1.6 Ethical, legal, cultural and environmental impacts of digital technology

Data Protection Act 2018

The law that protects personal data, ensuring it is stored safely, used lawfully, and you have the right to see and correct it

Computer Misuse Act 1990

Makes unauthorised access (usually called hacking), and creating or spreading viruses illegal

Copyright Designs and Patents Act 1988

A law to protect content creators, to ensure their intellectual property is not stolen or used without permission, covers software, music and films

License

You must have this, to use software created by someone else. It makes sure the creators get paid for the work they did

Open Source

Software which is made freely available, including the source code. usually developed and supported by a community.

Proprietary

Software which remains the property of the creators, you pay for a license and cannot copy it

Source code

The high-level code for the application program, this is made public for open source software but remains a secret in proprietary software

Off-the-shelf

Software created to be sold in bulk to many users such as Office or Adobe products. The manufacturer won't customise it for you

Bespoke

Software that is specially designed and written for a single organisation or group of users

Support

Help with your software, usually included with proprietary license, you call a helpdesk and get professional help. In open source it is provided only by the developer community and can be hit and miss

Hacking

Illegal under the Computer Misuse Act. It is deliberately accessing a computer without permission

Viruses

It's illegal to write or spread these under the Computer Misuse Act, they spread and damage computers

Privacy

This is protected by the Data Protection Act because that law stops people sharing your data without permission

Personal

This type of data is covered by the Data Protection Act

Data Subject

The individual about whom information is being processed, e.g. a customer, patient or employee, in the Data Protection Act

Data must remain _____________ according to the Data Protection Act; it means correct

Accurate

Piracy

Copying software without making payment to the owner for a licence, in breach of the Copyright Designs and Patents Act

Purpose

The reason for collecting personal data, you must state this and not use data for another reason, according to the DPA

Impact

The effect or influence that technology has on the lives of others. Technology can have ethical, legal, cultural, environmental or privacy impacts

Ethical

Concerning moral principles or rules, which govern a person's attitudes and behaviour. Safety, equality and inclusion are all ethical issues

Legal

Concerned with the law. These issues include unauthorised access, data protection and copyright concerns

Cultural

Matters that have an effect on the nature of society, such as the digital divide or how employment is changing due to technology

Privacy

The right to keep personal data secret and share it only with trusted organisations

Environmental

Relating to the impact of digital technology on the natural world, for example toxic electronic waste or depletion of rare elements to make smartphones

Digital Divide

The gap between those who have access to digital technology and those who don't. The elderly, poor, disabled and rural people suffer with this

Society

The people who live in our community, city or country and interact with each other, and can be affected by technology positively or negatively

Stakeholder

A person or organisation with an interest in a product, including the user, the manufacturer, and society as a whole

Internet

Access to this global network is not available to everyone, causing a digital divide between rich/poor, city/country and young/old.

Accessibility

Making a website or app disabled-friendly. This is an ethical, cultural and sometimes a legal issue.

e-Waste

Short for electronic waste, discarded computers, phones, televisions etc that is an environmental issue

Autonomous vehicle

A self-driving car. How it behaves and attempts to avoid crashes is an ethical issue, and a legal one

Bias

Algorithms such as face detection used by the police have been accused of this. It means favouring one group over another, and it is an ethical issue

Eavesdropping

AI voice assistant technicians have been accused of this, it means listening in on conversations, and it is a privacy issue

Cookies

Small text files that are saved by websites in your browser cache. They track your behaviour and can be a privacy issue