Unit 9 - Legal, moral, ethical and cultural issues Flashcards
what are the four main acts we need to know
- data protection act 1998
- computer misuse act 1990
- copyright design and patents act 1988
- regulation of investigatory powers act 2000
what is the data protection act
anyone who stores personal details must keep them secure. it controls the way data about living people is stored and processed
what are the 8 principles under the data protection act
- be fair and lawful
- relevant and not excessive
- accurate and up to date
- only kept as long as needed
- only used for the stated purpose
- be kept securely
- handled in line with peoples’ rights
- not to be transferred to countries without protection laws
what is the computer misuse act
makes it an offence to access or modify computer material without permission
what are the three main principles of the computer misuse act
- unauthorised access to computer material
- unauthorised access with intent to commit or facilitate a crime
- unauthorised modification of computer material
- making, supplying or obtaining anything which can be used in computer misuse offences
what is the copyright designs and patents act
this protects creators of books, music, video and software from having their work illegally copied. It applies to all forms of copying.
what are not able for protection under the copyright designs and patents act
algorithms
what are some ways of protecting
data from being copied
- the user must enter a unique key before the software is installed
- some software will only run if the CD is present in the drive
- some applications will only run if special piece of hardware called a ‘dongle’ is plugged into a USB port on the computer
- tools used to create software may require fees if the software is then sold
what is the regulation of investigatory powers
regulates the powers of public bodies to carry out surveillance and investigation, and covers the interception of communications
what are the principles of the regulation of investigatory powers act
- enables certain public bodies to demand that an ISP provide access to a customers communications in secret
- enables mass surveillance of communications in transit
- enables certain public bodies to demand ISPs fit equipment to facilitate surveillance
- enables certain public bodies to demand that someone hand over keys to protected information
- allows certain public bodies to monitor people’s Internet activities
- prevents the existence of interception warrants and any data collected with them from being revealed in court
what are issues with using computers in the workforce
computers can complete a task by making decisions based on conditions set by a human. therefore, the conditions may not represent all possible situations meaning people may be unfairly disadvantaged or advantaged
pros and cons of automatic systems
operates without a human providing inputs for each operation
pros: time-saving
cons: ethical issues - price, access to electricity = development inequality
examples of autonomous machines
AI and machine learning
pros and cons of autonomous machines
pros: self sufficient, require no human intervention, learn and adjust to their changing environment
cons: ethical questions, lack of ownership for responsibility (machine or programmer)
what is algorithmic bias
the measure of error that shows how far away the actual output is from the predicted output
what is prediction bias
the algorithmic bias is significant when the model has not reflected the real-world relationship between the input data and what the model predicts. therefore it is said to have prediction bias
what are environmental effects of technology
mainly disposable technology
positive opportunities of devices on the environment
- monitoring vegetation, wildlife and pollution
- energy monitoring
- transport
manufacturing devices impact on the environment
- planned obsolescence (devices are made to become unfashionable or unsusuable)
- rare materials
- mining
- energy use
- pollution
energy consumption effects on the environment
- data centres
- energy waste
disposal of devices effect on the environment
- e-waste
- leaching
- run-off from land fills
problems with collecting and analysing data
- companies obtain data from literally anything people do online if cookies are not in place
- however some of this data can help transform society
problems with monitoring and surveillance
- ‘nothing to hide’ argument
- scale
- encryption
problems with hiding to avoid detection
the decentralised nature of the internet and the use of encryption and VPNs has enabled more people to hide their activity in order to avoid detection:
- bypassing censorship by governments
- piracy = peer to peer networks
- offensive communications
what is a digital footprint unhelpful
the way data is represented can reveal more than a person originally intended (metadata)
- exploitations by criminals
why is it important for systems to be accessible
- accommodates for all people
for example: visual impairments, motor difficulties, learning disabilities and deafness
why is cultural aspects important in web design
different cultures have different expectations it digital content.
for example:
- read left to right in UK
- implication of colours (red dangerous in some cultures but in others means good luck)
why is using colour to signify meaning inadvisable
can cause difficulties to users with colour difficulies
why are character sets important in web design
accessibility to all languages so all users can express themselves
