3.8 Consequences

Question 1

What are ethical issues?

Answer 1

Considerations about right and wrong, morality and power.

Question 2

What are legal issues?

Answer 2

Technology provides opportunities to criminals. To help protect people, their data, and their work, several laws have been introduced in the UK.

Question 3

What are cultural issues?

Answer 3

How have society and the ways we interact been impacted?

Question 4

What are environmental issues?

Answer 4

The effect that technology has on the world around us.

Question 5

What are privacy issues?

Answer 5

Once data is put on a computer, it can be easily copied or shared. In some cases, people have a right to choice in this matter.

Question 6

What is the data protection act 1988?

Answer 6

It controls how personal information can be used and your rights to ask for information about yourself.

Illegal for:
• Companies to share or sell your data without permission from you.
• Companies to have poor computer security
• Forces companies to only store relevant information about you.

Question 7

What is the computer misuse act 1990?

Answer 7

This attempts to discourage people from using computers for illegal purposes. It makes hacking and data theft illegal.

• It is illegal to access data stored on a computer unless you have permission to do so.
• It is illegal to access data on a computer when that material will be used to commit further illegal activity, such as fraud of blackmail.
• It is illegal to make changes to any data stored on a computer when the user does not have permission to do so.

Question 8

What is the copyright designs and patents act 1988?

Answer 8

Prevents people and organisations from copying each other’s work without permission.

Question 9

What is the Creative Commons licensing?

Answer 9

Allows people and and organisations to allow others to use their work for non-profit purposes. This allows the copyright owner to say exactly what people can do with their work.

Question 10

What is the freedom of information act 2000?

Answer 10

Allows members of the public to request information from large organisations such as the government.

Question 11

What is propriety software?

Answer 11

Owned by a company with the view to making money. Proprietary software is close source because the company doesn’t want anyone to be able to view the source code. It’s usually copyright protected.

Question 12

What is open source software?

Answer 12

Open source allows other people to access the original source code. People can view, edit and pass on the source code. Open source software means that a large community of programmers can make improvements to a code. Open source software is usually free and a Creative Commons licence allows users to use it for non-profit is often attached with it.

Question 13

What is a Stakeholder?

Answer 13

A person with an interest (usually financial) in a company.

Question 14

Mobile technologies

Answer 14

Our ubiquitous use of mobile technologies such as mobile phones and tablets has made them a primary source for collecting data about users such as:
• The number of calls and texts made, to whom and also at that time and location.
• The location of a person (which can be tracked in real time through GPS data on phones)
• Applications on phones that access users’ data beyond that which is necessary
• Web browsing information.
Additionally, mobile technologies are rapidly updated and replaced by user on one of two year contracts; this is in obvious environmental impact on the need for metals and plastics to create the devices and the problems surrounding safe disposal or recycling of of old phones.

Question 15

Wireless technology

Answer 15

The following points are important when understanding the particular issues surrounding the ethical use of wireless networks:
• A wireless network can be password-protected to limit the users who can connect to it.
• A wireless network can filter the devices connected to it using MAC address filtering: white box filtering permits only listed devices to join whereas black box filtering prohibits specific devices from joining.
• A wireless network can use encryption to ensure that every device can communicate with the wireless access point securely.
Wireless networking, particularly public networks, raise ethical questions such as who governs and who is responsible for the material that users can access? Additionally, the wireless network provider could be retaining and using information on its users such as information about their device and the web pages they are accessing.

Question 16

Theft of computer code

Answer 16

Computer code is potentially very valuable - billion dollar industries rely on keeping their code secret in order to generate money from it. If code is stolen, other groups can use this for their own profit or to extort money from the organisation which it was stolen. Code can be stolen by an insider or by cracking into a company’s computer system; penetration testing is a key technique employed to keep a company’s trade secrets secure.

Question 17

Issues around algorithm copyright

Answer 17

Strictly speaking it isn’t possible to copyright an algorithm - that is, you cannot ‘own’ an algorithm and allow other people to use it unless they have your permission or a licence from you. However, it is possible to copyright an implementation of an algorithm. It is then possible to use copyright law to prevent other people from copying your source code without your permission. Copyright issues are only as wrong as the countries that regulate them - plenty of places in the world have lapse copyright regulation at best and so the code will not be protected in these areas.

Question 18

Hacking

Answer 18

Hacking is the perfectly legal repurposing of artefacts for a new or changed situation. In computer science, hacking is the process of changing or amending code - for example, the data file bundled with a game could be hacked and changed to give you a better starting bonus. Hacking, despite being a term used in the media and some literature for criminal, unauthorised access to computers, is largely an ethically sound and legal activity.

Question 19

Cracking

Answer 19

Cracking is the unauthorised access to computers, networks and is most definitely not legal. Cracking, as opposed to hacking, is carried out for reasons such as making money, political activism, vandalism, curiosity, or espionage. Crackers would typically use a blend of sophisticated software tools and social engineering techniques to gain access to target systems.

Question 20

Wearable technology

Answer 20

Google glasses is a technology that, although now no longer in production, showed how wearable technology can be used to enhance our daily lives. Some wearable technology uses augmented reality (AR) to superimpose information over our physical sense-data. For example, a surgeon could use AR goggles to ‘see’ a patient’s vital statistics while they operate. Wearable tech can also be more mundane such as a GPS transmitter for winter sports enthusiasts at risk of being caught in an avalanche.
Wearable technology raises privacy issues for both the wearer and the wider public; the more data we have about our person the more data we may be unwittingly sharing or opening up to be cracked. Google glasses contained an inbuilt camera which raises privacy issues for people whose image is captured without their consent and probably knowledge.

Question 21

Computer-based implants

Answer 21

Computational implants already exists in ways that greatly improve the health and quality of life for their users. These medical applications include Cochlear implants which send electrical signals to the brains hearing node enabling deaf people to ‘hear’ sound as well as network-aware peacemakers which keep the user’s heart rate at a constant rate. The latter example, although excellent in its ability to update software and perform diagnostics, does open up the possibility - however remote - that a peacemaker may be cracked.

Question 22

Cyber security

Answer 22

Cyber security consists of the processes, practices and technologies designed to protect networks, computer, programs and data from attack, damage or unauthorised access.
Cyber security is a significant and growing challenge - organisations are seeing an increasing number of attacks against their systems from actors attempting to cause damage, steal data or reduce trust in an organisation. These attacks are increasing both in their number and also their sophistication.

Question 23

Cloud storage

Answer 23

The cloud is a generic term for remotely accessed storage. This storage is accessed through the internet. Users do not actually know where their data is stored. Users only need to know that their data is stored securely on a server connected to the internet.

Advantages:
• Access files from any location or device
• Cloud storage services back up data for users
• Access can be granted to another user so they can remotely access another person’s data

Disadvantages:
• Cloud storage hosts could be targeted by hackers
• People have less control over their data
• Access to data is only possible with an internet connection

Question 24

Areas need to know for the exam

Answer 24

• Cyber security
• Mobile technologies
• Wireless networking
• Cloud storage
• Hacking
• Wearable technologies
• Computer based implants
• Autonomous vehicles