Q. Describe four ethical issues that arise when storing electronic information about individuals.

A. With how advanced technology has grown, it’s no surprise how easy storing information has grown over the years of individuals either by themselves or through organizations. However, there are many dangers that can arise from this. For example, storing information through easily viewable areas allows for anyone with the right access to see your personal information. One of the biggest offenders of this arises in social media, where more often than not, anyone can view an individual’s account and gather information about a person’s likes, friends, workplace, area of living, etc. Another big issue that arises from storing electronic information is the requirement for strong security to protect this information. In this instance, if a malicious hacker could easily guess a password to a Google account, for something weak like “password”, than that hacker has access to a person’s photos, emails, browsing history and cookies, and much more; thus, something as simple as creating a more complex password is crucial to reduce risk of a possible attacker. Furthermore, if stored within an organization, electronic information is controversial due to the debate regarding privacy protection between the end-user and the organization. This issue is especially dangerous to users due to 1. responsibility of authorized users to uphold confidentiality and EULA agreements not to abuse or steal the user’s information and 2. the possibility of malicious hackers from stealing the personal information of not just the organization but also the users. Moreover, when trusting an organization with your personal information, you’re putting faith both in their ability to keep your private information truly private and their ability to actually protect that information as well. Finally, the last danger that arises is the issue with sharing your personal information electronically with “trusted” individuals or entities. Too often do people end up having their identity or information stolen due to a malicious individual tricking you into giving them something, either through emails or phone call messages. These messages entice people into willingly give up information either through a prize that they can only get by giving them information or fixing a grave error by asking for information as well, like prize winnings or unlikely online purchaces. Thankfully, most of these issues can be fixed simply by educating end users on the value of protecting personal information and how to better protect yourself online.