7. Ethics and Ownership
1. Legal, Moral, Ethical & Cultural Implications
egal - what is permitted/prohibited by law, and how actions can be punished/enforced through legal
L
systems
Morality - principles of right and wrong, often influenced by personal beliefs/values
thics - also deals with questions of right and wrong, but often used in a professional context that
E
governs an organisation’s behaviour e.g. code of conduct
Cultural - the attitudes/values/practices/beliefs shared by a group of people/society
Computer ethics is a set of principles set out to regulate the use of computers - 3 factors are considered:
● Intellectual property (IP) rights e.g. copying software without permission of the owner
● Privacy issues e.g. hacking or any illegal access to another person’s personal data
● Effect of computers on society e.g. job losses or social impacts
Professional ethical bodies:
● There are a number of professional bodies representing individuals working in computing/IT
that have developed their own codes of conduct, which members are expected to adhere to
○ The British Computer Society (BCS) - UK and international professional body that
represents the rights and ethical practices of all professionals working in the
IT/computing industries, monitoring and advising IT practices
○ The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) - global professional body set
up in the USA, aiming to raising awareness of ethical issues and promote ethical
behaviour among professionals working in the electronics industry
● Reasons for joining a professional ethics body:
○ The professional ethical body has ethical guidelines to follow, so the programmer does
not have to decide for themselves/figure out what is ethical
○ Increases the reputability of the programmer to clients/employers/colleagues, by
showing they adhere to ethical guidelines, and recognising the programmer’s skills/
knowledge (as there may be a test/requirement for entry to the body)
○ The professional ethical body provides help/support for programmer e.g. legal advice
○ The professional ethical body runs training courses so programmer's skills kept up to date
● Without joining an ethics body:
○ There would be less access to training
○ There would be no clear laid out ethical guidelines
○ and/or people to discuss potential ethical problems with
○ possibly leading to inappropriate/unethical actions
○ which might lead to legal proceedings
, Data Protection Act (2018):
● UK law which specifies the rules about collecting and holding data about a person
● Based on the EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR)
● Eight principles (personal):
○ Must be a registeredpurpose for collecting the data
○ Data cannot be transferred to countries outside theEU or countries that do not have
adequate data protection laws
○ Data collected must berelevant
○ Data must be keptsecure
○ The person who the data is about is allowed to access/view theirown data
○ The data must not be kept for longer thannecessary
○ Data must beaccurate/up-to-date
○ Data must be collected/obtained/processedlawfully
● There are six reasons for lawful data processing/collecting
○ Consent - person has agreed to their data being used
○ Contract - data processing needed for a contract e.g. buying a house
○ Legal obligation - data processing is needed to meet the law
○ Public task - for performing an official task e.g. a criminal court case
○ Vital interests - data needed to protect someone’s life e.g. health emergency
○ Legitimate interests - clear benefit to the user/company to the data being processed
● It is important to protect data because
○ A lot of data is private & confidential and should not be available for anyone to look at
○ We would like to be confident that this data is accurate and held for a specific purpose
○ It should be kept safe from people who want to use it for wrongful/criminal purposes
● Methods of securing data:
○ Using passwords for any systems with access to the data
○ Encrypting the data
○ Only allowing access to those users that need it
○ Two-factor authentication
○ CCTV + security guards to protect where it is physically stored for more sensitive data
● The Data Protection Act gives a number of rights:
○ The right to view data stored about you by organisations for free – used to cost up to £10
○ You must consent to having marketing sent to you – this consent must be ‘opt-in’
○ The right to withdraw consent – mailing lists have an unsubscribe link for this
○ The right to make changes to your data if it is inaccurate
○ The right to be forgotten – allows you to delete your personal data
● Penalties from the Data Protection Act include:
○ Issuing warnings to the organisation
○ Order the organisation to comply
○ For serious breaches, fines are up to 4% of company turnover or €20 million
Cookies are sent to a user’s computer from websites - they are simply text files and allow websites to:
● Store data such as the contents of your shopping basket
● Remember that you are logged into a website
● Remember who you are
● Track you
● Target advertising to you
Many online services are free to use - they are often paid for by targeted advertising
