Civil Rights

Civil rights are the rights of individual to have equal treatment. Civil rights include several aspects such as education, employment, housing and religion. It also provides each person with the right to speak up for what they believe given they have freedom within the laws of the government. Many years ago there was a law called the ‘civil rights movement’ this was made for the African American race so that would be treated as equals regardless of colour. But today the term civil rights is now used to describe the improvement of equality of all people regardless of age, sex, disability, religion, national origin or any other characteristics.

There is the option to visit http://www.adviceguide.org.uk/ if anyone needs advice about their civil rights; this includes what the basic human rights were.

Civil rights in the UK

There are no official civil rights law in the UK. However legislation was posed during the 1970’s, this banned discrimination and has similar laws as the American Civil Rights Act. Britain has a legislation set out in the European Convention on Human Rights this governs civil rights, civil liberties and rights.

Human Rights Act

The human rights act was enforced in 1998; it is an act of parliament of the United Kingdom. Its aim is to give further effect in UK law to the rights contained in the European convention right. The European convention on human rights protects the human rights of people in countries that belong to the council of Europe, this includes the UK also. If any person happens to think their human rights under the European convention have been flouted, they are able to take the case to court but will need expert advice. This eliminates the need to go to the European court of human rights. Human rights are basic rights and freedoms that belong to every person in the world, the main human rights including:

·        The right to life

·        Protection from torture

·        Protection from slavery and forced labour

·        Right to respect for private and family life

·        Protection from discrimination

ICT and Civil Rights

There are acts and laws which have been put in place that protect computer users from hackers and fraud.  These acts are called the Data Protection Act of 1998 and the Computer Misuse Act of 1990.  They are specific laws for computers and data stored on computers which computer users must apply. 

The Data Protection Act

The data protection act was made to protect personal information.

However it only covers personal information about living individuals, not about businesses.

It covers data stored on computer or in a paper-based filing system.

It lets people check what data is being held about them.

It is run by the Information Commissioner’s Office.

Data Subjects are the individuals that the information is about and the Data Users are the big companies that collect, store and use the information. 

What rights do the data subjects have?

·        They have the right to see what information is being held about them if they ask the data user. They may have to pay for this.

·        Change any wrong information

·        Refuse to have a piece of information stored at all, if damage or distress is caused.

·        Refuse to allow processing for direct marketing such as junk mail.

·         Complain to the data protection commission if they think the rules have been broken.

·        Claim compensation if they can prove they have been used for damage

The companies that store the information have to obey the fact that the information has to be:

·        Fairly and lawfully processed

·        Used for limited purposes

·        Adequate and relevant. Only what is needed may be used

·        Accurate

·        Not kept for longer than is necessary

·        Accessible to the individual and able to be corrected or removed where necessary

·        Secure

·        Not transferred to countries without adequate protection

If any of these points are not being followed then the company storing the information can get in trouble with the Information Commissioners Office.

Companies need to keep their customer information secure otherwise it could get into the wrong hands, resulting in customers becoming victims of fraud or hacking.

There are also a few points that the data users have to obey and notify the information commissioner of, these are:

·        What data they want to store

·        What they want to use it for

·        How long they will keep it

·        Who they might pass it to

There are a few cases when the data protection act does not apply, these are called exemptions to the act.

Computer Misuse Act

The Computer Misuse Act (1990) was the second piece of legislation that was introduced to protect the rights of individuals. The Computer Misuse Act was introduced primarily to deal with computer hacking. It contains offences to do with unauthorised acts relating to computers.

The Computer misuse act was created after the Data Protection Act of 1984. Except this time it was the rights of computer users and computer owners that were being addressed, instead of the rights of data subjects. The Act was introduced in response to the growing problem of computer hacking and the wide spread of computer viruses.

As from September 1^st 1990 there was new computer misuse offences were introduced under this act, these being:

·        Unauthorised access to computer material, or in other words known as basic hacking, this including the illicit copying of software held in any computing device. The penalty for this being anything up to 6 months in prison OR a £5000 fine.

·        Unauthorised access with intent to commit or facilitate commission of further offences, which covers more serious cases of hacking. The penalty for this is 5 years in prison AND an unlimited fine.

·        Unauthorised modification of computer material is not acceptable; the penalty for this is five years in prison and an unlimited fine. These include:

·        Intentional and unauthorised destruction of software or data.

·        The circulation of "infected^" materials on-line.

·         An unauthorised addition of a password to a data file.

Biometric Passports

Biometric details include things that are unique to you such as your fingerprints and facial features such as the eye.

All passports hold facial biometrics, you must ensure your passport photographs meet the required standards; this is so your facial measurements can be captured to form the biometric element within your passport.

 How is the biometric passport used?

There is a chip containing all the biometric and personal details, this has an antenna which means it can be read electronically. Biometric checks can be used at border controls, especially at E- Passport gates, they can now also be used by the identity and passport service (IPS) to check the image on the passport with the images held on record.

The chip inside the passport contains information about the holders face, such as the distance between the eyes, nose, mouth and ears. The chip also holds the information that is printed on the personal details page of your passport.

Identification Cards

This card also contains your unique biometrics of your physically features such as your face and fingerprints, the card secures these details to you biographic details also, these including name, date of birth and address.

Anyone is able to apply for an ID card as long as they are 16 years of age or over, you apply for an id card in a similar way you would apply for a passport. 

An ID card is no bigger that a normal credit card and can be easily carried around making it a useful, convenient and portable object to have. On the face of the card there will be:

·        You photograph

·        Your full name

·        Your gender

·        Place and date of birth

·        Your nationality (applies to British citizens only)

·        An image of your signature

All new foreign nationals you are coming to the UK and those who are choosing to extend their stay in the UK for more than 6 months will have to get a card after 3 years.

The home office quotes that the new identification cards scheme will; “strengthen national security and protect people from identity fraud and theft by providing them with the convenient means of verifying their identity in everyday transactions”. It is said that by everyone having and ID card it will stop people claiming free services, of which they are not entitled to. It should make it more difficult for criminals to have multiply identities, therefore decreasing the possibilities of identity fraud.

Surveillance

Surveillance is the monitoring of behaviour and activities of people mainly for the purpose to manage direct and protect people. Surveillance has both positive and negative effects considering it has an unclear practice. There are several ways in which surveillance takes place, these being computer surveillance, telephones, cameras, socials networks, aerial surveillance, satellites and postal surveillance.