Ethics of government regulation of IT - how to view them and the implications

Abstract

People have homes to shelter and protect their valuables. They are contained, and some even have alarm systems. Most people choose to lock up their money in a bank account so that no one can steal it from under the mattress. As a matter of convenience, when the computer came along, people's personal information got stored in a computer system. This is very much like the way money is saved in a wallet. Others want to get that valuable commodity (whether it is the money in a purse or the information from a website). Then, along came the government, who decided that it was time to put some laws in place. These laws were meant to protect consumers from theft or violation of their information when it is stored on computers. The purpose of this paper is to decide if the government is doing enough to protect the public by asking the following: are we safe from computer hackers, and is the government doing enough to prepare?