The sharing of personal information among health and social service organisations is a complex issue and problematic process in present-day England. Organisations which provide services to children face enormous challenges on many fronts. Internal ways of working, evolving best practice, data protection applications, government mandates and new government agencies, rapid changes in technology, and increasing costs are but a few of the challenges with which organisations must contend in order to provide services to children while keeping in step with change. This thesis is an exploration into the process of sharing personal information in the context of public sector reforms. Because there is an increasing emphasis of multi-agency collaboration, this thesis examines the information sharing processes both within and among organisations, particularly those providing services to children. From the broad principles which comprise a socio-technical approach of information sharing, distinct critical factors for successful information sharing and best practices are identified. These critical success factors are then used to evaluate the emerging national database, ContactPoint, highlighting particular areas of concern. In addition, data protection and related issues in the information sharing process are addressed. It is argued that one of the main factors which would support effective information sharing is to add a timeline to the life of a dataset containing personal information, after which the shared information would dissolve. Therefore, this thesis introduces Dynamic Multi-Agency Collaboration (DMAC), a theoretical model of effective information sharing using a limited-life dataset. The limited life of the DMAC dataset gives more control to information providers, encouraging effective information sharing within the parameters of the Data Protection Act 1998.

The aim of this work was to bring the issue of mandatory confidentiality of health workers and the exceptions to this concept in the context of criminal law. In the first part of the thesis is generally defined by the Institute of mandatory confidentiality in health care, sources of legal regulation of this institute and its development in the Czech legal order. The work also deals with medical records and privacy of sensitive data in connection with the obligation of confidentiality of medical professionals. The next section is defined by breaking the confidentiality required the consent of the patient and also cases where the patient's consent to obtain information about his state of health is not required. The work also deals with criminal liability for breach of confidentiality and lists the offenses that can be committed in violation of this obligation. In the conclusion the work presents a brief comparison of the regulation of the Slovak Republic and in the Federal Republic of Germany.

This diploma thesis deals with the topic of an employee's duty of confidentiality in a basic labour relationship. It seeks to find an answer to the question of whether there is some kind of a "general" employee's duty of confidentiality of certain facts, to which all the employees must oblige. The Czech Labour Code does not explicitly define this duty. If a general duty does not exist, it would have to be stipulated contractually. This diploma thesis is divided into four parts. The first part pays attention to the duty of confidentiality as such. It focuses on its content because it is essential to clarify what the "duty of confidentiality" means. Definitions of the duty of confidentiality created by different expert literature authors are covered in this part including the definition created by the author of this thesis. The second part represents the core of this diploma thesis since it deals with an employee's duty of confidentiality as it is stipulated by the Labour Code. The author addresses the so-called "special" duties of confidentiality which are explicitly stated in the Labour Code for certain groups of employees. Moreover, this part examines the general duty of confidentiality applicable to all employees who carry out work based on a concluded basic labour relationship. An employee's...

O presente estudo pretende construir uma reflexão sobre a função da confidencialidade para os profissionais de saúde que lidam com pessoas envolvidas em casos de incesto, na tentativa de avaliar os limites éticos destas intervenções. A metodologia utilizada constituiu-se por uma reflexão teórica baseada na experiência de trabalho da autora no CEARAS, referendada pela Bioética e pela Psicanálise e ilustrada por uma pesquisa realizada com os profissionais de saúde, incluindo os médicos, enfermeiras, técnicas e auxiliares de enfermagem e assistentes sociais do Pronto-Atendimento Pediátrico do Hospital Universitário da Faculdade de Medicina da Universidade de São Paulo. Entrevistas livres de exploração sobre a possibilidade de atendimento a crianças e adolescentes com suspeitas de abuso sexual e o modo de lidar com estas questões foram realizadas com os profissionais. As entrevistas foram gravadas e transcritas para serem analisadas através do método de análise de conteúdo. O atendimento de pacientes envolvidos em situações de abuso sexual é considerado pelos profissionais de saúde como um problema de difícil abordagem. A ausência do conflito entre a quebra do segredo profissional e a manutenção do vínculo de confiança entre profissional de Saúde e paciente em situações de incesto demonstra a dificuldade de os profissionais lidarem com tais casos e discriminarem a função de um profissional de saúde, pelo incesto se tratar justamente do tabu estruturante do ser humano. / This work intends to build up considerations about the confidentiality function for health professionals who deal with people involved in cases of incest, trying to evaluate the ethical limits of these interventions. The methodology used was a theoretical reflection based on Bioethics and Psychoanalyses and was illustrated by research with health professionals, including doctors, nurses, social workers and nurse assistants from Pediatric Emergency Room at University Hospital of São Paulo University. Free exploring interviews about the possibility of attending children and adolescents with suspects of sexual abuse and the way to deal professionally with such situation were conducted with those professionals. The interviews were recorded and transcribed for analysis through content analysis technique. The attendance of patients involved in sexual abuse situations is considered by health professionals as a difficult problem to approach. The absence of conflict between breaking professional secrecy and the maintenance of the reliance bond between the health professional and the patient on incest situations, shows the difficulties for the professionals to deal with people involved in those cases and, to discriminate the function of a health professional, by considering incest as a structuralizing taboo from the essence of human being.

