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CASE DESCRIPTION The primary subject matter of this case concerns the value of information. A secondary issue raises the question of the effect of technical progress in the dissemination of [...]

The Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development's (OECD) guidelines for the protection of privacy form a good basis for creating a regulatory framework for protecting the right of privacy and anonymity in the management of information in the private sector. The OECD framework is based on eight principles, which are incorporated more or less into Canadian law. The eight rules cover collection limitation, data quality, proposed specification, use limitation, security safeguards, openness, accountability, and individual participation. Rights to privacy are more strongly protected under the civil law regime of Quebec than under the regimes of the other provinces.

The question of the ethics of information management centers on the issue of privacy. In Canada, the Privacy Act and the Access to Information Act have established regulations governing the way that the federal government collects, protects, uses, and disseminates information on individuals. Privacy has become a major issue of the information age as the increasing powers of computers are giving people the means to collect information and track people in an unprecedented manner. An effective privacy code requires that only the minimum necessary information should be collected, and that information should only be collected for the purpose intended. The information should be collected directly from the subject if possible, and the subject should be informed about why the information is needed.

Comparative analysis of methods of information management by companies is presented. Need to involve stakeholders in formulation of business strategies is discussed.

The tension between the goals of integrated, seamless public services, requiring more extensive data sharing, and of privacy protection, now represents a major challenge for UK policy-makers, regulators and service managers. In Part I of this article (see volume 83, number 1, pp. 11133), we showed that attempts to manage this tension are being made at two levels. First, a settlement is being attempted at the level of general data protection law and the rules that govern data-sharing practices across the public sector. We refer to this as the dimension of the governance of data sharing and privacy. Secondly, settlements are also being attempted within particular fields of public policy and service delivery; this we refer to as the dimension. In this second part, we enquire whether risks to privacy are greater in some policy sectors than others. We do this, first by showing how the Labour Government's policy agenda is producing stronger imperatives towards data sharing than was the case under previous administrations in three fields of public policy and services, and by examining the safeguards introduced in these fields. We then compare the settlements emerging from differing practices within each of these policy sectors, before briefly assessing which, if any, principles of data protection seem to be most at risk and in which policy contexts. Four strategies for the governance of data sharing and privacy are recapitulated namely, seeking to make the two commitments consistent or even mutually reinforcing; mitigating the tensions with safeguards such as detailed guidelines; allowing privacy to take precedence over integration; and allowing data sharing to take precedence over privacy. We argue that the UK government has increasingly sought to pursue the second strategy and that the vertical dimension is, in practice, much more important in defining the settlement between data sharing and privacy than is the horizontal dimension. This strategy is, however, potentially unstable and may not be sustainable. The conclusion proposes a radical recasting of the way in which the idea of a 'balance' between privacy and data-sharing imperatives is conceived.

Abstract This paper explores the troublesome and in-escapable fundamental question posed by Socrates: 'What ought one do?' in the context of public policy management of change and innovation from an [...]

Abstract The paper describes the importance of government managers taking ethical responsibility in making resource decisions and illustrates this through an analysis of financial and information security case study. In [...]

Personal privacy is increasingly threatened by the growing use of databases containing information about specific individuals. Data purchasers are able to assemble disaggregated personal data into composite profiles of individuals and sell them to companies.