.

* Outline electronic and non-electronic methods for communicating business information * Video conferencing
This is a method Tesco use to communicate for meetings. This is the one of the most essential ways of distance communication to connect to people around worldwide. It has the pros of having to see the person you are talking to so you can have more of an effective way of communicating. Also travel costs and time taken to travel costs is reduced significantly. However on the other hand, if the Internet bandwidth is low there may be lagging in the video. To be able to do video conferencing you will need a computer, a webcam, a microphone, speakers, and Internet access and video conferencing software. This is used for the formal audience because it is for the higher members of the organization. * Mobile phone
This is not a very formal way of communicating, it is known to take personal calls, however Tesco staff use their mobile phones to contact their manager to let them know if they’re not coming in today due to illness of family reasons. The disadvantages of using a mobile phone is that battery could die or cell reception may be low causing loss of communication. The audience for this is informal people because it is used for quick communication and the method is not very formal * Fax
This is a machine, which transfers a copy of a document or graphical information via the telephone network. It works like a photocopier, but acts a transmitter to transmit to another distant fax machine.

Bibliography
Tesco plc. (2015). Tesco plc. [Online] Available at: http://www.tescoplc.com/index.asp?pageid=251 [Accessed 16 Oct. 2015].