Introduction to Computer Application & Systems Essay

Introduction to Computer Application & Systems March 6, 2012 Dr. Xuan Yu ? Technology has gone from the days of the pony express to advancing at a rate of a mile a minute to now evolving to what seems like the speed of light or faster. With such a fast paced environment of change in technology, policies and laws must adapt to be compatible to those advancements in order to provide the best method to govern the laws and policies and protect its people. This paper will explore how technological advancements have influenced crucial changes in two essential policies: the Electronic Communications Privacy Act (ECPA) and the Electronic Funds Transfer Act (EFTA). The Electronic Communications Privacy Act, an extension of the Federal Wiretap Statute, was endorsed in 1986 (Justice Information Sharing, 2010). This was a necessary implementation with how technology was diversifying ways to communicate and share information. In order to oversee and safeguard technological advancements such as email, cordless and cell phone communications, and electronically stored data the federal government had to amend and sometimes put into operation new policies. These policies, like the Electronic Communications Privacy Act, minimize many ethical issues that came along with the development of these advancements. As technology experimented with ideals such as wireless connection, it gave way to many unethical and at times illegal practices. Ethical issues that the Electronic Communications Privacy Act had to address included accessibility and privacy; information could be shared outside the confinement of a person’s home or business. The government needed to find a way that would control and guard how this information was access, collected and stored. Implementing the Electronic Communications Privacy Act allowed government officials to include devices outside the scope of the Federal Wiretap Statute. Eight years before the Electronic Communications Privacy Act, financial businesses latched on to this idea of transferring information which cause governmental official to step in and implement the Electronic Funds Transfer Act. This ct is intended to protect people who engage in transferring and sharing private financial information such as bank account numbers and personal information through devices such as automated teller machines (ATMs) and point-of-sale terminals