What Would You Do? (Scenario 2)
Introduction
This activity requires you to participate in an in-depth discussion with your classmates which will provide the opportunity to exchange ideas as they pertain to the learning material. You are encouraged to discuss issues at your place of employment or other experiences. Read the learning material and watch the assigned videos before posting your initial response.
What Would You Do?
You have been hired as an Analyst II, in the Consumer Data Protection and Privacy Division of the newly created New Jersey Data Protection Agency (NJDPA), a state agency charged with the task of managing and monitoring the collection of data by New Jersey businesses and organizations. The office will officially open in January of 2022. In the meantime, employees are required to report to the office to attend daily staff meetings in preparation of the agency’s launch date and managing the development of the various components of the New Jersey Data Protection Act.
On Monday morning, you entered the employee kitchen and overheard three members of your team discussing the agenda for your division’s 11:00 a.m. emergency staff meeting. John McKenzie, Assistant Division Manager, Louis Rodriguez, Analyst III, and Lin Jung, Analyst IV were engaged in an intense conversation about the issue involving the collection of consumer data and the right to privacy by cell phone providers. As you began to make a cup of tea, you heard John state, “I have too much at stake and if you vote with me, I guarantee each of you 20K before Christmas. Lin objected stating, “but they are collecting too much personal data and too many consumers are not aware.” John responded and stated, “so what, what they don’t know won’t hurt them.” The three laughed and Louis and Lin agreed to vote with John.
You left the room un-noticed and returned to your office. You decided to review the meeting agenda and attached documents and noticed that the division was going to discuss issues involving data collection by cell phone providers after which a vote would be held to determine the limits being imposed.
Upon further review of the reports, you were disturbed by the plethora of personal data collected and stored by cell phone providers and their use of the data, privacy issues and disclosures. You also realized that a second vote would be held about the data collected by smart homes.
The documents revealed the following data collection:
Smartphone Privacy and Disclosure Issues:
Any photos or video on cell phones
Details about the text messages and e-mails sent and received, including the content
Who is calling, who is being called, and details about the phone call such as when it was placed and how long it lasted
Contacts stored in phones
Passwords
Financial data
Calendar information
Location, age, and gender
Data Collected by Cell Phone Providers
Name
Address
Age
Social Security or driver’s license number
Purchase transaction history
Web browsing activity
Voter registration information
Number of children and the number living at home
Foreign languages spoken
Photos posted to social media
The listing price of a person’s home
Life events (marriage, birth, death)
Credit score
Kind of car driven
Amount spent on groceries
Amount of credit card debt
Location history
Service Provider Data Collected and Stored
Incoming and outgoing calls
Phone number called
The phone numbers that call are received from and the duration of the call
Incoming and outgoing text messages: the phone numbers texts are sent to and from
How often e-mail is checked, and the Internet accessed
Location.
Smart Home Data Collected
Various data
Question
What would you do about the issue involving John and the other employees and the personal data being collected by cell phone providers? Your response should include a recommendation about the data being collected. (What data should be eliminated from being collected and stored?)
