Storing an individual’s information electronically creates several ethical problems. The first being privacy. As with anything that is stored electronically, especially when cloud storage is involved, there is a possibility that the information could be hacked. You tend to see this in the news with celebrities and iCloud getting hacked leading to their information getting spread out over the internet for everyone to see. Anytime a user allows their information to be stored electronically they are putting trust in the administrators to keep their information safe and private. 

Data usage is another ethical issue. What does a company do with your data after you choose to store it with them? Are they (metaphorically) keeping it locked away in a vault or are they selling it to the highest bidder? Did the user grant permission for this? Companies such as google, and Facebook have been in hot water because of this recently. Where is the line for how companies use the data of a user?

Another ethical issue when storing someone’s data electronically is ensuring the integrity or accuracy of the info remains while it is is in storage. Integrity is the process of ensuring the accuracy of a user’s data. Integrity is important enough to be one third of the information assurance triangle. It is on the organization that is entrusted with a user’s data to ensure that data remains accurate and is not tampered with.

Data retention is also an ethical issue. The longer a company retains data after a user leaves the more risk is involved for the user. Things to consider when either taking a user’s information or giving your data to an organization is their data retention policies. How long will data be kept when a user leaves? What will the organization do with said data? This should always be considered.