1. 5. 2 Moral and Ethical Issues

Question 1

Moral, Ethical and Cultural Issues

Answer 1

• Moral (individual) issues are factors that define how an individual may act and behave when using computing technology (personal code of conduct, decisions we make at the expense of others)
• Ethical (social) issues are a set of moral principles that govern the behaviour of a group/individual using computing technology (values as a community)
• Cultural issues are elements of computer use that may have cultural impact, they can change attitudes, beliefs and actions

Question 2

Computers in the workforce Strengths and Weaknesses

Answer 2

• Companies depend on computers in the workforce for certain functions but in the next coming years completely computerised societies could become a reality
• Improve efficiency, speed up production
• Reduced labour costs
• Reduce the need to work in repetitive and tedious environments such as delivery
• People lose their jobs
• Can work in other fields created, government needs to pay for retraining programmes, can be costly
• Amazon, reduced delivery times as well as sped up manufacturing processes improves customer satisfaction

Question 3

Automated Decision-Making Strengths and Weaknesses

Answer 3

• Becoming more common for algorithms to make decisions, these decisions have potential to significantly affect people’s lives
• Social media feeds more personalised, tailored
• Creates dangerous bubble where beliefs never challenged, leads to close minded society
• Assess criminal likelihood of committing another crime
• Relying entirely on algorithms to assess people could result in unfairness
• Cannot consider contextual factors as well as humans
• Improved productivity, greater convenience for employers, workers hired faster, filter for desired qualities in candidates
• Instagram, Job selection processes

Question 4

Artificial intelligence Strengths and Weaknesses

Answer 4

• AI is the ability of a computer to replicate human intelligence, cognitive ability and to grasp abstract concepts
• Voice recognition systems increase convenience
• However, raises questions about privacy, must always be kept on to function
• Practical use in the creation of diagnosis for illnesses
• Unable to determine who to hold accountable if anything were to go wrong
• If AI ever became sentient raises questions of what rights it should have
• Google Home, Alexa, Siri, Cortana

Question 5

Environmental effects Strengths and Weaknesses

Answer 5

• The downside of how affordable technology is to produce in large proportions
• E-waste is forming more because of the pressure of keeping up with trends as well as the affordability of technology
• Leads to people throwing away devices more
• E-waste, mercury and radioactive isotopes that the computer is made from is toxic, could contaminate water supplies
• More efficient use of materials
• Able to create more environmentally friendly products
• Renewable energy, reduces the use of fossil fuels
• Reduction of harmful emissions in the environment
• Immoral and unacceptable to ship e waste to third world countries with lower environmental, standards
• Renewable energy tech firms

Question 6

Censorship and the Internet Strengths and Weaknesses

Answer 6

• Censorship is the act of suppressing the content that people can view, publish and access
• Countries may use this to block out other political opinions
• Debate over extent government should control what we have access to (they decide what is “best” for public)
• ISPs (Internet Service Providers) block websites associated with terrorism and extremist political beliefs
• Censorship may be acting to push a certain ideology within a country, unethical and unacceptable
• Some opt for a free internet (no censorship), most agree some censorship necessary
• This is the case for national security purposes, to filter offensive comments, extremist propaganda
• Can exist on smaller level (schools to prevent access of “unsuitable material”)
• Can have benefit in the workplace to maintain high productivity and prevent distractions

Question 7

Monitor Behaviour Strengths and Weaknesses

Answer 7

• Computers used to monitor behaviour in various environments
• Workplace, employees monitor productivity, track websites visited, how long they spend on them
• Surveillance systems (CCTV) used for security, detect crime, useful for tracing and punishing criminal activity
• Ankle monitors, track individual on house arrest’s location
• Some argue this is unethical, taking away basic human rights
• Others deem it a necessary measure to prevent further criminal activity

Question 8

Analyse Personal Information (Data mining) Strengths and Weaknesses

Answer 8

• Companies now aware of value of data, can reveal insights to people and their behaviours
• Large amounts of data from number of sources is known as big data
• Analysed to make inferences (peoples likes dislikes for example), process known as data mining
• Used to inform personalised political propaganda, targeted advertising, identify unknown connections
• This data could reveal info that acts against certain individuals
• Uncovering individual high risk for disease, insurance company deny them insurance or charge them more
• Raises ethical questions, whether companies have responsibility to feed this info back to users
• Companies are legally required to state kinds of data they collect, not always obvious
• Pressure on large firms to be more transparent about data collection, make it clearer what its used for
• Data Protection Act no longer sufficient when it comes to public welfare, why GDPR enforced in May 2018

Question 9

Piracy and Offensive communications Strengths and Weaknesses

Answer 9

• Piracy is unauthorised access of copying of content (music, films, games etc)
• Form of theft, illegal, up to individual whether its ethically correct
• Internet provides seemingly anonymous front for people
• Malicious Communications Act 1998, makes it criminal offence to send indecent or offensive messages to anyone online
• Can be traced by law and result in a criminal record

Question 10

Layout

Answer 10

• Web developers must consider who will be viewing the website, ensure all people can use it
• Equality act states, illegal to discriminate against providing service to certain group of people
• Good website, easy for users to navigate between pages
• Design considerations (English, left to right, Menu on left) , (Arabic, right to left, Menu on right)
• Must be considered to make websites accessible to all, attract more customers
• Designed to be accessible for people with disabilities
• Provide alternate text, provide screen magnifier option for people with visual impairments
• Transcripts of audio files provided for people with hearing impairments

Question 11

Colour Paradigms

Answer 11

• When choosing colour scheme for website, must consider how colours interpreted around the world
• Some regarded as unlucky, negative connotations
• White associated mourning in Middle East, Associated with purity in Western cultures
• Neutral colour scheme with positive connotations typically chosen (Green represents luck and nature)

Question 12

Character Sets

Answer 12

• Contents of website must be translated into multiple languages
• Some character sets too small to hold all characters of language (ASCII cannot represent Chinese language)
• Unicode preferred character set, able to represent millions of characters