Consequences of Use of Computing

Question 1

Moral issues

Answer 1

Moral issues concern a person’s sense of right and wrong - while a person might pirate a film without any guilt whatsoever, another person might not feel that pirating digital content is morally correct

Question 2

Ethical issues

Answer 2

Ethical issues relate to society’s sense of right and wrong - this includes the use of personal information by tech companies like facebook or google

Question 3

Cultural issues

Answer 3

Cultural issues are the differences in moral values between countries - people in the UK are okay with being photographed in public while people in another country might not be okay with being photographed

Question 4

Legal issues

Answer 4

Legal issues relate to the law and how computers relate to the law
Examples of laws include:
- The Computer Misuse Act 1990
(makes hacking illegal)
- The Data Protection Act 1998
(data must be stored securely and must not be kept for longer than necessary)
- The Freedom of Information Act 2000
- The General Data Protection Regulation 2016

Question 5

Developments in computer science

Answer 5

Advances in computer science and technology have changed how society communicates, as well as developments in monitoring behaviour and gathering, analysing, distributing and publishing personal data with or without consent

Question 6

Role of computer scientists

Answer 6

Computer scientists have the responsibility of improving computer systems while also being aware of the moral and social aspects of their work and their potential to produce systems that help millions of people around the world