Ethical, Legal, Cultural and Environmental Impacts
The four impact categories, all four pieces of legislation you must name, open source against proprietary software, and how to structure the eight mark essay so it actually scores.
The four categories
Every impact question fits into one of four categories, and knowing which is which stops you writing the same point twice.
Ethical
Questions of right and wrong, where there is no law forcing an answer.
- Should an employer read employees' emails?
- Is it acceptable for an algorithm to decide who gets a loan?
- Should facial recognition be used in public spaces?
- Is it right that technology jobs replace human ones?
Legal
What the law requires or forbids. This is where the four named acts belong.
Cultural
How technology changes how groups of people live, work and interact.
- The digital divide: those without reliable internet or devices are excluded from services that assume everyone has both
- Changes to how people socialise, shop, work and access news
- Online communities forming across national borders
- Concerns about screen time, misinformation and the effect on young people
Environmental
The effect on the planet.
- Manufacturing devices consumes rare earth metals, and mining causes habitat destruction and pollution
- Data centres and devices consume enormous amounts of electricity
- E-waste: discarded electronics contain toxic substances such as lead and mercury, and much of it is shipped to countries with weak environmental controls
- Short replacement cycles worsen all of the above
- Positives: video conferencing reduces travel, smart systems cut energy use, digital documents reduce paper
- Ethical: questions of right and wrong, such as fairness, privacy and responsibility.
- Legal: the laws that apply, which you must be able to name.
- Cultural: how technology changes the way people live, communicate and work.
- Environmental: the materials and energy technology uses, and the savings it can make.
- Mining rare metals damages land.
- Making a device uses energy, water and chemicals.
- Using it needs electricity, including at the data centres.
- Throwing it away creates e-waste, with toxic metals in landfill.
- Recycling recovers materials, which go back into making new devices.
- Reduce, reuse and recycle, in that order of importance.
Legislation
Four acts. You must know the name, the year and what it protects.
Data Protection Act 2018
Controls how organisations use personal data. It incorporates GDPR into UK law.
Key principles: data must be used fairly and lawfully, collected for a specified purpose, adequate and not excessive, accurate and up to date, kept no longer than necessary, and kept secure.
Individuals have rights: to see the data held about them, to have errors corrected, and to have data erased in certain circumstances.
Computer Misuse Act 1990
Created three offences, in increasing seriousness:
- Unauthorised access to computer material, for example guessing a password to read someone's files
- Unauthorised access with intent to commit a further offence, such as breaking in to commit fraud
- Unauthorised modification of computer material, such as deleting files or spreading a virus
Downloading a film illegally is copyright, not Computer Misuse. Guessing your friend's password is Computer Misuse even if you change nothing.
Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988
Protects the intellectual property of creators: software, music, films, books, images and designs. It makes copying, distributing or using work without permission illegal.
This is the act that covers software piracy and illegal downloads.
Software licences
Open source software is distributed with its source code, which anyone may view, modify and redistribute.
- Free to use in most cases
- Can be adapted to exact needs
- A large community may fix bugs and add features quickly
- Weaknesses are visible to everyone, including attackers
- Support is community based rather than guaranteed
- Examples: Linux, LibreOffice, Firefox, VLC
Proprietary software is distributed as a compiled program only. The source code is kept secret and the licence restricts what users may do.
- Usually paid for, sometimes by subscription
- Professional support and regular tested updates
- Cannot be modified or adapted by the user
- Users depend entirely on the vendor continuing to support it
- Examples: Microsoft Windows, Adobe Photoshop, Microsoft Office
Step 1 of 4 Computer Misuse Act 1990
- Proprietary software is a finished program. The source code is hidden and the licence limits what you may do.
- Open source software comes with its source code, and the licence lets you modify it and share copies.
- Open source does not mean free of charge. It means the source code is open.
Writing the eight mark answer
The impacts question is usually the longest on Paper 1 and it is marked by levels, not by counting points. That changes how you should write.
What the levels reward
| Level | What it looks like |
|---|---|
| Level 1 | A few relevant points, mostly listed, little development |
| Level 2 | Several points developed with reasons, some balance |
| Level 3 | A balanced discussion of several impacts, developed with reasons, reaching a supported conclusion |
A structure that reaches level 3
- Open with the context. One sentence naming what is being introduced and who it affects.
