Deck 3: Privacy and Technology

Question 1

The most recent major privacy law passed by Congress was the

A)Genetic Information Nondescrimination Act (GINA)- defining how businesses can obtain and use genetic information.
B)Discrimination Against Narcoleptics Act (DANA)- defining narcolepsy,or uncontrolled sleeping,as a disability under the Americans with Disabilities Act.
C)Keeping International Migration Issues Act (KIMI)- defining how businesses can obtain and use immigration status and information.
D)Family History and Ancestry Act (FHA)- describing parameters on the use of family history or ancestry in evaluating job candidates.

Answer 1

A

Question 2

List several types of company surveillance people are subjected to now.

Answer 2

(1)Videotaping; (2)monitoring IM chat, (3)GPS satellite and tracking of cars and cell phones,and (4)audiotaping personally.

Question 3

The Electronic Communications Privacy Act of 1986? (ECPA):

A)supplements the Omnibus Federal Employee Workplace Privacy Rights Law of 2008.
B)has been an effective law because employee privacy intrusions are less common and steadily declining since 2000.
C)restricts employer access to public chatroom interactions.
D)fails to protect employees in most situations involving e-mail monitoring by public and private employers.

Answer 3

D

Question 4

One reason employers use to justify giving honesty or integrity tests is:

A)History shows that employees that tell even a small lie on those tests are extremely likely to steal from the business.
B)Most employers use the test to calculate complex personality matches between employees when placing them on groups or teams in the business.
C)Employee theft is a tremendous expense each year and employers believe that these tests will remove the largest potential offenders.
D)Employers want something in the file they can try to use later to fire someone if it things don't work out.

Question 5

Discuss Lewis Maltby's proposition that employers should not do drug testing (or other testing related to off-work conduct)but should instead focus on impairment testing when an employee is entering the workplace.

Question 6

According to the article excerpted in the text entitled,The Functions of Privacy,by Alan Westin,privacy has several functions in today's society.These include:

A)Total freedom in the private life with no consequences to the work life.
B)The ability to express dissatisfaction without risk of exposure.
C)The ability to be post critical information on the Internet without consequences at work.
D)The ability to spend time quietly analyzing the actions and reactions of other people.

Question 7

As Facebook and other social media sites grow in users and popularity

A)There has been wide agreement that the expectation of privacy in those sites is nonexistent.
B)The sites have gotten more and more protective of their user's information.
C)Many user's have been unhappy with the privacy policies of the sites.
D)The sites have eliminated privacy policies as they were the source of too many lawsuits.

Question 8

The Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act of 2008 (GINA)was passed amidst public concern for the collection and use of genetic information.Prior to its passage,the Americans with Disabilities Act protected anyone with a disability or perceived disability and the Health Information Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA)protected people from intrusion in to medical records.Was GINA a necessary act or was it merely passed for political reasons?

Question 9

Briefly describe what Alan Westin believes are the "functions of privacy."

Question 10

In considering the legality of employer interception of employee e-mails at work,pick the correct statement.
I)Employees have complete expectation of privacy since they can select their password for in-house and remote access of e-mails.
II)A subpoena is required by the employer to read any e-mail that is clearly marked "confidential" by the employee.
III)No expectation of privacy exists over an employer-owned computer system at work.
IV)Statement by the employer that e-mails are confidential and privileged cannot be later used by an employer to defeat an employee's claim of privacy.

A)I only
B)II only
C)III only
D)I and IV

Question 11

How can businesses justify electronic surveillance?

Question 12

There is a high correlation between drug testing and workplace safety.

Question 13

Employees' emails are private and are protected under the law.

Question 14

The United States Constitution,Fourth Amendment provides "[t]he right of the people to be secure in their persons,houses,papers,and effects,against unreasonable searches and seizures,shall not be violated..." Privacy rights are triggered under the Fourth Amendment:

A)when a corporation has authorized an agent with direct authority to perform an electronic search of an employee's e-mail account.
B)upon issuance of a subpoena duces tecum to bring electronic data (e-mails,files,etc. )including electronic metadata such as headers,directional information,and other such useful tracking data.
C)when the government is the primary actor.
D)during an archival search of e-mails on a corporation's server.

Question 15

Employees can now be secretly and intrusively spied upon by their employers,and it is perfectly legal.

Question 16

A majority of states have enacted "lifestyle rights laws" that protect workers' off-duty activities including cases of smoking,cohabitation,drinking.and single parenthood.What is the least effective argument by an employer to regulate off-the-clock activities in a state that has not enacted such lifestyle rights legislation?

A)It will provide a healthy ? HYPERLINK "javascript:rp.t_onC(76);" ?work? force.
B)Unregulated employees are less productive.
C)There is no invasion of privacy since the employee is "at will."
D)To prevent higher health care and insurance costs.

Question 17

The term "privacy" does not appear anywhere in the Constitution of the United States.Discuss (meaning share your opinion and support it with anecdotes or evidence)whether or not the Supreme Court was correct in "finding" privacy in the Constitution.

Question 18

Discuss privacy in social media websites.What sort of policies should exist? Does it matter that the user doesn't have to be honest (to the extent of using false names)?

Question 19

Why is corporate testing of employees on the rise?

Question 20

Title I of the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 (ADA)explicitly limits the ability of employers to use "medical examinations and inquiries" as a condition of employment and provides for:

A)a prohibition against using pre-employment medical tests.
B)a prohibition against the use of a medical examination after a job offer has been made if the results are kept confidential.
C)a prohibition against the use of medical tests that lack job-relatedness and business necessity.
D)a prohibition against the use of tests that screen out (or tend to screen out)people with disabilities.