Ethics, ownership and legal issues
Ethics, ownership and legal issues asks you to reason about the consequences of computer use and to apply intellectual property and data protection rules to realistic scenarios. The exam rewards precise legal distinctions, not opinions about whether technology is good.
Ethical issues
Automation can displace jobs and change the skills demanded; algorithmic decisions can embed bias when training data is unrepresentative; monitoring raises consent and dignity questions; AI and biometric systems need human oversight and redress. Other recurring issues include the digital divide, energy use of data centres, e-waste, accessibility and whistleblowing. Professional codes typically require competence, honesty, confidentiality and avoidance of harm.
Ownership and licensing
Copyright arises automatically when original code is written; it protects the expression, not the idea or algorithm. A patent protects a novel, non-obvious technical process but must be applied for and is expensive. A trademark protects a brand name or logo. Proprietary software is supplied under a licence that restricts copying and access to source code. Open-source software makes source code available under conditions: permissive licences such as MIT or BSD allow closed-source reuse with attribution, while copyleft licences such as GPL require derivative works to be distributed under the same licence. Freeware is free of charge but closed; shareware is a trial.
Legal protections
Data protection law requires lawful, fair and transparent processing, purpose limitation, minimisation, accuracy, storage limitation and security, and gives data subjects rights of access and erasure. Computer misuse law criminalises unauthorised access and unauthorised modification. Accessibility and health-and-safety legislation also apply to computer systems.
Worked example
A company wants to embed a GPL library in a closed-source product. Linking creates a derivative work, which must be distributed under GPL with source code, so the plan breaches the licence unless a commercial licence is bought. Substituting an MIT-licensed library allows closed distribution provided the copyright notice is retained.
Traps
Assuming open source means no copyright; confusing freeware with open source; claiming an idea can be copyrighted; treating anything on the internet as public domain; ignoring licence conditions in a scenario.