CONSEQUENCES OF COMPUTING.
Moral issues are those that concern an individual’s sense of right and
wrong. For example, some people happily download and use paid software
without purchasing a licence while others don’t feel that the practice is
morally correct. A person’s morals can be influenced by the people around
them. For example: friends, family or teachers.
Considerations: digital divide, impact on employment, social media.
Ethical issues relate to society and its sense of what is right or wrong.
Ethical issues include the use and misuse of personal data. In general,
society believes that personal data should be stored securely and not
used for anything other than the purpose for which it was collected.
Considerations: privacy, security, bias and fairness, accountability
Cultural issues arise from the differences in moral values between people
in different geographical areas. In the UK, people are generally happy for
photographs containing them to be taken in public and shared online. In
other countries, this would not be seen as acceptable. When creating a
new computer system, computer scientists must consider where their
system is going to be used and what people’s attitudes towards it would
be.
Considerations: cultural sensitivity, global impact.
Legal issues are those that relate to the law. There are several laws in the
UK that specifically relate to the use of computers and computer systems.
Examples of these include: The Computer Misuse Act 1990, The Data
Protection Act 1998, The Freedom of Information Act 2000 and The
General Data Protection Regulation 2016. Lawmakers face great
challenges in the digital age. Enforcing copyright has been made
increasingly difficult with the growth of the Internet, individuals are
difficult to trace online, and international online services must be made to
comply with laws from all the countries in which they operate.
Considerations: data protection laws, intellectual property, cybercrime
Advances in computer science and other digital technologies have
changed the way in which society communicates. New technology has
brought with it developments in the capability to monitor behaviour and to
gather, analyse, distribute and publish personal information, sometimes
against the will of society.
The role of computer scientists. The people with the power to improve the
usage of computer systems are computer scientists and software
engineers, but with power comes responsibility. Computer scientists must
always be aware of the moral and social aspects of their work as well as
their potential to produce systems that assist and support millions of
people around the world.
Examples for case studies. In 2017, Channel 4 News started an
investigation into Cambridge Analytica’s actions relating to the 2016 US
Presidential Election. Ethical and privacy issues were raised when personal
data was collected from sources including Facebook users without their
consent. WannaCry, a piece of ransomware, targeted computers running
Microsoft Windows in 2017. The ransomware had a significant global
impact and affected NHS computer systems in England and Scotland.
Moral issues are those that concern an individual’s sense of right and
wrong. For example, some people happily download and use paid software
without purchasing a licence while others don’t feel that the practice is
morally correct. A person’s morals can be influenced by the people around
them. For example: friends, family or teachers.
Considerations: digital divide, impact on employment, social media.
Ethical issues relate to society and its sense of what is right or wrong.
Ethical issues include the use and misuse of personal data. In general,
society believes that personal data should be stored securely and not
used for anything other than the purpose for which it was collected.
Considerations: privacy, security, bias and fairness, accountability
Cultural issues arise from the differences in moral values between people
in different geographical areas. In the UK, people are generally happy for
photographs containing them to be taken in public and shared online. In
other countries, this would not be seen as acceptable. When creating a
new computer system, computer scientists must consider where their
system is going to be used and what people’s attitudes towards it would
be.
Considerations: cultural sensitivity, global impact.
Legal issues are those that relate to the law. There are several laws in the
UK that specifically relate to the use of computers and computer systems.
Examples of these include: The Computer Misuse Act 1990, The Data
Protection Act 1998, The Freedom of Information Act 2000 and The
General Data Protection Regulation 2016. Lawmakers face great
challenges in the digital age. Enforcing copyright has been made
increasingly difficult with the growth of the Internet, individuals are
difficult to trace online, and international online services must be made to
comply with laws from all the countries in which they operate.
Considerations: data protection laws, intellectual property, cybercrime
Advances in computer science and other digital technologies have
changed the way in which society communicates. New technology has
brought with it developments in the capability to monitor behaviour and to
gather, analyse, distribute and publish personal information, sometimes
against the will of society.
The role of computer scientists. The people with the power to improve the
usage of computer systems are computer scientists and software
engineers, but with power comes responsibility. Computer scientists must
always be aware of the moral and social aspects of their work as well as
their potential to produce systems that assist and support millions of
people around the world.
Examples for case studies. In 2017, Channel 4 News started an
investigation into Cambridge Analytica’s actions relating to the 2016 US
Presidential Election. Ethical and privacy issues were raised when personal
data was collected from sources including Facebook users without their
consent. WannaCry, a piece of ransomware, targeted computers running
Microsoft Windows in 2017. The ransomware had a significant global
impact and affected NHS computer systems in England and Scotland.
