Section 3 - Issues

Ethical - What would be considered right or wrong by society

Legal - Whats actually right or wrong in the eyes of the law

Cultural - How groups of people with particular beliefs, practices or languages are affected.

If a company acted legally but ignored other issues they could lose public trust.

Stakeholders - individuals or groups of people who have an interest in or are affected by a particular scenario.

Privacy

Websites require personal information and social media encourages you to share more personal info, through photos and details on your social life/job. You can change your privacy settings to protect to your personal information.

Companies may make your internet available to other users or the whole internet. they may sell your personal details, likes/dislikes to other organisations who can use it to send targeted adverts or emails.

Users will accept the privacy agreement for a website or software without reading it so they dont know what they're agreeing to and if you want to use the website or software, you have no choice but to agree.

Censorship

Internet censorship - when someone tries to control what other people can access on the internet.

in China websites that are foreign or critical of the government are restricted. in Cuba, internet can only be accessed from government-controlled access points.

Many countries restrict access to gambling and other inappropriate websites in order to protect children.Parents and schools can use parental-control software to stop children seeing it.

Surveillance

Internet Censorship - when someone monitors what others are accessing on the internet. 

Government intelligence agencies may use pocket sniffers or other software to monitor Internet  traffic looking out for certain key words/phrases that might alert them to illegal activity or terrorism.

In some countries, Internet service providers keep track of all the websites visited by their customers for a certain amount of time.

Social Wellbeing

When new technology is made, companies pay to advertise it which can pressure people into buying it. Technology has also increased peer pressure. Children feel pressured into having the latest device and parents feel pressured in to buying it.

Smartphones make it easier for work to intrude into other areas of life. Employees always carry around a phone so they can be contacted at all times. Work emails may make them feel like they can never switch off from work.

There is less social interaction as more of our lives move online. Having the internet on mobile devices makes this worse.

Cyberbullying and Trolling

Cyberbullying - when somebody uses social media to deliberately harm someone else.

Trolling - when somebody tries to cause public arguments the others online for their amusement or to gain attention.

They have become a problem on social media because it gives people anonimity and they can say things they cant face-to-face.

Sexting is becoming more popular but can be dangerous if the person recieving them isnt trustworthy. There are now laws trying to prevent this.

Health Risks

Eyestrain can be caused by looking at a device's screen for too long, looking at a flickering screen or a screen in bad lighting.It can be prevented by using suitable lighting, keeping the sreen a good distance from your eyes and taking regular breaks.

Repetitive Strain Injury (RSI) is when parts of the body become damaged due to repeated movemnts over a long period of time. Such as in the fingers/wrists from typing. it can be prevented by having good posture, adjusting your desk appropriately and taking regular breaks.

Back problems/pain can also be caused due to poor posture. They can be prevented by using an adjustable chair, foot rest or adjustable monitor to ensure you aren't sitting at an awkward angle.

Technology has shaped our culture. Selfies have become more popular as they are easy to take and share on smartphones. They could be a sign that social media is making people more self obsessed and attention-seeking.

Viral - videos, images or messafes that have been rapidly spread over social media and seen by millions of people.

Companies try to make their promotional campaigns viral.

Social media and blogging allow people to publish media and it gives a voice to people who might have been ignored by mainstream media.

TV and music services allow customers to enjoy music/TV for less money through a subscription service usually. However some musicians dont get paid enough by streaming servicess.

Sharing economy - services which use new technology to make money from things they already own. Like Uber or Airbnb.

Although they are cheap they draw customers away from taxi firms and hotels. They are also more risky as the customer may not know the safety regulations and they may not be covered by insurance for damage/theft.

Digital Divide

The digital divide is caused by some peole have greater access to technology than others. The internet can help people find/apply for jobs, provides services and helps people keep in touch. So people without internet are at a great disadvantage.

Causes of the digital divide:

- Some people don't have enough money to buy new devices like phones as they can be expensive.

- Urban areas are likely to have greater network coverage than rural areas.

- Some people don't know how to use the interent and technology so they miss out on oppurtunities. It is usually older people as they grew up without it and have little experience with it.

People in richer countries have greater access to technology than poor countries, providing richer countries with more oppurtunities, further increasing the inequality.