1. Legal, Moral, Ethical & Cultural Implications
egal - what is permitted/prohibited by law, and how actions can be punished/enforced through legal
L
systems
Morality - principles of right and wrong, often influenced by personal beliefs/values
thics - also deals with questions of right and wrong, but often used in a professional context that
E
governs an organisation’s behaviour e.g. code of conduct
Cultural - the attitudes/values/practices/beliefs shared by a group of people/society
Computer ethics is a set of principles set out to regulate the use of computers - 3 factors are considered:
● Intellectual property (IP) rights e.g. copying software without permission of the owner
● Privacy issues e.g. hacking or any illegal access to another person’s personal data
● Effect of computers on society e.g. job losses or social impacts
Professional ethical bodies:
● There are a number of professional bodies representing individuals working in computing/IT
that have developed their own codes of conduct, which members are expected to adhere to
○ The British Computer Society (BCS) - UK and international professional body that
represents the rights and ethical practices of all professionals working in the
IT/computing industries, monitoring and advising IT practices
○ The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) - global professional body set
up in the USA, aiming to raising awareness of ethical issues and promote ethical
behaviour among professionals working in the electronics industry
● Reasons for joining a professional ethics body:
○ The professional ethical body has ethical guidelines to follow, so the programmer does
not have to decide for themselves/figure out what is ethical
○ Increases the reputability of the programmer to clients/employers/colleagues, by
showing they adhere to ethical guidelines, and recognising the programmer’s skills/
knowledge (as there may be a test/requirement for entry to the body)
○ The professional ethical body provides help/support for programmer e.g. legal advice
○ The professional ethical body runs training courses so programmer's skills kept up to date
● Without joining an ethics body:
○ There would be less access to training
○ There would be no clear laid out ethical guidelines
○ and/or people to discuss potential ethical problems with
○ possibly leading to inappropriate/unethical actions
○ which might lead to legal proceedings
, Data Protection Act (2018):
● UK law which specifies the rules about collecting and holding data about a person
● Based on the EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR)
● Eight principles (personal):
○ Must be a registeredpurpose for collecting the data
○ Data cannot be transferred to countries outside theEU or countries that do not have
adequate data protection laws
○ Data collected must berelevant
○ Data must be keptsecure
○ The person who the data is about is allowed to access/view theirown data
○ The data must not be kept for longer thannecessary
○ Data must beaccurate/up-to-date
○ Data must be collected/obtained/processedlawfully
● There are six reasons for lawful data processing/collecting
○ Consent - person has agreed to their data being used
○ Contract - data processing needed for a contract e.g. buying a house
○ Legal obligation - data processing is needed to meet the law
○ Public task - for performing an official task e.g. a criminal court case
○ Vital interests - data needed to protect someone’s life e.g. health emergency
○ Legitimate interests - clear benefit to the user/company to the data being processed
● It is important to protect data because
○ A lot of data is private & confidential and should not be available for anyone to look at
○ We would like to be confident that this data is accurate and held for a specific purpose
○ It should be kept safe from people who want to use it for wrongful/criminal purposes
● Methods of securing data:
○ Using passwords for any systems with access to the data
○ Encrypting the data
○ Only allowing access to those users that need it
○ Two-factor authentication
○ CCTV + security guards to protect where it is physically stored for more sensitive data
● The Data Protection Act gives a number of rights:
○ The right to view data stored about you by organisations for free – used to cost up to £10
○ You must consent to having marketing sent to you – this consent must be ‘opt-in’
○ The right to withdraw consent – mailing lists have an unsubscribe link for this
○ The right to make changes to your data if it is inaccurate
○ The right to be forgotten – allows you to delete your personal data
● Penalties from the Data Protection Act include:
○ Issuing warnings to the organisation
○ Order the organisation to comply
○ For serious breaches, fines are up to 4% of company turnover or €20 million
Cookies are sent to a user’s computer from websites - they are simply text files and allow websites to:
● Store data such as the contents of your shopping basket
● Remember that you are logged into a website
● Remember who you are
● Track you
● Target advertising to you
Many online services are free to use - they are often paid for by targeted advertising