Récemment, le 3GPP (3rd Generation Partnership Project) a standardisé les systèmes LTE/LTE-A (Long Term Evolution/LTE-Advanced) qui ont été approuvés par l'UIT (Union Internationale des Télécommunications) comme des réseaux de télécommunications mobiles de 4éme génération. La sécurité est l'une des questions essentielles qui doivent être traitées avec soin pour protéger les informations de l'opérateur et des utilisateurs. Aussi, le 3GPP a normalisé plusieurs algorithmes et protocoles afin de sécuriser les communications entre les différentes entités du réseau. Cependant, l'augmentation du niveau de sécurité dans ces systèmes ne devrait pas leur imposer des contraintes lourdes telles qu’une grande complexité de calcul ou encore une forte consommation d'énergie. En effet, l'efficacité énergétique est devenue récemment un besoin critique pour les opérateurs afin de réduire l’empreinte écologique et les coûts opérationnels de ces systèmes. Les services de sécurité dans les réseaux mobiles tels que l'authentification, la confidentialité et l'intégrité des données sont le plus souvent effectués en utilisant des techniques cryptographiques. Toutefois, la plupart des solutions standardisées déjà adoptées par le 3GPP dépendent des algorithmes de chiffrement qui possèdent une grande complexité, induisant une consommation énergétique plus élevée dans les différentes entités communicantes du réseau. La confidentialité des données, qui se réfère principalement au fait de s'assurer que l'information n'est accessible qu'à ceux dont l'accès est autorisé, est réalisée au niveau de la sous-couche PDCP (Packet Data Convergence Protocol) de la pile protocolaire de LTE/LTE-A par l'un des trois algorithmes normalisés (EEA1, EEA2 et EEA3). Or, chacun des trois algorithmes exige une forte complexité de calcul car ils reposent sur la théorie de chiffrement de Shannon qui utilise les fonctions de confusion et de diffusion sur plusieurs itérations. Dans cette thèse, nous proposons un nouvel algorithme de confidentialité en utilisant le concept de substitution et de diffusion dans lequel le niveau de sécurité requis est atteint en un seul tour. Par conséquent, la complexité de calcul est considérablement réduite ce qui entraîne une réduction de la consommation d'énergie par les fonctions de chiffrement et de déchiffrement. De plus, la même approche est utilisée pour réduire la complexité des algorithmes 3GPP d'intégrité des données (EIA1, EIA2 et EIA3) dont le concept de chiffrement repose sur les mêmes fonctions complexes. Enfin, nous étudions dans cette thèse le problème d'authentification dans le contexte du paradigme D2D (Device to Device communications) introduit dans les systèmes 4G. Le concept D2D se réfère à la communication directe entre deux terminaux mobiles sans passer par le cœur du réseau. Il constitue un moyen prometteur pour améliorer les performances et réduire la consommation d'énergie dans les réseaux LTE/LTE-A. Toutefois, l'authentification et la dérivation de clé entre deux terminaux mobiles dans le contexte D2D n’ont pas fait l’objet d’études. Aussi, nous proposons un nouveau protocole léger d’authentification et de dérivation de clé permettant d’authentifier les terminaux D2D et de dériver les clés nécessaires à la fois pour le cryptage et pour la protection de l'intégrité des données. / Recently, the 3rd Group Project Partnership (3GPP) has developed Long Term Evolution/ Long Term Evolution-Advanced (LTE/LTE-A) systems which have been approved by the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) as 4th Generation (4G) mobile telecommunication networks. Security is one of critical issues which should be handled carefully to protect user's and mobile operator's information. Thus, the 3GPP has standardized algorithms and protocols in order to secure the communications between different entities of the mobile network. However, increasing the security level in such networks should not compel heavy constrains on these networks such as complexity and energy. Indeed, energy efficiency has become recently a critical need for mobile network operators for reduced carbon emissions and operational costs. The security services in mobile networks such as authentication, data confidentiality and data integrity are mostly performed using cryptographic techniques.However, most of the standardized solutions already adopted by the3GPP depend on encryption algorithms which possess high computational complexity which in turn contributes in consuming further energy at the different network communication parties.Data confidentiality which mainly refers to the protection of the user’s information privacy is achieved at the Packet Data Convergence Protocol (PDCP) sub-layer in the LTE/LTE-A protocol stack by one of the three standardized algorithms (EEA1, EEA2 and EEA3). However, each of the three algorithms requires