Ethical and Cultural Issues

Question 1

What is an ethical issue?

Answer 1

What would be considered right and wrong by society

Question 2

What is a legal issue?

Answer 2

What actually right and wrong per the law

Question 3

What is a cultural issue?

Answer 3

How groups of people with different beliefs /practices/languages may be affected

Question 4

What is an environmental issue?

Answer 4

How we impact the natural world

Question 5

How do new technologies affect different groups of people?

Answer 5

Direct/indirect affects

e.g. actions of tech company affect everyone in the organisation + local community

Different groups of people which are affected have different priorities -> conflict with those of others

Question 6

Ways which it is hard to keep information private on the Internet:

Answer 6

Websites e.g. social media need users to provide personal information to set up an account -> they encourage you to post personal information

Cloud computing -> allows users to upload personal information to their servers

Companies make your personal information available to other website users/whole internet

Many people don’t read the privacy agreement§

Question 7

What is internet censorship?

Answer 7

Someone tries to control what other people can access on the Internet
e.g. some countries use censorship to restrict access to certain information -> China has no access to Facebook, Youtube, Twitter

Question 8

Where are other forms of censorship used?

Answer 8

Government
e.g. UK restricts pornography, gambling and inappropriate websites to protect children

Question 9

What is computer surveillance?

Answer 9

When someone monitors what other people are accessing on the Internet

Question 10

Where are other forms of surveillance used?

Answer 10

Government intelligence agencies ->packet sniffers to monitor internet traffic, looking for certain key words/phrases that may be linked to illegal activities, terrorism, etc

Question 11

How can technology impact social - well-being?

Answer 11

Influence + pressure people to upgrade/subscribe through advertisements

Peer pressure/bullying to get latest devices

Smartphones used to access work - emails -> hard to switch off from work stress

Neglect of face-to-face social interaction

Question 12

How are cyberbullying and trolling a problem in social media?

Answer 12

Cyberbullying can cause distress -> e.g. suicide

Can be a result of the anonymity that the Internet gives people
They say things online that they wouldn’t say face-to-face.

Question 13

What is cyberbullying?

Answer 13

When somebody uses social media to deliberately harm someone else

Question 14

What is trolling?

Answer 14

When somebody tries to cause public arguments with others online
e.g. troll may participate in discussion online to make comments which will frustrate others in the conversation -> normally for their own amusement or to gain attention

Question 15

What is parental-control software used for?

Answer 15

Internet has made it easier for children to access inappropriate material so parents and schools can use it to avoid this

Question 16

What is sexting?

Answer 16

Sending explicit messages/images to other people due to smartphones and video messaging it is more common.

It can be dangerous as these may be forwarded -> there are laws to prevent this

Question 17

How can using too much technology cause health problems?

Answer 17

Eyestrain -> looking at screens for too long, in bad lighting, flickering screen

Repetitive Strain Injury (RSI) -> when fingers+wrists become damaged due to repeated movements over a long period of time

Back Problems -> sitting at a computer too long/poor posture -> use adjustable chair

Question 18

How has Technology changed culture?

Answer 18

Selfies -> making people more self-obsessed?

Viral -> posts by promotional campaigns hoping they will rapidly spread

Social media + blogging websites -> to publish writing, art, and other media. It can give a voice to the groups who might have been ignored by mainstream media

Question 19

How is new technology changing how we do business?

Answer 19

Music + TVs -> need subscriptions for streaming companies but musicians feel they don’t get paid enough by the streaming companies

Sharing economy -> technology to let people make money from things they own e.g. AirBnB(rent out a room in your house to tourists), Uber(make your car a taxi service)
These are cheap but fewer people use taxi firms and hotel owners, and might be risky for sharers and customers (the sharer may not know thesafety regulations they should follow, and insurance policy may not cover damage/theft)

Question 20

What can unequal access to technology cause?

Answer 20

Digital divide -> some people have greater access to technology than others
e.g. people can use Internet for job applying or uni courses, etc but people without this have limited access to Internet so are disadvantaged

Question 21

Causes of the digital divide

Answer 21

Money affordability

Urban areas have better network coverage than rural areas

Some people don’t know how to use the Internet, especially older people shutting out many opportunities

Question 22

How is the global digital divide created?

Answer 22

The levels of access is different in all countries