Privacy on the internet : Investigation into corporate privacy policy of Australian large private sector organisations on the internet

The popularity of the Internet has been dramatically increased over recent years. The rapid growth of this technology and its international use has made it almost impossible to regulate the internet. As a result, the Internet has certainly provided freedoms to people and it has led to some abusing systems. Privacy is one of the major issues in the development of Electronic Commerce using the Internet. As an enormous amount of personal information is transmitted to several hosts connecting to the Internet, the information can be accessed by both authorised and unauthorised people. Although it is certain that there are several existing problems of using the Internet for business activities, many organisations have already started using it. It is believed that the Internet provides efficiency and effectiveness for various activities Although much research has been described the business use of the Internet in many countries, these studies have not specifically investigated Australian organisations. Therefore, this research investigates the current use of the Internet by Australian organisations and their associated privacy policies, as a means of seeking their privacy concerns. Using a benchmark provided by Australian privacy commissioners, it evaluates their privacy policies to see how well they are established to protect privacy of users. The study utilises the top 100 Australian large private sector organisations as the sample. The current practice of the sample organisations on the Internet was observed by exploring their Web sites. Privacy policies were also collected from their Web sites. Moreover, a letter requesting corporate privacy policy was sent to each organisation that collects personal information on the Internet. The result showed that the majority of Australian organisations were using the Internet today, but a surprisingly few organisations showed their privacy policy on the Internet. Also, this research showed that many organisations did not actually have a corporate privacy policy. Many organisations are using the Internet without apparent concern for customers\u27 privacy. The organisations proactively involved in the Internet Commerce are more concerned about security side of the Internet. Hence, they appear to believe that the technology itself protects information sent on the Internet. It has become clear that technology by itself does not provide the security needed for users of the Internet as unethical act of authorised parties could harm privacy of individuals. There is an argument that the Internet needs to be regulated. However, the process of international regulation on the Internet has not been started. Thus, it is ideal that organisations proactively protect clients\u27 personal information accessible by the use of the Internet technology. This study looks at the methods of obtaining privacy of individuals and suggests the ideal conduct of organisations

ETHICAL EVALUATION IN WILDLIFE CONSERVATION: ART, ANIMAL-VISITOR INTERACTIONS AND EMERGENCIES IN WILDLIFE MANAGEMENT AND CONSERVATION