high computational complexity since they rely on Shannon’s theory of encryption algorithms by applying confusion and diffusion for several rounds. In our thesis we propose a novel confidentiality algorithm using the concept of substitution and diffusion in which the required security level is attained in only one round. Consequently the computational complexity is considerably reduced which in return results in reducing the energy consumption during both encryption and decryption procedures. Similarly, the same approach is used to reduce the complexity of 3GPP data integrity algorithms (EIA1, EIA2 and EIA3) which the core cipher rely on the same complex functions. Finally, we investigate in this thesis the authentication issue in Device to Device paradigms proposal in 4G systems. Device to Device communications refer to direct communications between two mobile devices without passing through the core network. They constitute a promising mean to increase the performance and reduce energy consumptions in LTE/LTE-A networks. In such context, the authentication and key derivation between two mobile devices have not been well investigated. Thus, a novel lightweight authentication and key derivation protocol is proposed to authenticate two communicating devices during session establishments as well as deriving necessary keys for both data encryption and integrity protection.

Submitted by SBI Biblioteca Digital (sbi.bibliotecadigital@puc-campinas.edu.br) on 2017-01-19T13:28:00Z No. of bitstreams: 1 Silvana Bordini Coca Machado.pdf: 2197792 bytes, checksum: e1d90aedeee97ffbdaa9adcd79a31400 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2017-01-19T13:28:00Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Silvana Bordini Coca Machado.pdf: 2197792 bytes, checksum: e1d90aedeee97ffbdaa9adcd79a31400 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2016-11-28 / According to the United Nations report, 2014, for the first time in history, most of the world's population is living in urban centers. The urbanization movement, from 1950 to the present day, presented a migration from rural areas to urban almost doubling the reality of that time, which was 30%. And by 2050, it is expected that to be over 66% urban population. That is, the available infrastructure and services should be sized to meet this rapid growth and in less than a century. The information from these citizens, requiring for services provision of care for health, education, transportation and security, are stored in various systems, which may not part of any data centralization and standardization. Many data feature personal information, such as national registers, addresses, and others, which are not well safeguarded and can be a door to the leakage and misuse. The technologies used for the collection and storage of data can affect significantly the lives of people by emerging problems with security and data privacy. The ISO 27001 standard defines the triple constraint for information security through confidentiality, integrity and availability. In order to take the emergence of Smart Cities in the context, which are based on the provision of services via communication highways and by which provide information to governmental agencies, institutions in general and to every citizen. This study aims to learn how to make proper use of data personal institutions under security protection. In this context, they are seeking transparency and agility through ICT, which can be seen during this study that effective confidentiality requires even greater attention from managers and any team responsible for collecting, processing and distributing information. This result for this research is the proposition of a method for public organizations on how to handle data and information related to privacy, using a method based on decision making with the Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) and data subsets evaluation. / Segundo relat?rio da ONU, Organiza??o das Na??es Unidas, de 2014, pela primeira vez na hist?ria, a maior parte da popula??o mundial est? vivendo em centros urbanos. O movimento de urbaniza??o, desde 1950 at? os dias atuais, apresentou uma imigra??o da ?rea rural para a urbana quase dobrando a realidade daquela ?poca, a qual era de 30%, e at? 2050, espera-se uma popula??o urbana superior a 66%. A infra-estrutura e os servi?os oferecidos dever?o estar dimensionados para atender a este aumento populacional. A informa??o destes cidad?os, necess?ria para provimento de atendimentos n?o apenas da sa?de, educa??o, transporte e seguran?a s?o armazenadas nos mais diversos sistemas, sem que haja obrigatoriamente uma centraliza??o e padroniza??o destes dados. Muitos dados caracterizam informa??es pessoais, como registros nacionais, endere?os, que devem ser salvo-guardados adequadamente, caso contr?rio, podem ser uma porta para