Impact of Computing

Internet vs World Wide Web

the internet is a global connection of networks, while the WWW is a collection of information that is accessed via the internet.

The Digital Divide

the difference in access to technology including access to computers and the internet. (e.g. infrastructure [parts of the world without any internet access], education [has internet but doesn’t know how to use it], indifference [has access but doesn’t use it by choice], & cost [can’t afford to use the internet])

Beneficial and harmful effects

Identification includes both the classification of the effect as either beneficial or harmful and justification for that classification.

Material created on a computer is the intellectual property of the creator/organization. 

• Use of material without creator’s permission is considered plagiarism and can have legal consequences.

• Creative Commons, open source software, and open access have enabled broad access to digital information.

Human Bias

computing devices can reflect existing human bias, which makes algorithms biased towards people. 

Crowdsourcing

the practice of obtaining input or information from many people via the internet.

Citizen Science

scientific research using public participation in scientific research (the people may or may not be scientists themselves).

Security

needed to protect the confidentiality, integrity, and availability of information. 

Privacy

the right to control data generated by one’s usage of computing innovations and restrict the flow of that data to third parties.

Personality, identifiable information (PII)

• information about an individual that identifies, links, relates, or describes that person. (e.g. SSN, age, race, phone numbers, medical info, financial info, biometric data)

  • PII is analyzed and processed by businesses and shared with other companies. However, some companies sell this information to targeted advertisers. 

Authentication

measures protected devices and information from unauthorized access. (e.g. passwords, multi factor authentication)

Multi factor authentication

a method of computer access control in which a user is granted access only after successfully presenting several pieces of evidence to an authentication mechanism (e.g. knowledge, possession, inference). 

Digital certificates

authentication that issues digital certificates that validate the ownership of encryption keys used in secure communications and are based on a trust model.

Encryption

• using cryptographic algorithms to encrypt data. The process of encoding data to prevent unauthorized access.

Decryption

• the process of decoding the data.

Symmetric key encryption

• uses the same key for both encryption and decryption.

Public key encryption

• uses 2 keys (public, private). To encrypt data with a public key, but decrypt with both keys.

Malware

• malicious software intended to damage a computing system or take partial control or its operations.

  • Malware scanning is used to help protect a computer against infections.

Computer Viruses

• malicious programs that can copy themselves and gain access to a computer in an unauthorized way. 

Phishing

• a technique that directs users to unrelated sites that trick the user into giving personal data.

  • Used by cyber criminals posing as a legitimate institution to lure individuals into providing sensitive data (e.g. PII, hacking, credit card detail, passwords).

Keylogging

• the use of a program to record every keystroke made by the computer in order to gain fraudulent access to passwords and other confidential information. 

Rogue Access Point

• a wireless access point that gives unauthorized access to secure networks.