GCSE COMPUTER SCIENCE
The Bigger Picture
4.3 Legal, Ethical and Ownership Issues
Legal, Ethical and Ownership Issues
LEGAL
Legal Issues are those that can land an offender with a heavy fine or prison sentence.
ETHICAL
Ethical issues are not necessarily breaking the law, but make an individual or organisation choose
between something deemed right (ethical) or something deemed wrong (unethical).
OWNERSHIP
Ownership issues are those that can lead to a dispute between a copyright (or similar legislation)
holder and a person or organisation infringing that copyright.
ACTIVITY
Write these three definitions in your book.
Privacy
Read this article:
http://wadds.co.uk/2014/02/02/mobile-phone-family/
Activity 1
Answer these questions using the article you have just read by Stephen Waddington.
1
How might advertisers make use of this location information?
2
What are the benefits of making location information available to others?
3
What are the drawbacks?
4
What does the algorithm developed by Birmingham University do?
Privacy
Read this article:
goo.gl/M3e1cY
Activity 2
Answer these questions using the article by James Ball.
1
What personal information does Google hold about James?
2
What other information is there about James that he can’t find
out about?
3
Google uses cookies to determine which adverts to display.
What is a cookie?
Legal Issues
Read this article:
goo.gl/aYTpt0
Activity 3
Answer these questions using webpage above
1
What is the Computer Misuse Act?
2
What year was the act passed?
3
What three sections is the act broken down into?
4
Find an example of what each of the three sections stops you doing.
IP and Patents
INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY
Refers to creation of the mind, such as inventions, literacy and artistic work.
Also called IP.
PATENT
Is the exclusive right granted by a government to an inventor to manufacture, use or
sell an invention for a certain number of years.
ACTIVITY
Write these two definitions in your book.
Activity 4
Answer the following questions
1. What is a patent?
2. What can be patented?
3. What can’t be patented?
4. How long does a patent last?
5. What often happens if someone doesn’t apply for a patent soon enough?
6. What does the term ‘intellectual property’ (IP) mean?
7. ARM’s revenue comes entirely from IP licensing. Explain how this works.
8. What does ‘patent infringement’ entail?
9. Why are there so many patent infringement cases relating to mobile phones being fought around the world?
10. Why could ‘patent wars’ be a bad thing for consumers?
11. Oracle and Google are also involved in an on-going dispute over a patent. What is it all about?
Acts
Acts
An Act of Parliament is a form of legislation.
The three acts you need to understand are:
1
Data Protection Act
2
Copyright, Design and Patents Act
3
Computer Misuse Act
Acts
DATA
PROTECTION ACT
The DPA is a law designed to protect personal data stored on computers or in an organised paper
filing system.
COPYRIGHT,
DESIGN AND
PATENTS ACT
This act was introduced to protect the investment of time, money and effort by the people who
create original pieces of work.
COMPUTER
MISUSE ACT
This act was introduced to prevent an individual or organisation from accessing computers
systems they are not authorised to. This is what hackers are guilty of!
ACTIVITY
Write these three definitions in your book.
Activity 5
Complete this table by identifying the relevant legislation for each scenario:
What they did
Relevant legislation
1. Jim hacked into the private Facebook account of someone he works with.
Computer Misuse Act
2. OAW Inc produced a mobile that included a feature for which another company holds the patent.
Copyright, Design and Patents Act
3. A hospital trust sold redundant computer equipment on an Internet auction site. It failed to erase
the contents of the computers’ hard drives held sensitive patient data.
Data Protection Act
4. Youssra developed a mobile phone app which Mike modified, rebranded and sold.
Copyright, Design and Patents Act
5. PKW failed to respond to Jo’s request to see all the personal data the company holds about her.
Data Protection Act
6. Unknown to visitors to PKW’s website, a cookie was automatically downloaded to their computer Data Protection Act
and used to record details of the pages they visited.
7. Two men hacked into the servers of a major record company and stole unreleased music.
Computer Misuse Act
8. A company imported and sold devices, which are widely used to help people to play unlicensed
versions of games.
Copyright, Design and Patents Act
Possible answers: Copyright, Design and Patents Act, Data Protection Act or Computer Misuse Act