Ethical/Legal/Environmental/Cultural notes

• Ethical Issue

  • Considered wrong by the society
  • Cybersecurity, trolling, use of social media can raise ethical issues
  • Users trust companies to keep their data private so companies need to take care of it
  • Censorship
  • Surveillance, when someone is monitored using technology
• Legal

  Data Protection Act: Data being kept longer than its needed

  Freedom of Information Act: Enables the public to access public information from organizations

  Computer Misuse Act: Hacking a network and viruses is illegal

  Copyrights Designs and Patents Act: Protect things you have used without permission

  Creative Commons: Lets people release and share their work legally and sometimes modified
• Environmental Issues

  • Computers containing raw materials
  • Devices use a lot of energy
  • E-waste is when we throw away devices because they are broken
  • E-waste can lead to pollution
  • The waste electronic equipment directive has rules for how devices should be disposed of
  • Devices can also have a positive impact for example videocalls.
• Cultural Issues

  • Digital divide some people do not have access to the internet because some of them don't have enough money to afford devices
  • Not having access to technology puts people at a disadvantage etc online learning, online banking and communications
  • Technology has also impacted how businesses are ran as many now use online shops