This is the final task of Unit 4 Business Communication, consisting of P5, P6 and M2 in which you need to outline and analyse legal issues and ethical issues that can make an impact on businesses in terms of business communication.
Task 3
P5 and M2
Legal Issues
Legal Issues are the laws that businesses should be following. If a business like Apple doesn’t follow
the law, then there would be consequences against them.
Data Protecton Act 1998
The Data Protecton Act 1998 is a law where businesses are protected from people taking personal
informaton of the business. “The Data Protecton Act controls how your personal informaton is
used by organisatons, businesses or the government.” 1 A case study that has been recent within the
Data Protecton Act is when Apple’s customers were hacked and the hackers had the ability to
access private photos, videos etc. of the customer’s apple devices. There were "rumblings of a
massive (40 million) data breach at Apple."2, meaning that a lot of customers were hacked, which is
against the Data Protecton Act. This situaton causes customers to be dissatsfed with Apple because they
don’t have strong protecton on their Apple devices, leading to Apple losing their reputaton. The Data
Protecton Act is important to Apple because if someone manages to access their data without their
permission then it can be removed from the business and taken by whoever has managed to access
the informaton. If Apple don’t follow this law then private informaton of the business will be
exposed, which could lead to profts and revenue possibly being taken away from them. As a result
of this, Apple will decrease their profts and market share. However, this depends on whether Apple
are able to keep their data fully secured or not. This is because if they protect their fles if they’re
informaton on a computer or keep writen informaton somewhere safe where only the business
can access it then it would prevent Apple from losing their data or being stolen.
Freedom of Informaton Act 2000
The Freedom of Informaton Act 2000 is where businesses grant permission to certain users to
access their personal business informaton which is held by a public authority. “Anyone can request
informaton – there are no restrictons on your age, natonality or where you live.” 3 The hacking of
Apple’s customer’s iCloud informaton is an event that is similar to the Data Protecton Act because
the hackers are accessing Apple’s customer’s data without Apple’s granted permission, therefore it is
unauthorised access. As the hackers have managed to access "a massive (40 million) data breach"4, this
has caused customers to be dissatsfed because they’re being exploited by hackers, which is illegal and
against the law. Therefore, Apple could lose their reputaton, unless they fnd out who hacked their
customer’s iCloud and then could’ve sued them. The Freedom of Informaton Act is necessary for
businesses because if the individual is not a public authority or they have accessed Apple’s
informaton by unauthorised access then like the Data Protecton Act 1998, hackers could take
Apple’s data and then become exposed. If Apple don’t choose the right people to access their
1
Gov.uk. 2016. Data protection - GOV.UK. [ONLINE] Available at: https://www.gov.uk/data-protection.
[Accessed 02 December 2016].
2
Steve Ragan. 2016. Apple devices held for ransom, rumours claim 40M iCloud accounts hacked |
CSO Online. [ONLINE] Available at: http://www.csoonline.com/article/3093016/security/apple-devices-
held-for-ransom-rumors-claim-40m-icloud-accounts-hacked.html. [Accessed 01 December 2016].
3
Gov.uk. 2016. How to make a freedom of information (FOI) request - GOV.UK. [ONLINE] Available
at: https://www.gov.uk/make-a-freedom-of-information-request/the-freedom-of-information-act.
[Accessed 02 December 2016].
4
Steve Ragan. 2016. Apple devices held for ransom, rumors claim 40M iCloud accounts hacked |
CSO Online. [ONLINE] Available at: http://www.csoonline.com/article/3093016/security/apple-devices-
held-for-ransom-rumors-claim-40m-icloud-accounts-hacked.html. [Accessed 01 December 2016].
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