As technology constantly changes, legislators and laws adapt.
As technology evolves, so do the laws governing the tech industry. Technology law is a specific area of law that monitors private and public uses of tech. In other words, tech law impacts what federal, state, and local governments can do with technological devices and communication methods. Some areas of tech law focus on the rights and legal obligations of private and public entities that utilize technology. Since technology impacts almost every aspect of an individual’s life and organizational operations, everyone should know the following top 5 areas of technology law.
Technology Laws and Civil Rights
Technology has allowed people, organizations, and governments to quickly and easily gather information about individuals, creating many civil rights implications. Since the rise of the Internet, technology law has particularly focused on who can gather personal information and why. Additionally, the Internet and other forms of technology have been used by citizens to engage in their constitutional right to free speech. As such, technology laws have attempted to govern and identify limits on how much people may access others’ personal information and to what extent governments can monitor citizens’ rights to free speech.
Privacy Laws
As businesses and organizations adopt 5g management and orchestration technologies, privacy laws become more important for professionals to understand. The National Surveillance Association, otherwise known as the NSA, has had a significant impact on privacy laws. As an organization, the NSA is a member of the federal government’s Intelligence Community and strives to use technology to monitor the safety of the country. According to law, the NSA is responsible to protect privacy rights and civil liberties while the organization adheres to the national security of the United States.
While federal dealings with technology may not seem like an issue, in recent decades court cases and legal proposals have popped up that have impacted the ways by which tech companies and businesses deal with consumer privacy, or even cryptocurrencies.
Data Sharing Laws
More so, data sharing laws have been established to monitor business and technological activity for security purposes. For example, the Clarifying Lawful Overseas Use of Data Act of 2018, permitted federal law enforcement professionals to legally obtain warrants or subpoenas to request data kept by US technology companies that have branches overseas. Lawmakers proposed the Clarifying Lawful Overseas Use of Data Act in response to data sharing issues between Microsoft and the federal government.
The Act proposed several implications for technology companies, including issues where data sharing requests invoke on privacy laws of the technology company’s host country.
Technology and Intellectual Property Laws
Copyright Graphic; image courtesy of mohamed_hassan via Pixabay, www.pixabay.comTypically, intellectual property rights fall under the umbrella of technological law and have many implications for businesses. For example, some of the most pressing legal matters for businesses and organizations involve the protection of intellectual properties such as trademarks, patents, and copyrights.
Generally, intellectual property rights relating to technology through issues involving database rights, copyrights, and confidentiality issues. Additionally, the rights to technological inventions also apply to businesses that develop software or services that deal with data.
Business Cyber Security Laws
On top of intellectual property rights, businesses have been particularly concerned with the cyber security present within their company structure. Legally speaking, businesses that have access to the personal information of their consumers are obligated to protect their consumers from data breaches that may cause them harm.
For example, most business cyber security risks involve data breaches that threaten consumers’ personal information such as residential addresses, credit card or banking information, and social security numbers. Such data breaches may lead to consumers becoming victims of fraud or other cybersecurity-related crimes.
Why Technology Law is Important
Every leader must have a basic understanding of technology laws because most organizations and businesses utilize technology every day to conduct normal company processes. Additionally, technology is constantly changing. As technology constantly changes, legislators and laws adapt. Basic knowledge of technology law may also protect you and your business from messy legal battles that arise from the misuse of technology.
Powered by WPeMatico