- Two or three paragraphs, each on a different impact category. Name the category, make the point, explain the consequence, and identify who is affected.
- Give both sides. Every paragraph should acknowledge a counterpoint. A one sided answer is capped in the mark scheme.
- Conclude with a judgement. Say what should happen and why, based on what you have argued.
Writing eight separate points and stopping. Level 3 requires development and a conclusion. Four well developed points with a conclusion will beat eight bare assertions every time.
Worked opening
A supermarket replaces all its staffed checkouts with self service tills.
"This change has significant ethical and cultural implications. Ethically, the supermarket has a responsibility towards the staff whose roles are removed, and while the company is not legally obliged to retain them, replacing long serving employees with machines purely to reduce costs raises questions of fairness, particularly where those employees have few alternative opportunities in the local area. Culturally, self service tills also disadvantage certain groups: elderly customers and those with visual impairments may find touchscreens difficult, and for some isolated customers the brief interaction at a checkout is genuine social contact. Against this, self service reduces queueing for the majority and lowers costs, which may keep prices down for all customers..."
Notice: category named, point made, consequence explained, group affected identified, counterpoint given.
Key terms you must be able to define
- Ethical issue
- A question of right and wrong where no law dictates the answer.
- Legal issue
- Something governed by law, such as the use of personal data or unauthorised access.
- Cultural issue
- The effect of technology on how groups of people live, work and interact.
- Environmental issue
- The effect of technology on the natural world, including energy use and e-waste.
- Data Protection Act 2018
- Legislation controlling how organisations collect, store and use personal data.
- Computer Misuse Act 1990
- Legislation making unauthorised access to and modification of computer material a criminal offence.
- Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988
- Legislation protecting the intellectual property of creators, including software.
- Open source software
- Software distributed with its source code, which anyone may view, modify and redistribute.
- Proprietary software
- Software distributed without source code, under a licence restricting how it may be used.
- Digital divide
- The gap between those with reliable access to technology and the internet and those without.
- E-waste
- Discarded electronic equipment, often containing toxic materials, much of it exported to developing countries.
Flashcards
Say the definition out loud before you flip the card. Retrieving it from memory is what builds recall, reading it again is not.
Reach the top grade on this topic
This topic separates students more than any other on Paper 1, because it is marked by levels.
Never write a list. Lists reach level 1. Each point needs: the claim, the reason, the consequence and who is affected.
Always give both sides. A one sided answer cannot reach the top level even if every point is correct. Use phrases like "however", "on the other hand" and "against this".
Name the specific group affected. Not "people" but "elderly customers", "employees in low skilled roles", "students in households without broadband", "communities near mining sites". Specificity is what makes an answer feel expert.
Always conclude. One or two sentences giving your judgement and the reason for it. Answers without a conclusion routinely lose the top mark even when the discussion was strong.
Learn the four acts precisely. The name and year are worth a mark on their own, and using the wrong act for a scenario loses marks that are otherwise free.
- Write an eight mark answer in 12 minutes with four developed points and a conclusion
- Match any given scenario to the correct legislation instantly
- Give three advantages and three disadvantages of open source
- Name a specific affected group in every paragraph you write
Mistakes that cost marks here
- Writing a list of impacts with no development or conclusion, which caps the answer at level 1.
- Confusing the Computer Misuse Act with the Copyright Act. Hacking is Misuse, piracy is Copyright.
- Saying open source is 'free' as if that is the only difference. The defining feature is that the source code is available to view and modify.
- Giving only negative environmental impacts. Video conferencing, digital documents and smart energy systems are genuine positives.
- Writing only about one category when the question says impacts, plural.
- Saying 'it affects people' rather than naming the specific group affected.
A single large data centre can use as much electricity as a small town. This is why the biggest technology companies now build them next to hydroelectric dams or in the Arctic circle, where the outside air does the cooling for free.
Knowledge check
Exam-style questions
Five written questions in the style of the real paper. Write a full answer, then let the marker check it against the mark scheme.
- LData Protection Act 2018
The Data Protection Act 2018, which brings the General Data Protection Regulation into UK law.
