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Issues and Impact and Data - Coggle Diagram
Issues and Impact and Data
Environmental Issues
Manufacture
Raw material extraction
Include sand, oil and other metals to be used for wiring and circuit boards
Some materials are very hazardous and produce health risks
Radioactive metals such as uranium and thorium can contaminate air, soil and groundwater
Some metals used such as Silver, Gold or Copper are
precious metals
and are in short supply
In some areas, mining of raw materials is poorly regulated
Excavation causes extensive damage to the environment and landscape
Contaminates water supplies and endangers wildlife habitats
Use of Water
Creating
semiconductors
is extremely water intensive. 40,000 semiconductors/month uses 20,000,000L of water/day
Resulting in water shortages
Untreated wastewater discharge can cause pollution
Production
Raw materials are shipped to factories thousands of miles away
Components shipped to another location for assembly
Shipment uses plastic packaging, which will be disposed of in landfill sites
Use of energy
Most of the energy used during transport and production is generated by fossil fuels
Manufacture of a computer uses 10x its weight in materials and fuels
Burning fossil fuels produces CO2 - global warming
Hazardous materials
Cadmium
- used in rechargeable batteries, printer inks and toners
Lead
- used in circuit boards and cable sheathing
Mercury
- used in LCD screens
Hexavalent chromium
- used to make casings
PCBs
- added to circuit boards, plastics, connectors to make them more fire retardant
Solutions
EU Restriction of Hazardous Substances (RoHS)
- forces manufacturers to use safer materials
Governments imposing tough recycling targets to protect scarce resources
Global demand for digital devices is growing rapidly each year
Life expectancy for phones is less than 2 years, and reducing rapidly
Massive piles of e-waste, energy and non-renewable items are being created//used
Replacement Cycles
The period of time between the purchases of assets and their replacement with equivalent assets
Businesses: Efficiency & Productivity vs. Cost
Equipment does often need to be repaired or replaced after time
Servers: 5 year cycle, Desktops: 4 year cycle, Laptops: 3 year cycle
Replacement with a newer model can be done at any time, but often isn't due to higher costs for the replacement
Individuals: New features and society are main drivers for replacement
Manufacturers introduce a new model of phone each year/6 months - heavily advertised but leads to disposal of equipment and increase in e-waste
Short replacement cycles mean more new devices are being manufactured and more materials used
Disposal
50,000,000 tonnes of e-waste created in 2019
1/2 is personal devices, the remainder is large household appliances and heaters/coolers
Lots are shipped overseas to developing countries and are in landfill/dismantled. Now not a feasible solution, so new recycling arrangements are being made
Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment Regulations (WEEE)
in 2013 set targets for collection, recycling and recovery of electronic equipment for companies
Aim is to recover valuable metals and components (plastic, glass, metal) and dispose of hazardous substances safely
Major manufacturers have recycling programmes. Developing countries have initiatives to create state-of-the-art recycling plants
Energy Consumption
Energy is required for each stage of its lifecycle
Energy is also used to power digital devices, run the global telecommunications networks and store the amount of data generated in data centres
Solid-state drives are more energy efficient, and are replacing HDDs
High-end apps like video games use lots of power
Cloud computing has led to the building of large data centres
Lots of energy is needed to power and cool data centres
Hot-aisle/cold-aisle configuration increases cooling system efficiency in data centres
Ration internet usage/black-and-white pictures/educate users would decrease the power needed by data centres
Graphene may be a good replacement for silicone chips in the future - 5x faster and use less energy.
