Consequences of computing Flashcards
What are moral issues?
Moral issues are those that concern an individual’s sense of right and wrong. For example, some people happily download and use paid software without purchasing a licence while others don’t feel that the practice is morally correct. A person’s morals can be influenced by the people around them. For example: friends, family or teachers.
What are ethical issues?
Ethical issues relate to society and its sense of what is right or wrong. Ethical issues include the use and misuse of personal data. In general, society believes that personal data should be stored securely and not used for anything other than the purpose for which it was collected.
What are cultural issues?
Cultural issues arise from the differences in moral values between people in different geographical areas. In the UK, people are generally happy for photographs containing them to be taken in public and shared online. In other countries, this would not be seen as acceptable. When creating a new computer system, computer scientists must consider where their system is going to be used and what people’s attitudes towards it would be.
What are legal issues?
Legal issues are those that relate to the law. There are a number of laws in the UK that specifically relate to the use of computers and computer systems. Examples of these include: The Computer Misuse Act 1990, The Data Protection Act 1998, The Freedom of Information Act 2000 and The General Data Protection Regulation 2016.
What is personal data?
Data that can be related to an identifiable living person.
What is unathorised access?
When computer systems or data are used by people who are not the intended users.
What is a code of conduct?
A voluntary set of rules that define the way in which individuals and organisations will behave.
Fake news
Facebook, Google and Twitter provide a platform for spreading false information.
Agents with links to the Russian set up millions of fake accounts and websites and purchased thousands of advertisements on Google to spread misinformation to people whose profiles suggest that they would be responsive to fake news and views.
The US election in 2017 and the UK Brexit referendum in 2016 were both targeted, potentially changing the outcomes of both.
Do algorithms make ethical decisions?
Algorithms are based on complex rules that make it difficult to predict or explain the decision-making logic.
The ethics of an algorithm may be ethically questionable because of this complexity.
Machine-learning algorithms, given new training data, can define or modify their decision-making.
The human operator does not need to understand how or why the algorithm makes a certain decision.
Environmental impacts of technology
The disposal of computer waste is a big problem because they
contain many toxic chemicals. Often old computing equipment
is illegally shipped for disposal to developing countries.
The growth in cloud computing means a greater need for storing
data online. For this data centres are used but they require huge
amounts of electricity, thereby contributing to climate change.
Cobalt is a key element requited for Lithium batteries for
powering mobile devices. Much of the World’s cobalt is mined in
the Congo even by very young children in appalling conditions.
Environmental benefits of technology
Less reliance on paper, saving resources.
More opportunities for online global communication and
collaboration thereby saving on travel and associated pollution.
Greater insight of the environment and climate through using
computers to model, analyse and process environmental data
Computer Misuse Act (CMA)
The purpose of the CMA is to prevent:
* unauthorised access to computers by hackers
* intentionally impairing the operation of computer systems
through denial of service (DOS) attacks on web servers or
distributing viruses
* the theft of data
Three levels of offence:
1) Unauthorised access
2) Unauthorised access with intent to commit an offence
3) Unauthorised modification of data
Copyright, designs and patents act (CDPA)
Copyright is a law that protects the creators of original pieces of
work. No one else has the right to use or copy it without permission
from the owner. This ensures that people can be rewarded for their
work.
Fair use allows copyrighted work to be used legally in certain
situations
* personal or educational use (not commercial use)
* use only a small amount of the work (e.g. a short quote)
* acknowledge original source of the work
Copyleft work can be copied, modified used even used for
commercial gain as long as the derived works are also distributed
under copyleft.
Plagiarism
To pass off someone’s work as one’s own.
Patent
Gives the inventor the exclusive right to create, use and sell their invention for a fixed period.
