3.8 Ethical, legal and environmental impacts of digital technology

Question 1

What are mobile technologies?

Answer 1

Mobile technologies include:
Older mobile phones
Smartphones
Tablets
Laptops

Question 2

1) What are the ethical advantages of mobile technologies?
2) What are the ethical disadvantages of mobile technologies?

Answer 2

1) - You can gain information on when public transport will arrive
- Laptops allow people to work whilst travelling
- You can keep in contact with friends and family
- People will be able to work from home, and this flexibility will allow them to be more productive.
2) - People will often spend a large amount of time communicating with friends on their phone but not in real person. This can lead to social difficulties as people have less opportunities to read subtle facial expressions.
- Many users of social networks have symptoms similar to an addiction.
- Social media are available all the time via mobile devices. Software is often designed with features that make people want to use it more
- Phones can be used to track people.

Question 3

1) What are the environmental advantages of mobile technologies?
2) What are the environmental disadvantages of mobile technologies?

Answer 3

1) Sat navs can use live traffic updates to find the quickest route, reducing the fuel used and reducing the number of cars on the road, reducing pollution.
2) - Mining raw materials used to build the mobile technologies leads to contamination and erosion
- Lithium batteries can catch fire and may be hard to recover
- Fuel is used to transport the raw materials to the factories. Fuel is used in transporting the completed phones to the warehouses and shops

Question 4

1) What are the legal disadvantages of mobile technologies?

Answer 4

1) Increased IT security needs - portable devices are vulnerable to security risks, especially if they contain sensitive or critical business data.

Question 5

1) What are the ethical advantages of wireless networks?
2) What are the ethical disadvantages of wireless networks?

Answer 5

1) - Users can move around freely and still stay connected
- Employees can work while commuting or on holiday, and connect to office network via Wi-Fi.
- In an office, no cabling is required and users can access the network using mobile technology from anywhere in the office.
- Individuals can use smartphones wherever there is a Wi-Fi connection, to communicate with friends or people they are meeting, check on travel conditions and times of trains, buses, flights, make restaurant bookings, order food.
2) - Wireless networks are less secure than wired networks, and the danger of being hacked is increased.
- A ‘worm’ (a type of malware) can infiltrate your computer from another device connected to the same network.
- Wireless networking causes a digital divide: the difference between those who have and don’t have access to technology. There is also a divide between other groups, such as the elderly and people in poverty.
- Wi-Fi may not be available in certain parts of a city, or in the country, so communication by smartphone is not possible.

Question 6

1) What are the environmental advantages of wireless networks?
2) What are the environmental disadvantages of wireless networks?

Answer 6

1) - Less printing paper is used, as documents can easily be shared across the wireless network
2) - The production and disposal of Wi-Fi-enabled devices can contribute to electronic waste and the release of toxic materials into the environment.
- The production of the energy needed to power wifi-enabled devices can contribute to greenhouse gas emissions.

Question 7

1) What are the legal advantages of wireless networks?
2) What are the legal disadvantages of wireless networks?

Answer 7

1) Public places, such as cafes, that provide free access to a wifi network may bring in more customers who will buy a drink or food, who may not otherwise use the café. This is because visitors to the café may want to check their emails or social media, or make phone calls. In rural areas not everyone will have a Wi-Fi connection at home.
2) - The responsibility to keep users (customers) data safe and secure.
- If public place such as a hotel or restaurant asks customers for their name and email address in order to access the network, they are collecting personal information which they are not legally allowed to store (under the GDPR) without registering with the Information Commissioner. They cannot legally communicate with these customers using their email addresses without first obtaining their permission.
- It is easier for hackers to gain access to a wireless network than a wired network.
- Someone using Wi-Fi in a public place may be hacked and personal information stolen.

Question 8

1) What are the ethical advantages of wearable technologies?
2) What are the ethical disadvantages of wearable technologies?

Answer 8

1) - Wearable technology such as smartwatches and wristbands may be used for a variety of activities such as fitness tracking, calendar management and responding to text messages and emails. They can also be used to record personal information about a user such as location and physical measurements such as blood pressure, heart rate etc.
- Wearable technology can offer continuous, long-term monitoring. This can lead to improvements in the way that diseases like epilepsy, asthma and diabetes are managed.
2) The devices collect a significant amount of personal data about the user.

Question 9

1) Shat are the legal advantages of wearable technologies?
2) What are the legal disadvantages of wearable technologies?