Ethical & Legal Issues
Personal Data
Examples
Name
Age
Gender
Interests
Identification Numbers
Location
Genetic Information
Online Identifiers
Economic Data
Collected every time you use a service and is stored on servers belonging to services. Will often be used for personalisation
Privacy
Personal data is sold to other companies and is collected by CCTV
Concerns about security of data and vulnerability to
identity theft
General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR 2018)
99 Articles setting out rights of individuals and companies
Consent
Must be freely given - people must be able to say no
Specific - Usage of data should be clear to users
Informed - Users must know which companies get their data
Able to be revoked at any time
It does not talk about the ownership of personal data
Legal responsibilities of Data holders
Data must be processed in a fair, lawful and transparent manner
Must only be used for what it was specified for
Data should only be collected if it is specifically relevant
Data should be accurate and kept up to date
Data must not be kept longer than necessary
Data subjects must give their consent - 'opt in', not 'opt out'
Data must be kept secure and under protection
Rights of Data subjects
Must be informed about the collection & use of data
Must be able to access their data - usually free of charge
Must be able to ask for incorrect data to be corrected
Have the right to have data erased
Have the right of data portability - should be able to carry data over to a different service if needed
The right not to be subject to automated decisions without any human involvement - credit score etc.
Right to restrict/stop processing of data
Monetary penalty for failing to comply
If there is a data breach and users not authorised within 72 hours, the company will be fined
Some firms must appoint a Data protection officer (DPO)
Data Misuse
Data can be misused as a result of hacking
Computer Misuse Act 1990
Unauthorised access to computer material - trying to access information is illegal, even if unsuccessful
Unauthorised access with intent to commit further offences
Intentional and unauthorised destruction of software or data
A person could be identified from the data that they have saved. Correctly anonymised data is no longer personal data
AI
Machine Learning, AI and Robotics
Robotics - design, construction, operation and use of robots
Industrial robots can do one function very well, but cannot do anything else
Machine learning is the branch of AI that allows it to learn independently
Machine learning algorithms tell a computer how to learn to solve a problem
AI and Machine learning allows machines to become fully autonomous
Being used in areas such as facial recognition, selecting job applicants, detecting hate speech,
predictive policing
and handling VISA applications
Algorithmic bias
Main concern is that decisions are incorrect, and/or biased against certain groups of people
2019 - Amazon stopped using AI for giving jobs, as it had a bias against female job applicants
Hate speech detectors had a bias against black people
Predictive policing could replicate or amplify bias on race, sexuality and/or age
Immigrants rights' campaigners have begun a legal case to establish how the Home Office VISA algorithm works
Bias can be introduced by data that the machine uses for its learning - can be unrepresentative of reality or reflect existing undesirable prejudices
Accountability
Humans are often faced with split-second decisions that affect the safety of themselves and others
Who is accountable for an accident in a driverless car - the owner, the manufacturer, the algorithm designers?
Who makes the rules, what about country biases?
Lethal Autonomous Weapons
Weapons can search for and engage targets on their own, making their own decisions without direct human control
Could make wars more 'humane' - killing less and more efficient
Could kill innocents to achieve goals
Vulnerable to interference and hacking
Facial recognition targeting could be inaccurate
Legal & Social Aspects
According to the UN, a person on behalf of whom a program was created is liable for any action generated by the machine
No specific legislation for driverless cars or LAWs
Generative AI is creating Celebrity deep-fake porn - but nobody is being charged, who should?
Lots of human roles may become obsolete - such as HGV drivers
Intellectual Property Protection
Intellectual property is a unique creative product of the human mind
Copyrights and Patents
Creators of unique works
own
the copyright to their own work
No-one may use it without permission
Users may need to pay a fee
Only the creator has the right to make copies, perform in public, or give another person permission
Copyright Designs and Patents Act 1988
Copyright only protects the
expression
of an idea
A software's source code is protected, but the idea isn't
A very different creation of a code, to make the same software would be legal
Copying of someone's work is illegal and unethical
©
The copyright symbol shows that something is protected by copyright
Patents
offer more protection than copyright
Protects the idea or design of an invention
Have to prove that what you have invented is distinct from anything else that already exists
A patent holder has the right for 20 years to make, use and sell their invention
Trademarks
A trademark consists of a recognisable design, sign or expression, which identifies products from others
Organisations and their products are instantly identifiable by their trademarks
An organisation can prevent competitors from using similar trademarks
Legal action can be taken if there is an infringement in the country where the trademark is registered
® The trademark symbol can be used once registration has been accepted
Licensing
Every piece of software has a licence - buying a piece of software does not give you its licence
Terms of licences:
How many copies of the software you are allowed to use
Whether you can install the software on multiple computers
What type of organisation can use the software
How long the software can be used for
Not usually allowed to sell software - paid-for software has a unique
licence key
Open-source software
Available on the internet, anyone can use it, study it, modify it and distribute it, providing there is no fee.
