OT: legal obligations

[James Knott]

Jamon Camisso wrote:
> On January 16, 2008 13:42:18 John McGregor wrote:
>   
>> Hi Folk,
>>          I repair PCs for a living and since most members of the
>> public think that a back up is something you do when you put a car in
>> reverse, this often entails digging through an old hard drive trying
>> to recover files. I was doing just that on the weekend when news of
>> the recent arrests for child porn activities were announced. This got
>> me to wondering what my, and other computer techs', obligations are
>> if we find illegal content when doing a similar search? Thoughts?
>>     
>
> Legal or ethical? Legally I don't think we have any in Ontario (whereas 
> Manitoba just introduced legislation aimed at just that question). 
> Likely if you were party to the information you could be held liable 
> for at least negligence.
>
> Ethically, I'm not sure the question even bears asking. I couldn't 
> imagine being able to sleep at night without reporting such egregious 
> activities.
>
> There are exceptions to doctor/patient disclosure, and lawyer/client 
> privileges. There is a need for information professionals to have some 
> sort of privacy guarantee for users in most cases, but there must be 
> provisions for exceptions like the one you've mentioned.
>
> Jamon
>   
I seem to recall a case not to long ago, about such stuff found on a
computer in for repair.  IIRC, the point was made that such stuff should
be reported.  Also, I have a friend who's a psychologist who is supposed
to report to police, a patient she considers a significant risk to
others, despite privacy concerns.  They same thing applies to physicians
or eye doctors, who have a patient that's no longer capable of driving
safely.  They are required, by law, to report that person.

Bottom line, privacy rules, unless it will result in danger to others.

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