o vazamento e mal-uso dos mesmos. As tecnologias utilizadas para coleta e armazenamento dos dados podem afetar sensivelmente a vida da popula??o surgindo ent?o os problemas com a seguran?a e a privacidade de dados. A norma ISO 27001 define o trip? da seguran?a da informa??o por meio da confidencialidade, integridade e disponibilidade, buscando contextualizar a emerg?ncia das Cidades Inteligentes, que se fundamentam na oferta de servi?os via infovias de comunica??o e pelas quais s?o disponibilizadas informa??es a ?rg?os governamentais, institui??es em geral e a todo cidad?o. Este trabalho tem por objetivo apreender como fazer o uso adequado de dados pessoais nas institui??es, perante esta ?tica de prote??o, ao mesmo tempo em que, principalmente, com rela??o aos ?rg?os p?blicos se exige transpar?ncia. Nesse contexto em que se busca transpar?ncia e agilidade por meio das tecnologias da informa??o e comunica??o, se observar? no decorrer desta pesquisa que efetivos cuidados com a confidencialidade exigem ainda maior aten??o dos gestores e respons?veis pela coleta, processamento e distribui??o da informa??o. O resultado obtido foi a proposi??o de uma metodologia para o tratamento de dados e informa??es privadas pelas institui??es p?blicas, utilizando-se modelo de apoio a decis?o Analytical Hierachical Process (AHP) e avalia??o de subconjuntos de dados.

During the last part of the 20th century many companies has started to build their organizations on knowledge and information instead of manufacturing of products.  Today it is easier to communicate and spread information. At the same time the numbers of untraditional employments like temporary employments and workers from staffing agencies are increasing. Many organizations have higher employee turnover now than before. This allows more people to have access to confidential information, whose spreading might cause great damage for the employer. This essay aims to look into the protection of confidential information for the client against offenses from staffing agency workers that are working within the clients’ organization. Protection of confidential information is included in the duty of loyalty in terms of confidentiality, protection of trade secrets and competition clauses. Duty of loyalty lies within the employment contract between the agency employer and the staffing agency. Therefore the agency employer has no duty to be loyal against the client. For the agency worker to be able to perform the required work duties he or she might be provided with confidential information. Spreading of this information could cause damage for the client. Can the rules of justice that regulates duty of loyalty be applied on the relationship between the client and the agency worker?  What are the consequences of the rules that exist today? This essay is written with a juridical method and with sociology of law perspective. Other parts of the duty of loyalty is not included as well as the duty of loyalty for the employer. The conclusion is that the staffing agency is responsible for indemnity towards the client if an agency employer reviles confidential information about the clients’ organization.  Some rules of justice can be interpreted as an expression that duty of loyalty lays between the client and the agency worker. For example, the agency worker is bound by confidentiality in terms of the conditions at the clients’ organization.  Suggestions of changes in the regulations about protection of confidential information will force the agency worker to pay indemnity to the client if he or she reviles confidential information.   In staffing agencies there are twice as many immigrants than in the regular labor market. The rules of duty of loyalty can contribute to a holdback for immigrants that are working in staffing agencies. Immigrants will be at bigger risk of standing outside the general labor market than people born in Sweden because of static discrimination. / Företag har under senare delen av 1900-talet gått från traditionell varuproduktion till att allt mer bygga sin verksamhet på information och kunskap. Den tekniska utvecklingen har gjort det lättare att överföra och sprida kunskap i samhället vilket ökar sårbarheten hos företagen. Icke- traditionella anställningar såsom tidsbegränsade anställningar och inhyrd arbetskraft ökar och företag har en högre personalomsättning nu än tidigare. Fler personer får tillgång till företagsspecifik information och spridning av den skulle kunna skada arbetsgivaren. I min uppsats undersöker jag skyddet av hemlig information för arbetsgivare som hyr in arbetskraft från ett personaluthyrningsföretag. Skydd för hemlig information ingår i den så kallade lojalitetsplikten i form av tystnadsplikt, skydd för företagshemlighet och konkurrensklausuler. Lojalitetplikt föreligger i anställningsavtalet mellan uthyrd arbetstagare