I nformation privacy refers to the rights of individuals and organizations to deny or restrict the collection and use of information about them. Two issues related to information privacy are unauthorized collection and use of information and employee monitoring. Unauthorized collection and use of information occurs when data about an individual is gathered without the individual's knowledge or permission. Ethics and the Information Age C omputer ethics are moral guidelines that govern the use of computers and information systems. One area of computer ethics is information accuracy.
Erroneous information can result from inaccurate input, sometimes called dirty data .
Legally, questions regarding responsibility for information accuracy have not been resolved. The ethics of using computers to alter output, such as digital photograph retouching, also has been questioned. This is another area where legal precedents have not been established. Recognizing that individuals and organizations need specific standards for ethical use of computers and information systems, a number of computer-related organizations have established codes of conduct , which are written guidelines that help determine whether a specific computer action is ethical or unethical. Certificates , which are encrypted identifying codes, offer assurance that an imposter is not participating in an Internet transaction.