Ethical, Legal and Environmental Impacts of Digital Technology

  • Explain the current ethical, legal and environmental impacts and risks of digital technology on society.
  • Consider where data privacy issues arise.

Ethical Impacts

  • Ethics refer to what people believe to be right or wrong.
  • Ethical use of computer technology is about acting in a responsible manner and to ensure no harm is caused to others.
  • Ethics are not the same as legalities, something can be unethical but still legal.
  • There are computing organisations that publish codes of ethics.

The Computer Ethics - 10 Commandments

  1. Thou shalt not use a computer to harm other people.
  2. Thou shalt not interfere with other people's computer work.
  3. Thou shalt not snoop around in other people's computer files.
  4. Thou shalt not use a computer to steal.
  5. Thou shalt not use a computer to bear false witness.
  6. Thou shalt not copy or use propriety software for which you have not paid.

The Computer Ethics - 10 Commandments

  1. Thou shalt not use other people's computer resources without authorisation or proper consultation.
  2. Thou shalt not appropriate other people's intellectual output.
  3. Thou shalt think about the social consequences of the program you are writing or the system you are designing.
  4. Thou shalt always use a computer in ways that ensure consideration and respect for your fellow humans.

Legal Impacts

  • As computers are now used in, and affect all areas of life, laws have been created to combat crime and ensure justice for those affected by computer related crime.
  • These laws are designed to prevent the misuse of computers and computer systems.
  • Failing to follow these laws is a criminal offence.

Legal Impacts

These are some of the illegal activities covered in the law:

  • unauthorised access to data and computer systems for the purpose of theft or damage,
  • identity theft,
  • software piracy,
  • fraud,
  • harassment, e.g. trolling.
The Data Protection Act 2018
Computer Misuse Act 1990
Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988

Environmental Impacts

  • All technology has an environmental impact.
  • Computer systems use electricity and are often left continuously running.
  • Data centres (Google, Facebook, etc.) use large amounts of electricity (~2% of the world's energy use)
  • Manufacture of computers and all other electronic equipment uses energy and resources.
  • Including rare metals and toxic materials.

Environmental Impacts

  • Disposal of unwanted computers and peripherals has become a problem and needs to be addressed.
  • Currently old compute equipment is often sent to countries with low environmental standards to reduce the cost of disposal.
  • This equipment is often put into landfill sites and in some cases children are used to extract valuable components, potentially exposing them to harmful substances.

Environmental Impacts

Computers have reduced some environmental impacts:

  • Reducing the need for paper, due to on-screen reading,  saving some tree felling.
  • Working from home, reduces the need for travel, reducing energy consumption and CO₂ emissions.
  • The calculation power of computers allows people to develop and design more energy efficient devices.
  • Smart metering can be used to reduce the consumption of electricity and water.
  • Computers are used to optimised manufacturing systems, reducing overall energy use.

Privacy Issues

  • Widespread online activity now means we share a great deal of information with websites and applications and the companies that operate them.
  • Most of these organisations share your information with third parties (read the terms and conditions).
  • We often share personal information on social media applications and websites.
  • Most people are not aware of how much information is being shared.

Privacy Issues

  • When you use social media, your location and time is logged.
  • Many applications on your mobile phone will track your location.
  • Photographs will usually store the location and time of taking the photograph with the file, becoming available to any social media site that has access to that photograph.
  • Some companies are using facial recognition on photographs and linking to that persons personal account.

Questions

  1. Is it reasonable for organisations to demand access to and monitor social network pages where the content is posted from private computers?
  2. Discuss the environmental impact of computer use.
  3. Identify two ways that individuals might be monitored in their daily life.
  4. What issues may result from unwise posts on a social media site?

Answers

Yes,  the online activity may:

  • reflect poorly on the company,
  • identify the individual's opinions and activities that are not compatible with the company's ethics.
  1. Is it reasonable for organisations to demand access to and monitor social network pages where the content is posted from private computers?

No, the user has right to:

  • privacy on their private computer,
  • their own opinions and beliefs.

Answers

  • Use of electricity by data centres.
  • Use of rare substances within the devices, depleting resources.
  • Energy used during manufacture.
  • Toxic materials are used and need to be disposed of.
  1. Discuss the environmental impact of computer use.

Answers

  • CCTV: on the streets and in public places; in private homes with CCTV; corporate buildings and workplaces.
  • Mobile phones can be and are tracked by many applications.
  • Online activity in the workplace and by many websites (e.g. advertising).
  • Online monitoring of social media activity, then given to third parties.
  1. Identify two ways that individuals might be monitored in their daily life.

Answers

Social media posts are viewable by a wide audience often well beyond friends and acquaintances, and may influence how an individual is seen by potential employers or members of specific groups or the general public.

  1. What issues may result from unwise posts on a social media site?

Families may see posts intended for close friends; employers may see unguarded moments from social activities.

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