Illegal Use of Sensitive Information Between the Consumers and the Research Paper

Illegal Use of Sensitive Information Between the Consumers and the Online Vendors - Research Paper Example There are myriad of computer laws that are being followed in my country (Canada). To name a few, there are 1984 Computer Fraud and Abuse Act (CFAA), Electronic Communications Privacy Act (ECPA), Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA), and Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA). CFAA deals with penalties for the intruders who gain access to sensitive information stored in a computer without authorized access. Computers have to be protected when the consumers carry out commercial activities, engage in cross-border e-commerce, and make online business transactions and email communications with online traders. The Act applies penalties upon the identity thieves, starting from 10 years to 20 years of imprisonment. ECPA was designed in the 1980s. It applies penalties upon the persons who gain access to and makes illegal use of the sensitive information that has been exchanged between the consumers and the online vendors through electronic communication techniques such as electronic mails, text messages, video conferences, chatting, and etcetera. COPPA was designed in 1998 and became effective in April 2000. COPPA put forward rules and regulations that are to be applied on the commercial website owners and internet service providers who know which websites are being used by children and collect personal information from them with or without their parents’ consent. The Canadian province, British Columbia, presented in the 2008 Legislative Session: 4th Session, 38th Parliament, the legislation about e-Health and its services so that the consumers could benefit from e-Health’s secure and steadfast solutions right from the comfort of their homes.