Lesson 10: Legal and Ethical Issues in Information Management

The Philippine Data Privacy Act of 2012 (RA 10173) protects personal data. It requires organizations to secure personal information and notify individuals if their data is breached. Key points: consent is needed to collect personal data; sensitive personal info (health, biometrics) has stricter rules; individuals have rights to access and correct their data. In an exam, mention NPC (National Privacy Commission) guidelines. For example, a school's database of students must be protected; only authorized staff should view grades or personal records. Violating the law can lead to fines or jail, so compliance is a big concern in information management.

Databases themselves can be copyrighted if there is substantial original content. Copying a proprietary database or its schema without permission can violate copyright laws. In practice, this means you cannot legally copy an entire software vendor's database design, but relying on public standards (like SQL syntax) is fine. Also, be aware of software licenses (using Oracle or MySQL under the right license). In exams, this topic might appear as "discuss ethical issues," where you can mention piracy or respecting database ownership.