Nell’attuale crisi globale della biodiversità è sempre più cruciale valutare le questioni eticamente rilevanti e considerare la natura pluralistica della conservazione della biodiversità. L'etica della conservazione fornisce strumenti per eseguire tali valutazioni e assistere nei processi decisionali. La tesi di questo dottorato di ricerca presenta studi in cui vengono utilizzati strumenti per eseguire valutazioni etiche e multidisciplinari per valutare progetti di conservazione e gestione della fauna selvatica. Pertanto, questo lavoro di dottorato mostra tre diverse aree di applicazione dell'etica della conservazione: Conservation ART, le interazioni animale-visitatore e le sfide nella gestione della fauna selvatica durante l'emergenza COVID-19. Nella prima sezione, la valutazione etica è stata applicata nel contesto del progetto BioRescue, in cui le tecnologie di riproduzione assistita (ART) sono utilizzate nello sforzo di salvare il rinoceronte bianco settentrionale (Ceratotherium simum cottoni) dall’estinzione. Le tecnologie di riproduzione assistita possono fare la differenza nella conservazione della biodiversità, ma la loro applicazione può sollevare questioni eticamente rilevanti che necessitano di essere affrontate. Pertanto, in primo luogo, è stata utilizzata la Matrice Etica (EM) per presentare un quadro per l'analisi etica dell'applicazione delle procedure ART nella conservazione. L'EM, anche se specificamente costruita attorno alle procedure di prelievo di ovociti (OPU) effettuate su rinoceronti bianchi, ha permesso di raggruppare i fattori eticamente rilevanti, identificare e valutare complessi scenari morali in cui diversi bisogni, interessi e preoccupazioni etiche possono entrare in conflitto e fornire infine un modello per la valutazione delle procedure ART in progetti che coinvolgono altre specie in via di estinzione. In seguito, viene presentato un nuovo strumento di valutazione etica (ETHAS) specificamente sviluppato per valutare l’applicazione delle procedure ART in conservazione, e vengono illustrati i risultati delle prime applicazioni. ETHAS, con le sue due liste checklist che lo compongono, permette di effettuare un'autovalutazione integrata, multilivello e standardizzata della procedura in esame, generando una classifica di accettabilità etica e consentendo l'attuazione di misure per affrontare o gestire eventuali problemi in anticipo. ETHAS, specificatamente customizzato per l'OPU e le procedure di fecondazione in vitro eseguite sul rinoceronte bianco settentrionale, hanno permesso di garantire un elevato standard delle procedure, migliorare alcuni aspetti della comunicazione tra i partner del progetto e migliorare lo strumento stesso al fine di essere applicato nel prossimo futuro ad altri contesti in cui le ART vengono utilizzate per la conservazione di altre specie di mammiferi. Nell'ultimo studio presentato nella prima sezione, la matrice etica, l'albero decisionale e il cubo di Bateson sono stati adattati per assistere nell'analisi etica di un complesso scenario relativo alla decisione se continuare o meno la raccolta di biomateriale sul più anziano dei due rimanenti rinoceronti bianchi settentrionali, Najin. Strutturando questi strumenti per implementare le diverse dimensioni di valore (ambientale, sociale e benessere animale) coinvolte nell'etica della conservazione, è stato possibile raccogliere pro e contro, confrontare le diverse opzioni e stabilire una soglia di accettabilità etica. L'applicazione degli strumenti è stata fondamentale per strutturare il processo decisionale e aiutare a raggiungere la decisione condivisa, ragionata e trasparente di sospendere Najin da qualsiasi ulteriore procedura di prelievo di ovociti. L'etica della conservazione può anche aiutare ad esplorare le questioni etiche riguardanti la gestione della fauna selvatica durante le interazioni animale-visitatore (AVI) che si svolgono nelle strutture zoologiche. A questo proposito, la Sezione 2In the global biodiversity crisis, it is increasingly crucial to evaluate ethically relevant issues and consider the pluralistic nature of biodiversity conservation. Conservation ethics provides tools to perform such evaluation and assist in the decision-making processes. This Ph.D. thesis presents studies in which ethical tools are used to perform ethical evaluation and multidisciplinary assessments to approach conservation projects and wildlife management. Three different areas of application of conservation ethics are discussed: Conservation ART, animal-visitor interactions, and challenges in wildlife management during the COVID-19 emergency. In the first area, ethical evaluation has been applied in the context of the BioRescue project, an international project in which assisted reproductive technologies (ARTs) are used in the effort to save the endangered northern white rhinoceros (Ceratotherium simum cottoni). Assisted reproductive technologies can make a difference in biodiversity conservation, but their application can raise ethical issues that need to be addressed. Therefore, firstly, an Ethical Matrix (EM) has been used to present a framework for the ethical analysis of the application of ART procedures in conservation. The EM, specifically built around the ovum pick-up (OPU) procedures carried out on white rhinoceros, allowed to collect ethically relevant factors to identify issues and value conflicts, evaluates complex moral scenarios where different needs, interests, and ethical concerns may conflict, and provides a template for the assessment of ART procedures in projects involving endangered species. Therefore, a new ethical evaluation tool (ETHAS) specifically developed to assess ART procedures in conservation is presented, and the first application results are reported. ETHAS, with its two checklists, provides an integrated, multilevel, and standardized self-assessment of the procedure under scrutiny, generating an ethical acceptability ranking and allowing for implementing measures to address or manage issues beforehand. ETHAS customized for OPU and in vitro fertilization procedures performed on the northern white rhinoceros allowed for ensuring a high standard of procedures, improving some aspects of the communication among the projects’ partners, and improving the tool itself, in order to be applied in the near future to other contexts in which ARTs are applied for the conservation of other mammal species. Finally, in the last study presented in the first section, the ethical matrix, decision tree, and Bateson’s cube have been adapted to assist in the ethical analysis of a complex conservation scenarios relative to the decision regarding whether or not to continue collecting biomaterial on the oldest of the two remaining northern white rhinoceroses. By structuring these tools to implement the different value dimensions (environmental, social, and animal welfare) involved in conservation ethics, it has been possible to gather ethical pros and cons, compare the different options at stake, and establish a threshold of ethical acceptability. The application of the tools was pivotal in structuring the decision-making process and helping reach the shared, reasoned, and the transparent decision to discontinue Najin from any further oocyte collection procedures. Conservation ethics can also assist in exploring the ethical issues concerning wildlife management during animal-visitor interactions (AVI). In this regard, Section 2 of this thesis presents studies concerning AVIs. Firstly, a participatory process has been followed with an Ethical Matrix to explore welfare and management issues related to AVIs. The inclusion of the stakeholders' perspectives allowed to record all the value demands concerning AVI and provide a map of the ethically relevant aspects involved. This map shows how the ethical acceptability of AVIs is linked to different relevant issues like animal welfare, education, and biodiversit