unit 5: impact of computing

26% of ap exam

benefits of computing innovations

improved medical field

engineers can collect data to design products

communications are much easier

can create, share, and sell creative works

downsides to computing innovations

digital divide

computing bias (perpetuates inequality, especially in machine learning and data mining)

legal and ethical concerns (ex. copyright laws)

unsafe computing (ex. viruses)

loss of privacy

unemployment due to replacements by computers

dependence on technology

negative health outcomes

targeted advertising (incentivizes collection of private information, which could be dangerous)

digital divide

the gaps between those who have access to technology and those who don’t

harms those who have unequal access with the increasing importance of technology in the world

factors that influence the digital divide

demographics

• younger people = more likely to be comfortable using technology

• higher education levels = tend to use the internet more

socioeconomic

• higher incomes = more likely to be able to afford technology

geographic

• some areas allow more internet access than others

harmful impacts of the digital divide

educational opportunities (ex. online school is difficult without stable internet)

employment opportunities (ex. lack of internet could make it harder to find / apply for / do jobs)

how to reduce the digital divide

digital literacy programs to teach people how to safely use the internet

organizations that provide internet access to areas that don’t have it

computing bias examples

criminal risk assessment tools look at historical data to find patterns

facial recognition systems are trained with data sets that contain few images of women and minorities

how to prevent bias in computing

use diverse data sets with machine learning

review algorithms for potential biases

increase diversity in the tech industry

machine learning models

computer programs that can learn from data and make predictions or decisions without being programmed

can multiply biases depending on the data sets they’re given

citizen science

scientific research that the general population helps conduct

ordinary citizens contribute data to research projects using computing devices

gives scientists more diverse data (because a wide range of people are able to contribute)

crowdsourcing

getting a large amount of input or information from people on the internet

ex. citizen science, reviews

organizations do not need to pay for the data they connect

legal and ethical concerns

intellectual property

public domain

copyright

intellectual property

creations from the mind that are used in commerce

ex. inventions, literary and artistic works, designs, images

very easy to access and distribute (raises problems)

public domain

creative works that are free to use without permission

copyright

the legal right that the creator of a work has to it

economic rights: rights to financial benefits from the use of the work

moral rights: the right to claim authorship or the right to prevent harmful changes (incorrectly claiming authorship = plagiarism)

legal ways to use the ip of others

creative commons: a public copyright license creators use to give others the right to use their work

fair use: allows the use of copyrighted material without permission for limited purposes (ex. news reporting)

acronym for using others’ work

pane

purpose: new purpose to make a work

amount: use a small amount of work

nature: use works based in effects

effect: don’t make money off someone else’s work

open sourcing

allows for work to be freely distributed and modified

open access

the research available to the general public, free of restrictions

often free of copyright

targeted marketing

search engines can track search history and use the data to suggest websites and ads

personally identifiable information

information that can be used to identify a used

ex. age, race, phone number, medical info, biometric data, ssn

benefits of information collection

enhances online experience

websites that involve a feed rely on personal information collection

drawbacks of information collection

identity fraud

could get stalked

users could be at risk if a personal information database is hit by a data breach

virus vs. worm

malicious programs that can gain unauthorized access to something and make multiple copies of itself

virus: must be activated by the user

worm: can operate inrependently

malware

aka malicious software

software that is intended to do damage to a computer

ex. viruses, ransomware (makes a computer inaccessible until a ransom is paid), adware (displays unwanted ads to slow down a computer)

protection against malware

security patch: updates apps and fixes bugs

firewall: monitors incoming traffic (cannot identify and block all malware)

antivirus software: scans files and identifies malware

phishing

a type of scam that tricks users into revealing personal information

keylogging

a type of scam that records keystrokes to gain access to passwords and other sensitive information

rogue access point

a wireless access point that gives unauthorized access to a secure network

allows scammers to modify, analyze, and intercept protected data

passive interception

can read data but not manipulate it

active interception

can read and manipulate data

distributed denial of service

DDos

a type of cyberattack where multiple computers are used to overwhelm a website, network, or computer

can lead to a program slowing down or crashing, rendering it unable to process legitimate requests

authentication

measures to prevent people from gaining unauthorized access to an account

types of authentication

strong passwords: use many/unique characters

multi-factor authentication: requires multiple methods of authentication

types of multi-factor authentication

knowledge: password, pin, verification requests

possession: verifies possession of an object (ex. one-time password sent to phone, access badge)

inheritance/biometrics: fingerprints, voice, eye recognition

encryption

the process of encoding (scrambling) data to prevent unwanted access

encrypted data: ciphertext

unencrypted data: plaintext

uses a key to keep messages secure

decryption

the process of decoding data

symmetric key encryption

uses one key for both encrypting and decrypting code

asymmetric key encryption

aka public key encryption

uses a public key to encrypt but a private key to decrypt the message

relies on asymmetric key cryptography and digital certificates

digital certificates

issued by certificate authorities (ca’s) to trusted sites

allow other computers to verify that a website is what it says it is

linked to key cryptography

contain a copy of the public key from the certificate holder and is matched to the private key to verify if it’s real