Security, privacy and ethics in electronic records management in the South African public sector

Abstract

Computers have become such valuable tools for conducting businessthat today people would have difficulty imagining work without them.One great advantage of the computers is the ease with which a largequantity of data can be analysed, manipulated and shared amongpeople. However, there are a number of compelling security, privacyand ethical dilemmas raised by computer systems. For example, themonitoring of employee e-mails by employers to prevent them fromwasting organisation’s resources on non-business activities. Thisarticle seeks to investigate security, privacy and ethical dilemmas inthe electronic records management environment in the South Africanpublic sector. In order to draw inferences and recommendations, asurvey was conducted on existing national government departmentsin South Africa. Firstly, findings of the literature review (contentanalysis) are discussed. Secondly, the results from the survey areanalysed and interpreted. The article concludes by arguing that withouta proper information security framework and professional code ofethics that embrace electronic records management, governmentdepartments could expose themselves to unnecessary financiallosses due to litigations resulting from invasion of privacy and unethical behaviour, and urges government departments in South Africa to implement Electronic Document and Records Management Systems that are able to capture records in read-only format and generate a non-editable audit trail of all actions to address security dilemmas of electronic records.