Answer 9

1) - Keeping and sharing data allows convincing tracking of health and goal setting.
- Individual data collected over time can be motivational for maintaining fitness
- Sharing data can identify health issues early so that they can be treated
- Data can be important in criminal investigations
2) - These devices are designed to be always connected to the web. The collection of information about an individual may amount to an invasion of privacy.
- It is not always made clear who this information belongs to and it may be used or sold on to a third party without the wearer’s knowledge.
- Users may be unaware of which country their data is being stored in and the data protection laws in place for them.
- Tracking devices or apps could publish GPS location, which could be exploited by criminals and put the individual using the device at risk.

Question 10

1) What are the ethical advantages of computer based implants?
2) What are the ethical disadvantages of computer based implants?

Answer 10

1) - Pacemakers control irregular heart rhythms
- Cochlear implants restore hearing for deaf people by
taking electric signals straight to the hearing nerve
- Brain implants are a new development that can be linked to exoskeletons allowing quadriplegics to walk
2) - Many implanted devices need to be capable of being reprogrammed, and they have to collect monitoring data from the patients which can be read by medical staff. Theoretically, it is possible for a malicious person to hack into an implanted device and collect data illegally, or even to reprogram it to harm or kill the patient.
If the patient decides that they want the implant removed it may not be ethical to implant something that cannot be easily removed.

Question 11

1) What are the legal disadvantages of computer based implants?

Answer 11

1) If the microchip was going to be implanted they would need to give consent. If they are suffering from certain diseases, they may not be able to give consent.
If a hacker gains access they could use the information for blackmail.
A doctor or hospital might be able to apply to the courts for permission to implant microchip against the patient’s will.

Question 12

1) Explain the use of autonomous vehicles
2) What are the ethical advantages of autonomous vehicles?
2) What are the ethical disadvantages of autonomous vehicles?

Answer 12

1) Autonomous vehicles are set to transform cars of the future. Cars can already auto-park and cruise with the supervision of a person. The aim is to make fully automated cars and trucks that replace the need for a driver.
2) Self-driving cars should ease traffic and be more fuel-efficient because they take the most direct route.
Driving will be safer because cars are less likely to make mistakes that humans do and they can’t become distracted or tired.
There are fewer road accidents when most vehicles are autonomous.
3) If an accident occurs whose is to blame – the programmer, the car manufacturer, no one?
Whose life should be prioritised if the car malfunctions: passengers or pedestrians?
Drivers of vehicles can lose their jobs.

Question 13

1) What are the environmental advantages of autonomous vehicles?

Answer 13

1) Less cars will be on the road, as cars can be shared.
Fuel efficiency leads to less atmospheric pollution, as cars can be programmed to take the shortest and most fuel-efficient route.
Many self-driving cars will be all-electric.

Question 14

1) What are the legal disadvantages of autonomous vehicles?

Answer 14

1) Security: autonomous vehicles could be vulnerable to being hacked and hijacked for criminal purposes.
Data protection: car manufacturers must keep driving data secure in accordance with data protection laws.
Law updates: driving laws will need to be amended to account for the new types of vehicles on the road.
Insurance: the need for a driving insurance will change as drivers are no longer responsible for the control of the car.

Question 15

1) What are the ethical advantages of cloud storage?
2) What are the ethical disadvantages of cloud storage?

Answer 15

1) The risks of data loss is much lower when storing data in the cloud than on a physical hard drive
2) The company storing the data could access it without the user’s permission in a data leak

Question 16

1) What are the environmental advantages of cloud storage?
2) What are the environmental disadvantages of cloud storage?

Answer 16

1) It reduces the paper used for print files.
2) They are responsible for the impact of greenhouse gas emissions, as a lot of energy is required to keep servers running.

Question 17

1) What are the legal advantages of cloud storage? (State 1)
2) What are the legal disadvantages of cloud storage? (State 4)

Answer 17

1) Enables the user to access their data from more places and devices.
2) It relies on access to high-bandwidth network connection
It could potentially cost more due to ongoing costs, through monthly payments to use the service
There is a reliance on the company in order to access your data
Increased chance of others accessing personal data (data privacy issues).

Question 18

1) What is end-to-end encryption?
2) What are the advantages of end-to-end encryption?
3) What are the disadvantages of end to end encryption?

Answer 18

1) End-to-end encryption means that once a message leaves the user’s device, it is transmitted in an encrypted form and is unreadable until it reaches the recipient’s device. Not even WhatsApp administrators can read the message.
2) End-to-end encryption means that users know that every message, photo or video is completely confidential, and their privacy is totally protected. Their personal details cannot be hacked and stolen, published or used against them, by the press or anyone else.
3) However, security services argue that they need to be able to bypass the encryption and read communications over the Internet that are protected by end-to-end communication. Security services routinely monitor emails between suspected criminals, terrorists or political activists in order to help them prevent crimes or terrorist acts. Not being able to read communications makes their job much harder.