This document discusses censorship and privacy as two legal issues that can shape the management of information, as well as beneficence as an ethical issue. Specifically, it defines censorship as examining communications to suppress unacceptable material. Censorship aims to protect institutions and can occur before or after publication. Privacy laws protect individuals' personal information from unauthorized access and aim to prevent harm from information disclosure. Beneficence requires professionals to prioritize clients' interests over their own when managing personal data.

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The first legal issue we would like to talk about is censorship. Censorship is the policy or practice
of examining publications, television programs, or other forms of communication with a view to
suppressing or altering those that are considered unacceptable or offensive. Alternatively,
censorship may refer to the suppression of speech or deletion of communicative material which
may be considered objectionable harmful or sensitive. Censorship comprises many methods of
preventing the publication or dissemination of speech, printed matter, art, theater, music,
electronic media, or other forms of expression.
There are basically three common issues that undergoes censorship. This includes: religion,
politics, and sex. The basic idea behind censorship is the protection of the most basic civil
institutions of the family, the church, and the state. The topic of censorship is more evident in a
totalitarian or socialist states rather than a democratic state. This topic first popped up as
Socrates refused to allow his published materials or his teachings to undergo censorship.
The idea or principle of intellectual freedom formed Socrates’ drive to resist his teachings from
undergoing censorship. Intellectual freedom is the concept that postulate that individuals are
free to say and write whatever they like without any restriction or interference whatsoever. The
concept of intellectual freedom is directly opposite with the idea of censorship.
Censorship may take placein two basicways,thus, before or after the publication of the material.
Materials considered to be unacceptable by the society may be assessed critically and that part
that seems to be a threat to the moral codes of the society immediately is removed before it get
diffused into the public domain. Again, the materials that have been already diffused into the
public domain gets censored after it has been assimilated by the people and a claimmade to that
effect to be morally unacceptable or capable of bringing division among members of the society.
Politically inspired materials that poses a threat to the unity of the members of the society
undergoes censorship and that part gets removed or may even result in the total ban of the
material. Some religious literature also goes through the same process to ensure that another
religion is not defamed or ill-spoken of. The ban or destruction of an unapproved published
material may not necessary involve the physical burning of the material itself but to discourage
the individuals from reading it.
The most current issue associated with censorship has to do with internet censorship. The
internet is a global connection of networks that allows remote computers to share or exchange
information. The internet is characteristic of its global access and usage without any restrictions
or regulations. Individuals are free to share their opinions or views on the internet. Some of these
communications may contain certain things that are inconsistentto the norms, values or customs
of the society.
As a result, certain measures have been put in place to restrict access to some materials or
publications to a targeted group of people. For instance, the University of Ghana Computing

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System department restricts students from having access to certain sites on the internet
considered to be inconsistent to the goals and vision of the institution. An example is the
restriction of access to pornographic sites while using the student Wi-Fi. Another form also
requires the individual’s permission to continue to have access to those sites as it may be
considered inappropriate to all persons.
The next legal issue we would like to discuss is Privacy. Privacy is a legalinformation concept that
strictly and protectively allows authorized users to have access to their personal information and
denies others from having access to those information. This concept prevents a third party from
accessing the information of another. Information which may benefit from the Data Protection
Act may include: health information, security information, legal information, economic
information and social information.
There are several institutions that may require an individual to disclose his or her personal
information such as health, finance, marital status, among several other sensitive private
information. Professionals in institutions such as the hospitals and banks are expected to display
a higher level of professionalism in the discharge of their duties in order to safeguard the
information of their clients. The elements of integrity and confidentiality may make this aim
achievable.
Individuals health status and records must stay between the individual and the medical
practitioner unless when permitted by the individual for that information to be reached by a third
party. When the private information of an individual gets to the public domain without prior
knowledge of the individual, it constitutes a criminal offense and the information carrier may be
prosecuted for such act or incident.
Most countries have laws that protects the information of individuals or organizations. The data
protection is concerned with data security, thus this involves confidentiality, integrity,
authenticity and privacy of data that has to be processed. The data protection act largely has to
do with privacy; the need to protect one’s personal information.
The Ghana Data Protection Act, 2012 {Act 843}, protects the privacy of the individual by
regulating the processing of personal information. The Ghana Data Protection Commission
(GDPC) provides for the process to obtain, hold, use or disclose personal information and for
other issues bordering on the protection of personal information.
The issue of data privacy is so crucial and sensitive because, when the personal information of a
person is encroached or accessed by another it may go a long way to affect the individual
emotionally, psychologically and even sometimes physical. For instance, when the personal
information of a person gets corrupted or damaged by an unauthorized user or even by the
information carrier, the individual may be refused employment, could be misrepresented
(defamation), or could be wrongly accused of a crime, etc.

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Some ethical issues relatedto privacy includes autonomy, beneficence, and non-maleficence. For
the purpose of this work, we would like to elaborate more on beneficence. Beneficence is an act
or deed which benefits someone rather one’s own interest. In such adispensation likeours where
data have really become very vital resource, information carriers or professionals may have to
put the interest of their clients above their personal interest.
Some information professionals over the years have been caught for leaking or more specifically
selling and swapping the personal information of their clients to satisfy their personal interest at
the expense of their client’s security. An example is the case of George Clooney, a United State
citizen who sustained a severe injury from a deadly accident. Medical staffers were caught
peeking at George Clooney’s confidential medical information and were later arrested and
prosecuted.
Beneficence appeals to an individual or more specificallytheinformation professional to do what
is right and look out for the interest of their clients by protecting their personal information from
the reach of unauthorized users.
Censorship may hinder and at the same time shape the management of information. Censorship
may contribute to the removal of certain content of the data considered to be harmful during
the processing of that data and promote sanity and order in the society. Also, it may hinder the
dissemination of information especially when considered to be harmful or unaccepted by the
society.
Privacy shapes the management of information as individual’s personal information is protected
against attackers. It actually encourages information professionals to be more circumspect when
dealing with the management of one’s information.
Beneficence as an ethical issue enable an individual to seek the interest of others at the expense
of his personal interest.
REFERENCES
Laursen, John Christian. “Censorship”, New Dictionary of the History of Ideas. Ed. Maryanne
Cline Horowittz. Vol. 1. Detroit: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 2005. 290-295. Gale Virtual Reference
Library. Gale. Alabama School of Fine Arts (AVL). 7 Dec. 2009.
http://go.galegroup.com/ps/start.do?p=GVRL&u=avl_fine.
Patricia Dovi Sampson, Director Research, Statistics & Information Management Ministry of
Communications, Ghana.

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GROUP 21
INFS 213
NAMEOF LECTURER: Mrs. F. O. Entsua-Mensah
QUESTION: Apart fromcopyright, discuss in detail any two legal and one ethical
issuethat may shape the management of information.
NAMES OF GROUP MEMBER ID NUMBER
1. DANIEL OFORI YAW APPIAH (GP) 10614968
2. DAVID ASANTE JNR 10623825
3. BENJAMIN TETTEH 10622336
4. STEVEN OSAM-TAWIAH 10608288
5. JOSEPH ANTWI ONYAME 10619236
6. DANIEL-ADOOSEY JEFFREY 10616633
7. OKWAN ERIC FESTUS 10612546
8. GRACE ANTWIWAAH ADOFO 10605076
9. FREMPONG AFRAKOMAH LINDA 10628912
10. MAVIS ANKWA-DEI 10606204
11. AFIA WIREDU ASARE 10605532