1.5.2 - Moral and Ethical Issues Flashcards
What are ethics?
Concerned with the values as a community and how these will impact different groups of people in society.
What are morals?
Morals are to do with our personal code of conduct and encompass how we choose to behave.
What are the benefits of using computers in the workforce?
They improve efficiency for many companies.
What are the disadvantages of using computers in the workforce?
As workers are now being replaced with robots, unemployment has risen and has caused some workers to no longer have the skills required to get a job.
What are the downsides of computers on the environment?
E-Waste contains radioactive isotopes which are toxic and can contaminate water supplies.
More electricity is needed to power the computers, especially data centres.
What are positives of computing to the environment?
Meetings can be taken over the Internet rather than flying to another country to do some meetings. This reduces the carbon footprint of the activity.
What is censorship?
The act of suppressing the content that people are able to view, publish and access.
What is censored in the UK?
ISPs are forced to block websites associated with terrorism and extremist political beliefs.
What are the disadvantages of censorship?
Certain countries block government ideologies that oppose their own. This is considered unethical as it reduces a persons freedom of expression.
What is data mining?
Where large data sets are used to determine inferences about people’s behaviour.
Why must the layout of a website be considered?
To ensure that everyone gets equal access. In the UK, people read from left to right whereas in the UAE people read from right to left.
Also people with visual impairments must be considered.
Why must colour be considered when designing products?
Some colours have different connotations in different cultures.
Why must the character set be considered when designing an application?
If the language of the website isn’t in English or may want to be translated, Unicode must be the character set as this offers multiple languages.
