1.6 Impacts of digital technology

Question 1

What different types of issues does technology introduce?

Answer 1

-Ethical issues.
-Legal issues.
-Cultural issues.
-Environmental issues.

Question 2

What are ethical issues?

Answer 2

What would be considered right and wrong by society.

Question 3

What are legal issues?

Answer 3

What is right and wrong according to law.

Question 4

What are cultural issues?


Answer 4

How groups of people with particular beliefs, practices or languages may be affected.

Question 5

What are environmental issues?

Answer 5

How we impact the natural world.

Question 6

What is internet censorship?

Answer 6

When someone tries to control what other people can access on the internet.

Question 7

What is computer surveillance?

Answer 7

When someone monitors what other people are accessing on the internet.

Question 8

What is the digital divide?

Answer 8

Some people have greater access to technology than others.

Question 9

What causes the digital divide?

Answer 9

-Some people don’t have enough money to buy new devices.
-Urban areas have greater network coverage than rural areas.
-Some people don’t know how to use the internet and other new technologies.

Question 10

What is the global divide?

Answer 10

The level of access to technology is different in different countries.

Question 11

What are some environmental issues?

Answer 11

-When we make devices we use up natural resources.
-When we use devices we use lots of energy.
-When we throw away devices we create lots of E-waste.

Question 12

What are the six principles of the Data Protection Act 2018?

Answer 12

-Data should be kept safe and secure.
-Data should not be kept longer than necessary.
-Data must be accurate and kept up to date.
-Data should be adequate, relevant and not excessive for the specified use.
-Data must only be used for the specified purpose.
-Data must only be used in a fair, lawful and transparent way.

Question 13

What is the purpose of the Copyright Designs and Patents act 1988?


Answer 13

Protects intellectual property.

Question 14

What is the Copyright Designs and Patents act 1988?

Answer 14

Illegal to share copyrighted files without the copyright holder’s permission or use unlicensed software / plagiarise somebody else’s work.

Question 15

What does copyright cover?

Answer 15

Written or recorded content. Any physical content.

Question 16

What does patents cover?

Answer 16

Protects ideas and concepts rather than actual content.

Question 17

What is the purpose of the Data Protection Act 2018


Answer 17

Controls the use of personal data.

Question 18

What is the purpose of the Computer Misuse Act 1990?

Answer 18

Prevents illegal access to files.

Question 19

What has the Computer Misuse Act 1990 made illegal?

Answer 19

-Gaining unauthorised access to a private network or device through hacking.
-Gaining unauthorised access to a network or device in order to commit a crime like stealing data.
-Unauthorised modification of computer material like deleting files.
-Making, supplying or obtaining malware.

Question 20

What is a software license

Answer 20

An agreement that allows 1 or more individuals to legally use a piece of software.

Question 21

What is open source software?

Answer 21

Source code is made freely available and users may legally modify it to create their own spin-off software.

Question 22

What are advantages of open source software?

Answer 22

-Free so not made for profit.
-Community forums encourage the collaboration and sharing of ideas.
-Users can adapt software to fit their needs.
-Users can suggest bug fixes and improvements to the original developers.

Question 23

What are disadvantages of open source software?

Answer 23

-May be limited user documentation.
-No warranties if something goes wrong.
-No customer support

Question 24

What is compiled code?


Answer 24

The final file that runs and doesn’t tell you how the program was made.

Question 25

What is proprietary software?

Answer 25

Only releases compiled code not the source code and restricts the modification, copying and redistribution of the software.

Question 26

What are the advantages of proprietary software?

Answer 26

-Comes with warranties, documentation and customer support.
-Should be well-tested and reliable as the company’s reputation depends on this.
-Fixes and updates will come regularly.
-Cheaper for companies instead of developing own custom-built software.

Question 27

What are the disadvantages of proprietary software?

Answer 27

-Can be expensive.
-Software may not exactly fit what the user needs and they can’t do anything about it.
-Software companies may not maintaom older software after warranties expire as they’ll want people to buy their latest product.

Question 28

What is source code?

Answer 28

The actual programming code behind the software which shows exactly how the software was made.