Computer Science · Ch 11 — Societal Impact
Summary
Summary
- Digital footprint is the trail of data we leave behind whenever we visit a website, use an online application or portal, fill in data, or perform any transaction. It has two kinds: active (data we submit intentionally — emails, posts) and passive (data generated unintentionally as we browse). Footprints are stored in browsers and on remote servers, cannot be reliably erased, and can be used to trace the user, location and device.
- Every user of digital technology with the Internet is a digital citizen (netizen), and a good netizen follows three sets of etiquettes: net etiquettes, communication etiquettes and social media etiquettes.
- Net etiquettes — be ethical (no copyright violation; share expertise responsibly), be respectful (respect privacy and diversity), be responsible (avoid cyber bullying; don't feed the troll).
- Communication etiquettes — be precise (respect others' time and data limits) and be polite, so that our remarks and comments keep us credible over time.
- Social media etiquettes — be secure: choose passwords wisely, be careful whom you befriend, beware of fake information; be reliable: think before uploading, especially personal or sensitive material, since uploaded content stays on remote servers even after deletion.
- Sensitive data (biometric, health, financial information, personal documents/media) must be protected through encryption, authentication and other secure methods; every country has its own data protection laws for processing, storage and transmission of such data.
- Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) protect creations of the mind through copyright (automatic, for original works incl. software), patents (filed, for inventions, 20-year protection) and trademarks (distinctive brand symbols, names, logos).
- IPR violations have both ethical and legal aspects: plagiarism (presenting another's work/idea as your own, without adequate citation), copyright infringement (using a work without permission, or without paying when it is sold — citation alone does not cure it), and trademark infringement (unauthorised use of another's trademark).
- Public licences open copyrighted work for reuse: Creative Commons (CC) for creative works of all kinds, and the GNU GPL for software (freedom to run, study, share and modify, with the same rights preserved in derivatives). FOSS (e.g. Ubuntu, Fedora, LibreOffice, Mozilla Firefox) is free to use with open source code. Software piracy — unauthorised use or distribution of software — is copyright infringement regardless of purpose.
- Cyber crime covers criminal activities in the digital environment where the computer is the target or the tool — hacking (white hat/ethical vs black hat/cracker), phishing and fraud emails (incl. email spoofing and identity theft — financial, criminal, medical), ransomware (data encrypted and held for ransom), plus viruses, malware, denial-of-service and banking fraud.
- Cyber crime is combated by being alert (regular backups, updated antivirus and system software, no pirated software or untrusted sites/cookies, strong varied passwords, private browsing on others' computers, secured home Wi-Fi) and by taking legal help. …