To combat the digital and global divide, there are several British community projects aimed ar improving internet coverage in rural areas. One Laptop Per Child provides laptops to children in Africa and South America.

Raw materials- materials which are extracted from the Earth.

Electronic devices contain lots of raw materials. Plastic (comes from crude oil) and precious metals (palladium, platinum, mercury). 

Extracting these uses lots of energy, causes pollution and depletes scarce natural resources.

We use energy in the form of electricity which is made of non-renewable resources (coal,gas). Extracting this creates lots of pollution (greenhouse gases).

Computers use a lot of hest and business servers are very power hungry and require special air-conditioned rooms, this uses more energy and creates more pollution.Servers use a small proportion of their processing power so they waste a lot of energy and by leaving devices idle, they waste more energy unneccesarily.

To reduce energy waste:

- Virtual servers are software based so many of them can run on one physical server so it can be used to its full capacity.

- Sleep and hibernation modes can reduce power consumption when a device is idle. 

- Don't leave devices on standby.

E-Waste

E-Waste - discarded computer material.

Why devices are thrown away after a short time:

- Portable, so they can be broken esily. They are not built to last long.

- Often cheaper to replace than repair.

- New devices released regularly, advertisements/peer pressure influences people to buy them.

- People want the newest technology

- Short warranties

The Waste Electric and Electronic Equiptment (WEEE) tackles e-waste. They have rules for disposing e-waste safely, to promote reuse/recycle. Devices can be refurbished and used again, metals can be extracted from device.

E-waste is sent to Africa where regulations are less strict to cut costs. It ends up in landfill and toxic chemicals can leak into the groundwater and harms wildlife.

Data Protection Act

- Data must only be used in a fair and lawful way.

- Data must only be used for the specified purpose.

- Data should be adequate, relevant and not excessive for the specified use.

- Data must be accurate and kept up to date.

- Data should not be kept longer than is necessary.

- The rights of a data subject must be observed.

- Data should be kept safe and secure.

- Data should not be transferred abroad without adequate protection.

Data subjects - people whose personal data is stored on computer systems. 

The organisation needs to register with the government saying what data they will use and how. The data subjects have the right to see the data unless it affects tax assessment, national security, or a court case outcome.They can be entitled to compensation if the organisation has caused them distress about their data.

Freedom of Information Act

This act allows members of the public to access information (data files, emails and printed documents) held by a public organisation (House of Parliament, council,armed forces, NHS, schools, unis) about that organisations activities.They have to publish certain information regularly for public access. The public can also request informaiion.

Computer Misuse

This act stops hacking and cyber crime. It introducted three new offences:

- Gaining unauthorised access to a private network or device.

- Gaining unauthorised access to a network or device to commit a crime, like stealing data or destroying the network.

- Unauthorised modification of computer material like deleting/changing files.

The act makes it illegal to make, supply or obtain malware.

Copyright, Designs and Patents Act

This act protects intellectual property (anything someone has created). It covers written or recorded content (video game, songs, novels).

It is illegal to share copyrighted files without the copyright holder's permission, use unlicensed software or plagiarise someones work. Copyright holders can charge a fee to grant permission.It is hard to enforce these laws due to the ease of file sharing and relaxed laws in other countries. illegal file sharing happens on p2p networks using the BitTorrent to share files directly between devices. Cloud based hosting websites upload copyrighted content and where anyone with an account can download it. It is unsure how much responsibility the website owners have for the content users upload but they are prosecuted and forced to shut down

Patents cover new inventions, they protect ideas/concepts. if VirtuCyberTek invented new invisibility technology, the patent would prevent other companies releasing products with the same technology.

Creative Commons (CC) licenses allow you to legally share media and software online without asking permission. Intellectual property owners use CC's when they want people to share/build upon their work.

Types of CC licenses:

- Attribution - Work can be shared, copied or modified but copyright holder must be credited.

- Share-alike - Modified works can only be distributed with the same license terms as the original.

- Non-commercial - Nobody can use the copyrighted work for profit.

- No derivative works - The work can be copied and distributed, but can't be modified or built upon

The licenses can be combined (attribution share-alike).

Some works are in the public domain meaning they dont have any copyright laws.UK copyright expires 70 years after the creator's death. Shakespeares plays and da Vinci's paintings.