8 consequences of uses of computing

moral issues

issues concerning individuals’ personal morals, which are influenced by their environment

e.x. the controversy about piracy is largely down to individuals’ moral values and is not generally uniform across wider groups

example viewpoints on an issue (piracy)

common arguments for:

-it does not directly take money from anybody

-it makes entertainment more accessible

-it preserves media once it stops being distributed

common arguments against:

-it harms profits in the entertainment industry

-breaking the law is inherently bad

common situational arguments:

-it is acceptable to pirate media that is no longer being sold by the producers

-it is acceptable to pirate media that is only available to stream rather than own

-it is acceptable to pirate media that wealthy people primarily profit from

-it is acceptable to pirate media that you cannot afford to purchase

ethical issues

issues concerning wider society’s morals

e.x. ethical concerns about artificial intelligence’s effects on the environment and on unemployment are shared relatively uniformly across wider society

cultural issues

issues concerning morals among different cultures

e.x. english is the “unofficial language” of computer science, heavily disadvantaging those that do not speak it and concerning those in communities with low english proficiency rates

legal issues

issues relating to the law

-many countries have strict laws around user privacy, causing companies to carefully plan how they collect, protect, store and use user data

difficulties for lawmakers in the digital age

many laws have had to be created and amended as computers have allowed for:

-new crimes such as hacking and creating deepfakes

-extremely widespread copyright infringement which is almost impossible for the owners to take action on

-easy, anonymous carrying out of existing crimes such as black market trade, harassment and fraud

effects of computation on privacy and security

digital development has dramatically altered communication and access to information, massively transforming the capacity to:

-monitor behaviour

-amass and analyse personal information

-distribute personal information

responsibility among developers

computer scientists and software engineers hold power as their creations have the potential to cause great harm as well as great good, thus they have responsibility to consider moral, ethical, cultural and legal issues in their development process

case study examples

-many companies have been caught storing invasive levels of personal data, oftentimes illegally

-WannaCry, a piece of ransomware, caused harm to the NHS’s computer systems among many others