och uthyrningsföretaget men arbetstagarens arbetsprestation utförs hos kunden. Kan regleringar kring lojalitetsplikt tillämpas på förhållandet mellan kund och inhyrd arbetstagare? Vad blir konsekvenserna av de regler som finns idag? Uppsatsen är skriven med juridisk metod som har sin utgångspunkt i rättskälleläran samt med rättssociologisk angreppssätt. Andra delar av lojalitetsplikt såsom upplysningsskyldighet, bisysslor eller kritikrätt behandlas inte i uppsatsen, ej heller lojalitetsplikt för arbetsgivaren. Slutsatsen är att uthyrningsföretaget står för den uthyrde arbetstagarens handlingar mot kundföretaget eftersom det föreligger lojalitetsförpliktelser i uthyrningsavtalet mellan kund och uthyrare. Uthyraren står för exempelvis skadestånd om en arbetstagare röjer eller utnyttjar en företagshemlighet hos kunden. Vissa regleringar ger uttryck för att det föreligger lojalitetsplikt mellan kund och inhyrd arbetstagare. Exempelvis är den uthyrda arbetstagaren bunden av tystnadsplikt vad det gäller förhållanden hos kunden. I ett förslag från regeringen på kommande ändringar i lagstiftningen kommer den inhyrde arbetstagaren bli direkt skadeståndsansvarig vid röjande eller utnyttjande av företagshemlighet hos kunden. I uthyrningsbranschen finns dubbelt så stor andel utlandsfödda arbetstagare som på arbetsmarknaden generellt. På grund av hur regleringen kring lojalitetsplikt ser ut idag kan den bidra till inlåsningseffekter för utlandsfödda arbetstagare som arbetar i uthyrningsbranschen. Skilda villkor för svensk- och utlandsfödda såsom statisk diskriminering på arbetsmarknaden gör att utlandsfödda arbetstagare löper större risk än svenskfödda arbetstagare att få stå utanför den traditionella arbetsmarknaden.

Problemdiskussion: Under 2013 har Brottsförebyggande rådet lämnat statistik som visar att en fjärdedel av alla anmälda ekonomiska brott i Skaraborgsområdet är bokföringsbrott. En fjärdedel är en stor andel och borde undersökas mer ingående. Det är oklart hur många anmälningar som har kommit från revisorer under 2013. En rapport av Larsson (2004) visar dock att endast 1 % av alla anmälda ekobrott kommer från revisorer. Det finns flera studier som menar att anmälningsskyldigheten inte har haft någon effekt på förhindrandet av ekobrott då få anmälningar har kommit från revisorer. Genom vår studie vill vi bidra till en syn på anmälningsskyldigheten ur ett annat perspektiv, ett perspektiv som ser anmälningsskyldigheten ur en positiv synvinkel. Vidare undersöker vi revisorers moral under en misstänkt bokföringsbrottssituation. Syfte: Syftet med studien är att undersöka om anmälningsskyldigheten har haft en positiv effekt och om anmälningsskyldigheten lever upp till sitt syfte. Det verkar som att revisorers och företagens syn på anmälningsskyldigheten skiljer sig från lagstadgarens syn på lagen. Vi vill därför undersöka vad syftet egentligen är med lagen och hur lagen tillämpas i praktiken. Vidare vill vi undersöka hur moralen påverkar revisorer när de hamnar i en situation där de misstänker sina klienter för ett bokföringsbrott. Metod: Vi har undersökt 21 fall av bokföringsbrott och genomfört intervjuer med fyra auktoriserade revisorer i Skaraborgsområdet. Intervjuerna har genomförts med en kvalitativ metod. Vi har dessutom samlat in vetenskapliga artiklar och böcker för att få pålitlig och vetenskapligt säkerställd fakta. Slutsats: Vi har genom vår studie ifrågasatt den negativa effekten av anmälningsskyldigheten och kommit fram till att anmälningsskyldigheten är effektiv trots den lilla andelen anmälningar som kommer från revisorer. Anmälningsskyldigheten är nämligen designad för att ekobrotten ska motverkas innan de anmäls samt för att lagen ska användas som ett verktyg för revisorerna i syfte till att skrämma sina klienter. Vidare har vi kommit fram till att revisorer inte anmäler bokföringsbrott på grund av att de är moraliska och tar hänsyn till sina klienter, samt att revisorer inte vill ses som poliser och få dåligt rykte hos sina klientkretser. För att revisorer ska få behålla sina inkomstkällor, det vill säga klienter, vill de först och främst motverka brottet. / Problem discussion: During 2013, an authority which works under the Department of Justice in Sweden, called Brottsförebyggande rådet presented a report that shows that a quarter of all economic crimes in the county of Skaraborg are accounting frauds. A quarter is a very big proportion and therefore should be examined more thoroughly. A report written by Larsson (2004) although concludes that 1 % of all the notifications come from the auditor. There have been several studies with the same conclusions and mean that the auditors reporting obligation does not have any effect on the prevention of economic crimes, as the notifications comes for seldom from the auditors. With this study, our aim is to contribute and give another unexplored