Topic 8: Consequences of Uses of Computing

Moral issues

Issues that concern an individual's personal sense of right and wrong[cite: 104].

Ethical issues

Issues that relate to society's sense of what is right or wrong, such as the use and misuse of personal data[cite: 104].

Cultural issues

Issues that arise from differences in moral values and social attitudes between people in different geographical areas[cite: 104].

Legal issues

Issues that relate specifically to the law, encompassing UK legislation such as the Computer Misuse Act and GDPR[cite: 104].

Legislative challenges in the digital age

Difficulties faced by lawmakers in enforcing copyright, tracing individuals online, and ensuring international services comply with multi-country laws[cite: 104].

Responsibility of computer scientists

The ethical duty of software engineers and computer scientists to recognize the global impact, power, and moral dimensions of the algorithms they deploy[cite: 103, 105].

Embedded values in software

The concept that software code and its underlying algorithms inherently embed specific moral and cultural values[cite: 103].

Cambridge Analytica (2017) case study

A high-profile case raising major ethical and privacy concerns regarding the unauthorized harvesting of personal data from Facebook users[cite: 105].

WannaCry (2017) case study

A devastating global ransomware attack targeting Microsoft Windows systems, causing major disruptions to organizations like the NHS[cite: 105].