ethical, legal, cultural and environmental concerns Flashcards
give two examples of ethical issues in computing
- ensuring public safety
- security of data
what is ransomware
a type of malware which extorts money from unsuspecting users
- once ransomware infects a computer it encrypts data on it which denys the user access unless a ransom is paid
give two examples of cultural issues in computing
- the digital divide
- the changing nature of employment
what is the digital divide
the division that exists between people who can use technology snd those who are cannot
- young people will use technology more than older people
- some people won’t be able to afford technology and therefore can’t use it
how is modern day technology impacted the environment
- resources are needed to produce computers like metals and plastics
- many computers need to be left running continuously which requires a lot of energy
- many computer components are either hard to recycle or contain toxic materials, such as lead
how often do users discard ICT equipment
- people have new smartphones ever couple of years
- many organisations replace computers after three or four years
- many people replace older technology before it fails simply because they perceive it to be old-fashioned or out of date
give examples of unlawful use of computers
- allowing someone to illegally share personal data
- helping to steal financial information, such as credit card numbers or bank account details
- helping to illegally copy and distribute films, television programmes and music
- extorting information or blackmailing someone
what is the Data Protection Act and when was it passed
a legislation passed by parliament that governs the protection of personal data in the UK
- passed in 1998/2018
what is the Computer Misuse Act and when was it passed
defines and criminalises a number of offences involving the use of a computer, eg. unauthorised access to computer systems
- passed in 1990
what is the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act and when was it passed
gives the creator of published material the control over the way it is used
- passed in 1988
what is the Creative Commons (CC) licence
one of several copyright licenses that allows free sharing and distribution of a product
what is the Freedom of Information Act and when was it passed
a legislation introduced to give the public the right to access information recorded by the public sector organisations
- passed in 2000
what is the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and when did it come into effect
a european wide law that tightens data privacy and has now been implemented in the UK law through the introduction of the DPA
- came into effect in may 2018
what are the three parts of the computer misuse act
- illegal to access data stored on a computer unless you have permission to do so
- illegal to access data on a computer when that material will be used to commit further illegal activity such as blackmail
- illegal to make changes to any data stored on a computer when the user does not have permission to do so
what is the maximum punishment for breaking the laws in the computer misuse act
£5000 fine or several years’ imprisonment
when it come to copyrighted material, give examples of things that are illegal to do to it
- make copies of it
- publish it and sell it without permission
- distribute it to other people
- sell copies to other people
what is an attribution CC licence
the work can be copied, modified, distributed, displayed and performed but the copyright owner must be given credit
what is a non-commercial CC licence
the work can be copied, modified, distributed and displayed but no profit can be made from it
what is a no derivative works CC licence
the work can be copied, distributed, displayed and performed but cannot be modifide
what is a share-alike CC licence
the work can be modified and distributed but must be covered by an identical licence
what is open source software
can be free of copyright and is usually available to anyone
what are the advantages of open source software
- costs nothing and provides the source code so that anyone can modify the software
- it can have any authors
- a modified version, known as a derivative, must also be made freely available for anyone else to use or adapt
what are the disadvantages of open source software
- there is no guarantee that it works properly as there is no requirement for anyone to ensure it is bug free
- support might not be readily available, especially if the program is not in widespread use
what is proprietary software
software that is copyrighted
what are the advantages of proprietary software
- the product should be free of bugs
- help can be sought from the organisation who supplied the software if problems occur
- feature updates which extend the software’s facilities are often available
what are the disadvantages of proprietary software
- there is an initial or ongoing subscription cost
- software cannot be adapted to meed the needs of the user
- it can be limited to a single computer or network