perspective in this area. Finally, we’re also examining the moral of auditors during a suspected accounting fraud. Purpose: The purpose of this study is to investigate if the reporting obligation has had a positive effect and if it fulfills the intended idea. It seems like that auditors and company’s views on the reporting obligation differ from the enactment’s angle. Due to this, we want to examine what the purpose really is with the reporting obligation and how it’s applied in reality. Furthermore, it is interesting to see how auditors react and behave when they’re in a situation where they might suspect their clients of an accounting fraud. Method: We’ve examined 21 cases of accounting frauds and had interviews with four authorized auditors, within the county of Skaraborg. The interviews have been accomplished with help of a qualitative approach. To ensure that the data in the study is qualified as a quality sign, we’ve used trustworthy books and scientific articles. Results and conclusion: One of the conclusions is that we question the negative effects that the reporting obligation is said to have, and instead see it as effective even though the notifications are not at a very high level from the auditors side. The law is designed in a way that allows the auditors to use the reporting obligation as a tool to threat the clients from fulfilling economic crimes. This is seen as a preventive action. Our second conclusion is that auditors do not report accounting frauds seen from a moral perspective and that they don’t like to be associated with police officers and that a bad reputation may be spread to the clients. For auditors to keep their source of income, the best possible action for them is trying to prevent accounting frauds from happening.

The handling of patient confidentiality in the medical, and more specifically as dealt with in this article, the pharmaceutical profession, is accepted as a given. Confidentiality cannot, however, always be guaranteed. The reason is that, amongst other things, the utilitarian principle of the ‘greatest good for the greatest number of people’ determines that certain exceptions have to be made in order to protect the health of the nation as a whole. Provision is made for exceptions in the Pharmacy Act where confidentiality may be breached. However, there are certain cases which are not provided for in the Act (and Acts change from time to time). This situation makes it necessary for the pharmacist to make moral judgements in specific instances related to specific patients. The objective of this article is to investigate these exceptions within a philosophical framework and to determine what the philosophical basis of such decisions would entail. This article initially will examine the current Pharmacy Act and the exceptions will be discussed that allow for the breaching of patient confidentiality. This will be followed by a brief exposition of modernist ethics and the issue of confidentiality under the headings of the idea of duty as moral imperative, as well as the utility idea. Pluralistic alternatives such as the ethics of virtue, postmodern ethics, and anti-moralism, will be explored as possible solutions to the pharmacist’s dilemma in this regard. / Thesis (MPhil)--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2013

The handling of patient confidentiality in the medical, and more specifically as dealt with in this article, the pharmaceutical profession, is accepted as a given. Confidentiality cannot, however, always be guaranteed. The reason is that, amongst other things, the utilitarian principle of the ‘greatest good for the greatest number of people’ determines that certain exceptions have to be made in order to protect the health of the nation as a whole. Provision is made for exceptions in the Pharmacy Act where confidentiality may be breached. However, there are certain cases which are not provided for in the Act (and Acts change from time to time). This situation makes it necessary for the pharmacist to make moral judgements in specific instances related to specific patients. The objective of this article is to investigate these exceptions within a philosophical framework and to determine what the philosophical basis of such decisions would entail. This article initially will examine the current Pharmacy Act and the exceptions will be discussed that allow for the breaching of patient confidentiality. This will be followed by a brief exposition of modernist ethics and the issue of confidentiality under the headings of the idea of duty as moral imperative, as well as the utility idea. Pluralistic alternatives such as the ethics of virtue, postmodern ethics, and anti-moralism, will be explored as possible solutions to the pharmacist’s dilemma in this regard. / Thesis (MPhil)--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2013