- LUnauthorised access to computer material
- LExample or explanation of unauthorised access, such as using someone else's password
- LUnauthorised modification of computer material
- LUnauthorised access with intent to commit a further offence such as fraud
The first offence is unauthorised access to computer material, which means gaining access to a computer system or the data on it without permission, for example by guessing or stealing another person's password in order to read their files. This is an offence even if nothing is altered or taken. The second offence is unauthorised modification of computer material, which covers changing or deleting data without permission, including deliberately spreading a virus or ransomware that alters files. The Act also creates the more serious offence of unauthorised access with intent to commit a further offence, such as breaking into a system in order to commit fraud.
- LIt is usually free of charge, reducing costs
- LThe source code can be viewed and modified to suit specific needs
- LA community of developers can fix bugs and add features
- LThere is no dependence on a single vendor continuing to support the software
The first advantage is cost. Open source software is normally free to download and use with no per machine licence fee, which for an organisation deploying software to hundreds of computers represents a very large saving compared with proprietary licences that must be bought and often renewed annually. The second advantage is that the source code is made available, so the software can be examined and modified. This means an organisation can adapt the program to its own specific requirements rather than working around limitations, and a global community of developers can inspect the code, identify security weaknesses and contribute fixes and new features, often far more quickly than a single company could.
- LIdentifies a cultural impact such as the digital divide
- LNames a specific affected group such as elderly residents or low income households
- LIdentifies an ethical impact, such as fairness of removing non digital options
- LIdentifies a legal impact, such as Data Protection Act obligations for personal data
- LIdentifies an environmental impact such as reduced paper and travel, or increased server energy use
- LGives benefits such as lower costs, 24 hour availability and faster service
- LPresents both sides rather than only advantages or only disadvantages
- LReaches a supported conclusion with a recommendation
Moving all council services online has substantial impacts across several areas. Culturally, the most serious is the digital divide. Not every resident has a reliable internet connection, a suitable device or the confidence to use one, and the groups most likely to be excluded are elderly residents, people on low incomes and those in rural areas with poor broadband. These are also, in many cases, precisely the residents who most need council support, so a digital only service risks making it hardest to reach for the people who depend on it most. Ethically, this raises a genuine question of fairness. The council has a duty to serve all of its residents equally, and while moving online is not unlawful, removing every alternative route to a service effectively withdraws it from a minority of the population who have done nothing wrong. Legally, the council will be handling large volumes of personal data including addresses, financial details and information about vulnerable people, so it is bound by the Data Protection Act 2018 to collect only what is necessary, keep it accurate, store it securely and retain it no longer than needed. A breach would expose residents to fraud and expose the council to significant fines. Environmentally the picture is mixed. Online services remove a great deal of printing, postage and travel to council offices, which reduces paper use and vehicle emissions, but the servers hosting the service consume electricity continuously and the devices residents need in order to use it carry their own manufacturing and disposal costs. There are clear benefits driving the decision. Online services are far cheaper to run than staffed offices, they are available at any hour rather than only during working hours, and requests can be tracked and processed more quickly, which improves the experience for the majority of residents and frees money for other services. Overall, the council is right to move services online, but wrong to make it the only option. The most defensible approach is to develop the digital service fully while retaining a telephone line and a staffed counter for those who cannot use it, and to fund community support to help residents get online. This captures most of the cost savings and convenience without excluding the residents least able to adapt.
- LBenefit: less travel to meetings
- LWhich reduces fuel use and carbon emissions
- LDrawback: servers and networks consume electricity continuously
- LDevices must be manufactured and eventually disposed of, using resources and creating e-waste
The environmental benefit is a reduction in travel. Meetings that previously required employees to drive across the country or fly abroad can be held from a desk, which cuts fuel consumption and the carbon emissions associated with road and air travel, and also reduces the demand for large office buildings that must be heated and lit. The drawback is that video conferencing is not free of environmental cost. The data centres that host the service run continuously and consume very large amounts of electricity, both for the servers themselves and for the cooling systems that keep them at a safe temperature, and video is one of the most data intensive services on the internet. In addition, every participant needs a device with a camera and a reliable connection, and manufacturing those devices consumes rare earth metals extracted through environmentally damaging mining, while their eventual disposal adds to the growing volume of electronic waste.