1.5 Legal, moral, cultural and ethical issues

Data Protection Act - year

1998

Personal data definition

Data that can be used to identify a living person, or data that can be used in combination with other data to identify a living person

Data subject

The individual who can be identified by personal data

Data Protection Act - 1

Personal data shall be processed fairly and lawfully

Data Protection Act - 2

Personal data shall be obtained only for one or more specified and lawful purpose

Data Protection Act - 3

Personal data shall be adequate, relevant and not excessive for its purpose(s)

Data Protection Act - 4

Personal data shall be accurate and where necessary kept up to date

Data Protection Act - 5

Personal data shall not be kept for longer than is necessary for its purpose(s)

Data Protection Act - 6

Personal data shall be processed in accordance with the rights of data subjects under this Act

Data Protection Act - 7

Appropriate technical and organisational measures shall be taken against unauthorised or unlawful processing of personal data and against accidental loss or destruction of, or damage to, personal data

Data Protection Act - 8

Personal data shall not be transferred to a country or territory outside the European Economic Area, unless that country or territory ensures an adequate level of data protection

Data Protection Act - rights of data subjects

The right to request a copy of the data held about them;

the right to correct the data held about them;

the right to prevent marketing using contact details provided by the data subject

Data Protection Act - replacement

Replaced by the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and the Data Protection Act 2018

Computer Misuse Act - year

1990

Computer Misuse Act - primary offence 1

Unauthorised access to computer materials

Computer Misuse Act - primary offence 2

Unauthorised access with intent to commit further offences

Computer Misuse Act - primary offence 3

Unauthorised modification of computer material

Computer Misuse Act - potential consequence

Imprisonment

Copyright Designs and Patents Act - year

1988

Copyright Designs and Patents Act - purpose

To protect intellectual property online

Copyright Designs and Patents Act - copyright

Automatically applies for original work and does not expire until a time after the death of the creator, depending on the type of work

Copyright Designs and Patents Act - 1992

Act was extended to include computer programs as a type of literary work so that copyright automatically applies to code

Copyright Designs and Patents Act - responsibility

An individual has responsibility to take action under the Act if they believe their work has been copied

Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act - year

2000

Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act - area

Covers investigation, surveillance and interception of communication by public bodies

Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act - intelligence services

Intelligence services can legally listen to or record online/audio conversations in the interest of national security provided that a warrant has been issued

Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act - service providers/mobile phone companies

Enforced to give up information upon request from an authorised authority and to ensure that their networks have sufficient hardware installed to facilitate surveillance

Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act - controversy

Particularly controversial as its powers extend to small agencies like local councils; some people feel that the Act is an invasion of privacy or that it is often improperly used

Ethics

Concern the values of a community and how these will impact different groups of people in society

Morals

Involve an individual’s code of conduct and encompasses how that individual chooses to behave

Computers in the workplace - advantages

Improved efficiency;

Reduced strain on workers;

Reduced need to work in a repetitive and tedious environment;

Increased demand for people in computing-related organisations;

Employment created in alternative areas of businesses

Computers in the workplace - disadvantages

High levels of structural unemployment;

High dependence on computers if in a significantly computerised workplace;

Increased number of services only offered online

Automated decision making - definition

Decisions being made by algorithms

Automated decision making - social media

Used to determine what is displayed on a user’s social media feed based on activity; solely reinforcing people’s interests could create a dangerous bubble in which their beliefs are never challenged, leading to a close-minded society

Automated decision making - financial loans/jobs: issue

Used in some application processes to determine a candidate’s suitability; may result in unfair treatment to some as extenuating circumstances and contextual factors cannot be considered

Automated decision making - financial loans/jobs: advantage

Algorithms have improved productivity and made certain application processes more convenient for employers

Automated decision making - stock market

Traders can look at past trends to model future changes

Automated decision making - plant automation systems/power distribution systems etc

Fast, so changes can be responded to instantly

Automated decision making - purpose of testing

To ensure algorithms are high quality and free of bias

Automated decision making - data

Data provided to the algorithm must be factually correct

Automated decision making - ethical concerns

Responsibility for the consequences in question

Artificial intelligence - definition

The ability of a computer to replicate human intelligence and cognitive ability, and to grasp abstract concepts

Artificial intelligence - expert/knowledge-based systems

Replicate the knowledge and experience that an expert in a particular subject would have; made up of a knowledge base that consists of a set of facts and rules which are used to build an interference engine, which is run to find diagnoses

Artificial intelligence - use of expert systems

To draw connections between medical symptoms to form diagnoses

Artificial intelligence - neural networks

Neural networks which replicate biological networks that ‘learn’ from the data provided an can apply this knowledge to new data sets

Artificial intelligence - neural networks: use

Pattern detection and picking up on fraud

Artificial intelligence - voice recognition systems

Used within smart home systems to increase convenience

Artificial intelligence - voice recognition systems: privacy

Must constantly be switched on

Artificial intelligence - ethical questions

Accountability and responsibility

Environmental effects - consumerism

Pressure around trends and affordability of devices results in people throwing away an increased number of devices

Environmental effects - harmful materials

Some components made of mercury and radioactive isotopes which are toxic and can contaminate water supplies

Environmental effects - e-waste

Often shipped to third world countries with lower environmental standards which is considered to be immoral

Environmental effects - fossil fuels

More electricity required to power the increased number of computerised devices which uses non-renewable fossil fuels, contributing to global warming

Environmental effects - positive

Has been growth in environmentally-friendly technologies e.g. motion sensors for lights, which suggests that technology has the potential to offset some of the effects on the environment

Internet service provider (ISP)

Supply internet to households and companies

Censorship - definition

The act of suppressing the content that people are able to view, publish and access

Censorship - UK

ISPs block websites with content associated with terrorism and extremist political beliefs

Censorship - danger

Could be used to block alternative political beliefs, which would be acting to push a certain ideology rather than to protect the country

Censorship - ‘Free Internet’

Idea believed by some, nothing is filtered in line with the principle of freedom of speech

Censorship - small scale

Within schools/in workplaces, used to maintain high productivity and prevent distractions

Monitoring behaviour - workplace

Websites and applications tracked by employers to monitor productivity

Monitoring behaviour - surveillance systems and CCTV cameras

Widely used for security purposes and detecting crime - useful for tracing and punishing criminal activity

Monitoring behaviour - ankle monitors

Used to track the location of people under house arrest

Monitoring behaviour - positive view

Necessary measure taken to prevent people from committing crime

Monitoring behaviour - negative view

Unethical and opposes human rights

Big data - definition

Large amounts of data from a number of sources

Big data - data mining

Analysing big data to make inferences about people’s behaviour and preferences

Big data - data mining: use

To inform personalised political propaganda and targeted advertising, or to identify unknown connections between two variables

Big data - personal information

May be used to reveal things that act against certain individuals e.g. health risks that affect insurance

Big data - personal information: responsibility

Ethical questions about whether companies uncovering these trends have a responsibility to feed this information back to user

Piracy

The unauthorised copying of content, a form of theft, illegal

Malicious Communications Act 1998

Makes it a criminal offense to send indecent or offensive messages to anyone online

Layout

Websites must be designed to accommodate for all those people who want to view it e.g. accessible to screen readers, alt text etc

Colour paradigms

Developers must take into account how different colours are interpreted around the world e.g. connotations

Character sets

Website contents must be translated into many different languages so the character set needs to be large enough to accommodate all of the characters of these languages - usually Unicode