Legal and Ethical Considerations

Overview

Understanding the legal and ethical aspects of data handling is crucial for compliance and trust. This section covers privacy laws, data protection, and ethical decision-making. It incorporates acknowledgement of intellectual property using the APA referencing system.

Key Concepts

• Privacy Laws: What laws exist? Who do they apply to? What do you need to do to follow the law?
• Notifiable Data Breaches (NDB) Scheme: Understanding reporting requirements.
• Ethical Considerations: Fair use, data transparency, and user consent.
• APA Referencing: Properly citing sources to acknowledge intellectual property.

Legal & Ethical Considerations in the Study Design

Unit 3 Outcome 1

Key Knowledge:

• methods for referencing data sources using the American Psychological Association (APA) referencing system

Key Skills:

• use the APA referencing system to acknowledge intellectual property

Unit 3 Outcome 2

Key Knowledge:

• procedures and techniques for the ethical collection of primary data, including:
  • using participant information statements and/or consent forms
  • de-identifying personal data
• key legal requirements for the protection of intellectual property and the collection, communication and security of data and information, including:
  • Copyright Act 1968 (Cwlth)
  • Health Records Act 2001 (HPP 1, 2, 4)
  • Privacy Act 1988 (Cwlth) (APP 3, 4, 5, 6, 11)
  • Privacy and Data Protection Act 2014 (IPP 1, 2, 4, 10)
• methods for referencing secondary sources using the APA referencing system to acknowledge intellectual property, including:
  • use of citations
  • creation of reference lists

Unit 4 Outcome 2

Key Knowledge:

• the importance of data and information security to organisations, including:
  • compliance with legal obligations
• key legislation that affects how organisations control the collection, communication and security of their data and information, including:
  • Health Records Act 2001 (HPP 1, 2, 4, 5)
  • Privacy Act 1988 (Cwlth) (APP 1, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 11)
  • Privacy and Data Protection Act 2014 (IPP 1, 2, 4, 5, 10)
• key legislation that instructs an organisation to notify impacted individuals and organisations in the event of an eligible data breach likely to result in serious harm, including:
  • Privacy Amendment (Notifiable Data Breaches) Act 2017 (Sections 26WE, 26WF, 26WH, 26WK, 26WL, 26WR)
• ethical issues arising from the implementation of data and information security practices, including:
  • data collection and use
  • identity theft
  • lack of transparency in the event of a cyber security incident

Key Skills:

• identify and discuss possible legal and ethical consequences of ineffective data and information security strategies

Study design key knowledge and key skills are taken verbatim from the VCE Applied Computing Study Design 2025-2028. © Victorian Curriculum and Assessment Authority. For current versions and related content visit www.vcaa.vic.edu.au

APA Referencing

APA referencing is a widely used system for acknowledging sources in academic writing. It provides a consistent format for citing and referencing sources, making it easier for readers to locate the original sources.

In-Text Citations

In-text citations are used to acknowledge sources within the text of your work. They include the author’s last name and the publication year. For example:

• (Smith, 2019)
• (Jones & Brown, 2020)
• (Johnson et al., 2018)

Reference List

The reference list is a list of all the sources you have cited in your work. It is placed at the end of your document and provides detailed information about each source. The format for different types of sources (e.g., books, journal articles, websites) is standardized.

Book References

Structure: Author, A. A. (Year). Title of work: Capital letter also for subtitle. Publisher.

• Smith, J. (2017). Data Science for Beginners. Data Science Press.
• Jones, R., & Brown, S. (2020). The Ethics of Data Collection. Academic Press.
• Johnson, M., Lee, K., & White, L. (2018). Data Privacy and Security: The Ongoing Battle. Springer.

Journal Article References

Structure: Author, A. A., Author, B. B., & Author, C. C. (Year). Title of article. Title of Periodical, volume number(issue number), pages.

• Johnson, R., Brown, S., & Lee, M. (2019). The impact of data breaches on consumer trust. Journal of Data Security, 5(2), 45-60.
• White, L., Smith, J., & Davis, K. (2020). The role of ethics in data collection. Journal of Data Ethics, 10(3), 120-135.
• Lee, K., Johnson, M., & Brown, S. (2018). Data privacy in the digital age. Journal of Privacy Studies, 15(1), 30-45.

Website References

Structure: Author, A. A. (Year, Month Day). Title of webpage. Website Name. URL

• Davis, K. (2020, June 15). The importance of data privacy. Data Privacy Today. https://www.dataprivacytoday.com/importance-of-data-privacy/
• Brown, S. (2019, August 20). The future of data security. Data Security Insights. https://www.datasecurityinsights.com/future-of-data-security/
• Association of Data Security Professionals (2018, October 5). Ethical considerations in data collection. Data Ethics Blog. https://www.dataethicsblog.com/ethical-considerations-in-data-collection/

APA Referencing Tools

There are several online tools and software that can help you generate APA references. Some popular tools include:

• Cite This For Me
• Zotero
• Mendeley
• EndNote
• EasyBib
• BibMe
• RefWorks

Learning Resources

• Office of the Australian Information Commissioner (OAIC)
• Ethics in Data Science

Relevant Articles

Bunnings Facial Recognition Case

• Bunnings breached Privacy Laws by using facial recognition on its customers - ABC News
• Bunnings breached privacy law by scanning customers’ faces – but this loophole lets other shops keep doing it

Medibank Data Breach

• Privacy watchdog sues Medibank over cyber hack - Sydney Morning Herald

Questions

Question 1 (Referencing)

Explain the importance of using a consistent referencing system (like APA) in research and academic writing.

Question 2 (Referencing)

Describe the difference between an in-text citation and a reference list entry in APA referencing.

Question 3 (Referencing)

For each of the following APA references, identify the type of source (book, journal article, website) and each of the relevant pieces of information (author, year, title, etc.):

1. Matheson, G. (2024). VCE Data Analytics Resource Page. https://heathmontdataanalytics.github.io/
2. Sehwag, J. (2019). Data Science for Beginners. Oz Wonderland Science Press.
3. Lee, K., Johnson, M., & Brown, S. (2020). The Ethics of Data Collection. Journal of Data Ethics, 10(3), 120-135.