Legal, Moral, Cultural and Ethical Issues

• The Data Protection Act 1998 This law applies to information stored both on computers and in organised paper filing systems. The law covers personal data, which is any data which can be used to identify a living person. Furthermore, data which can be used in combination with other data to identify a living person is also classified as personal data
• An individual who can be identified by personal data is referred to as the data subject, with the law protecting them in eight specific ways as laid out by the Government:
• Government laws:

  5. Personal data shall not be kept for longer than is necessary for its purpose(s)

  6. Personal data shall be processed in accordance with the rights of data subjects under this Act

  7. Appropriate technical and organisational measures shall be taken against unauthorised or unlawful processing of personal data and against accidental loss or destruction of, or damage to, personal data

  8. Personal data shall not be transferred to a country or territory outside the European Economic Area, unless that country or territory ensures an adequate level of data protection
• Government laws:

  1. Personal data shall be processed fairly and lawfully
  2. Personal data shall be obtained only for one or more specified and lawful purpose
  3. Personal data shall be adequate, relevant and not excessive for its purpose(s)
  4. Personal data shall be accurate and where necessary kept up to date
• The Data Protection Act 1998 also gives data subjects certain rights, such as the right to request a copy of the data held about them, the right to correct the data held about them and the right to prevent marketing using contact details provided by the data subject. As of 2018, The Data Protection Act has been replaced by the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and the Data Protection Act 2018.
• The Computer Misuse Act 1990 Sometimes referred to as CMA, The Computer Misuse Act 1990 concerns the malicious use of computers. The Act was originally created to ensure that computer hacking was covered by law, but has since been frequently updated to ensure it remains relevant.
• The Computer Misuse Act 1990:

  outlines three primary offences:

  1. Unauthorised access to computer materials.
  2. Unauthorised access with intent to commit further offences
  3. Unauthorised modification of computer material.
• The Copyright, Design and Patents Act 1988 This act was brought in to protect people’s property online. It covers everything from logos to music recordings. If a work is original, copyright automatically applies and doesn’t expire until 25-70 years after the death of the creator, depending on the type of work. In 1992, the Act was extended to include computer programs as a type of literary work, meaning that copyright automatically applies to code. If an individual believes that their work has been copied, it is their responsibility to take action under the Act
• The Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act 2000 Sometimes referred to as RIPA, the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act covers investigation, surveillance and interception of communication by public bodies
• The Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act 2000, the act enforces internet service providers and mobile phone companies to give up information upon request from an authorised authority and to ensure that their networks have sufficient hardware installed to facilitate surveillance
• The Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act 2000. This Act is particularly controversial as its powers extend to small agencies like local councils. In addition, some people feel that the Act is an invasion of privacy, or that it is often improperly used.
• Morals


  To do with our personal code of conduct and encompass how we choose to behave, including the decisions we make at the expense of others
• Advantages of involving computers in the workforce

  • Improve efficiency
  • Reduce delivery times
  • Speed up manufacturing processes
  • Improve customer satisfaction
  • Reduce unit labour costs
  • Lower prices for consumers
  • Reduce strain on workers
  • Reduce the need to work in a repetitive and tedious environment
• Identifying these issues is the first step to resolving them
• Moral, social, ethical and cultural opportunities and risks of digital technology

  • Computers in the workforce
  • Automated decision making
  • Artificial intelligence
  • Environmental effects
  • Censorship and the Internet
  • Monitor behaviour
  • Analyse personal information
  • Piracy and offensive communications
  • Layout, colour paradigms and character sets
• Higher consumer demand due to cheaper services may create employment in other sections of the business
• With the Internet becoming accessible to almost everyone, there has been a rise in services being offered exclusively online
• Online services have reduced costs of renting out a physical space and cut labour costs
• In the modern world, decisions are increasingly made by algorithms, raising ethical concerns
• Demand for people in computing-related occupations has increased with increased computerisation
• Computerisation has hit middle-income manufacturing jobs the hardest, resulting in a shift toward low-income service jobs
• Over the past decade, there has been growing speculation about how computers will impact the world economy, in particular our jobs
• Computerisation has resulted in some people losing their jobs, creating high levels of structural unemployment
• With computers becoming an integral part of almost every aspect of our day-to-day lives, it is important that we consider the moral, ethical, environmental, social and cultural implications of these changes
• Ethics

  Concerned with our values as a community and how these will impact different groups of people in society
• Governments must invest in providing retraining programmes to counteract the effects of computerisation
• Increased computerisation has led to a high dependence on computers in the workplace
• Employers are now looking for workers who are able to confidently and productively use computers
• Demand for delivery drivers and web developers has grown with the rise of online services
• Services offered exclusively online

  • Online shopping
  • Online banking services
• Automated decision making in social media feeds

  Determining what different users should be displayed based on users' interactions and inferences about their interests
• It has become increasingly common for decisions to be made by algorithms
• The fear is that solely reinforcing people's interests creates a dangerous bubble in which their beliefs are never challenged, leading to a close-minded society
• In driverless cars, algorithmic decision making often means decisions are made faster than humans are capable of reacting, potentially saving lives
• Fast decision-making in plant automation systems and power distribution systems allows for responding instantly to changes
• Algorithmic decision-making in driverless cars raises ethical questions about how to decide who should be harmed if a scenario arises in which either a pedestrian or the driver must be harmed
• Algorithms have improved productivity and made certain application processes more convenient for employers
• It is important to recognize that algorithms have been designed by a group of software developers so cannot be assumed to be free of bias
• AI is playing a key role in furthering research in medicine, where it is used in expert systems to draw connections between illnesses to form diagnoses
• Algorithmic decision-making has been used in various application processes to determine a person's suitability for mortgages, loans, and jobs