Section 3: Issues Flashcards
(21 cards)
What is internet censorship?
Internet censorship is when someone tries to control what other people can access on the internet.
How do countries use surveillance?
Government intelligence agencies may use packet sniffers and other software to monitor internet traffic, looking out for certain key words or phrases that might alert them to illegal activities.
How can new technology negatively impact society?
Technology has increased peer pressure - children feel pressure to own the latest device for fear of being bullied.
Smartphones make it easier for people’s work to intrude into other areas of life. This can be stressful for employees who feel they can never really switch off from work.
Face-to-face social interaction can be neglected as more of our social lives move online.
What health problems can technology cause?
Eye strain can be caused by looking at a device’s screen for too long.
Repetitive Strain Injury (RSI) is when parts of the body (normally fingers and wrists) become damaged as a result of repeated movements over a long period of time, such a typing on a keyboard.
Sitting at your computer too long can cause back problems, usually due to poor posture.
How has technology changed how we do business?
Music and television steaming services have allowed their customers to listen and watch media for less money.
The sharing economy is the name given to services which use new technology to let people make money from things they already own e.g. Uber & Airbnb. These services are cheap, but they draw customers away from taxi firms and hotel owners. Also, they may be more risky for sharers and customers. E.g. the sharer may not know the safety regulations, and may find their insurance policy won’t cover them if there’s damage or theft.
What is the digital divide?
The digital divide is created by the fact that some people have greater access to technology than others. E.g. people can use the internet to apply for jobs or university courses. People who have limited access are therefore at a heavy disadvantage.
What are the 3 causes of the digital divide?
1) Some people don’t have enough money to buy new devices.
2) Urban areas are likely to have greater network coverage than rural areas.
3) Some people don’t know how to use the internet and other new technologies, and so are shut out of the opportunities they offer.
What is the global divide and how is it increasing?
The global divide is created by the fact that the level of access to technology is different in different countries. People in richer countries tend to have greater access to technology than people in poorer countries. the internet and other technologies have created lots of opportunities for the people with access to them, so this has increased the inequality between poorer and richer countries.
How does technology affect natural resources?
When we make devices we use up natural resources.
Electronic devices contain lots of raw materials. Plastics come from crude oil, devices also contain many precious metals like gold, silver and platinum. Many of these metals only occur naturally in tiny quantities.
Extracting these materials uses lots of energy, creates pollution and depletes scarce natural resources.
How does the use of technology use energy?
All the devices in the world today are consuming energy in the form of electricity - a lot of it.
Most electricity is made using non-renewable resources. Using these resources causes lots of pollution including greenhouse gases.
All computers generate heat and require cooling , to cool huge devices, special air-conditioned rooms are required. That means using even more energy and more pollution.
Devices also waste energy e.g. when left idle.
How can we reduce the amount of energy wasted by devices?
1) Virtual servers are software-based servers rather than real machines. Multiple virtual servers can run on one physical server, so the physical serve can run at full capacity.
2) Most modern devices include sleep and hibernation modes to reduce their power consumption when they are idle.
3) Don’t leave electronic devices on standby.
What is one main reason why E-waste is increasing?
Device manufacturers and retailers are part of this problem. They provide short warranties (e.g. 1 year), use marketing to convince people to upgrade and have pricing policies that make it cheaper to replace than to repair.
What is the Data Protection Act 1998?
It gives rights to data subjects (people whose personal data is stored on computer systems). The act has 8 principles:
1) Data must only be used in a fair and lawful way.
2) Data must only be used for the specified purpose.
3) data should be adequate, relevant and not excessive for the specified use.
4) Data must be accurate and kept up to date.
5) Data should not be kept longer than necessary.
6) The rights of the data subject must be observed.
7) Data should be kept safe and secure.
8) Data should not be transferred abroad without adequate protection.
What is the Freedom of Information Act?
The Freedom of Information Act 2000 allows members of the public to access information held by a public organisation about that organisations activities. It also makes public organisations publish certain information on a regular basis so that the public have access to it.
What is the Computer Misuse Act?
The Computer Misuse Act 1990 was introduced to stop hacking and cyber crime. It introduced three new offences:
1) Gaining unauthorised access to a private network or devices.
2) Gaining unauthorised access to a network or device in order to commit a crime, like stealing data or destroying the network.
3) Unauthorised modification of computer material - e.g. deleting or changing files. The Act also makes it illegal to make, supply or obtain malware
What are the four Creative Commons licenses?
1) Attribution - Work can be shared, copied or modified, but the copyright holder has to be credited.
2) Share-alike - Modified works can only be distributed with the same license terms as the original.
3) Non-commercial - Nobody can use the copyrighted work for profit
4) No derivative works - The work can be copied and distributed, but can’t be modified or built upon
What is a Creative commons license and when are they used?
Creative Commons (CC) licenses allow to legally share media and software online without having to ask for permission first. Intellectual property owners use creative commons licenses when they want other people to share or build upon their work.
What is the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988?
The Act was introduced to protect intellectual property. The Act makes it illegal to share copyrighted files without the copyright holder’s permission, use unlicensed software or plagarise somebody else’s work.
What is a patent?
Patents cover new inventions - they protect ideas and concepts rather than actual content. (In terms of Copyright)
Why is it hard to protect copyrighted content?
The internet has made it harder due to the ease of file sharing. It’s also difficult to enforce copyright if content is held on servers in countries with more relaxed copyright laws.
How can illegal file sharing take place?
It can take place over peer-to-peer networks using the BitTorrent protocol to share files directly between devices. Cloud-based file-hosting websites are also used - copyrighted content is uploaded to the website where anyone with an account can download it.