Android, Linux, Open Office
Copyleft licences
stipulate that anyone who releases a modified open source program must also release the source code
Constant upgrades and help and support by dedicated users
Often needs specialist knowledge and does not have such a well-designed and user-friendly interface
Proprietary software
Source code is protected and users cannot modify it
Any bugs are quickly found and fixed, and lots of user support
Cannot change the code if it doesn't do what is needed
Windows, iTunes, Adobe Photoshop, Mac OSX
Cybersecurity
Malware
Disrupts the functioning of a computer system
Gains unauthorised access to a computer system
Gathers information from the users without their knowledge
Malicious software
Viruses
Malicious program code hidden within other programs or files
Make copies of themselves
Copies of the virus are inserted into programs to spread via them to other users
Usually corrupt or delete data on a disk
Worms
Malicious software programs
Do not exist within programs or files
Make copies of themselves
Can distribute themselves independently of a user, through a network connection or by sending emails to the user's address book
Slows performance of a network by consuming bandwidth
Create
back doors
into systems
Trojans
Malicious software programs
Do not exist inside other files
Do not replicate themselves
Must be installed by a computer user
Masquerade as a legitimate software, but once downloaded can be harmful - such as open back doors
Ransomware
Blocks users from their computer until a fee has been paid to release it
Some encypt files so that they cannot be read or used
Often paid by
cryptocurrency
to get the
decryption key
Often delivered in malicious
spam
email
Key loggers
Spyware - type of monitoring software
Record keys pressed on a keyboard without the users knowledge
Transmitted in trojans, infected files, messages or websites
Social engineering
Pre-texting
A malicious person invents a scenario to get a victim to send them secret information
Often research on the victim done beforehand
Pretending to be a bank employee warning about security threats
Pretending to be a technician warning that a home network has been compromised
Baiting
An attempt to exploit someone's curiosity or greed by offering something free but asking the user to enter some personal information
Phishing
An attempt to get sensitive information from the user of a computer system or service. Often fake emails or websites
Usually asks people to look at an email and click a link
Often written: Urgently, with poor grammar, impersonally
Often have: false links or attachments
Exploiting or taking advantage of human behaviour. Can be done in person, on the phone or via computer systems
Quid pro quo
An attacker offers a service or a product, and asks the user to turn off security to be able to access the computer, and through that they can get to the entire network
Technical vulnerabilities (unpatched software)
Maker of the software provides updates to fix security issues when found
If not updated, these issues remain an open door for attackers to come in to
Updating should be done through trusted websites because hackers often send these phishing emails
Protection against cyberattacks
Anti-malware software
Prevents infection by malware and searches for it and destroys it if it finds any malware
Some programs scan for it using a database of known malware definitions (signatures), it can flag up a file if it has recognised some signatures
Heuristics
Identifies malware by behaviour and characteristics
Any program which tries to copy itself into other programs
Any program that tries to write directly to the disk
Any program which tries to remain in memory after having finished executing
A program which decrypts itself when it runs
Any program which attempts to manipulate files required by the OS
Malware lists need to keep on being updated, so that it can ensure the signatures are relevant
Encryption
Scrambles data into an unreadable form to anyone who does not have the key
Asymmetric encryption
Each user has two keys:
Public key
which is visible to anyone, and a
Private key
which is only visible to the user
Person A encrypts a file with Person B's
public key
, person B then decrypts it with their
private key
Widely used to send encrypted messages as public keys are available from a public directory
Symmetric encryption
Algorithms encrypt and decrypt a message using the
same key
- both ends must know the exact shared key
The client contacts the server and they establish a
secure connection
. The client generates a key using an
agreed algorithm
and sends it to the server using the server's public key. The server decrypts it using its private key
(Asymmetric encryption)
and then they both use the
common
key for their secure
symmetrically encrypted
transmissions
Acceptable use policies
A set of rules that a network user must agree to comply with before they are allowed to use the network
Required in order to:
Ensure all laws are complied with
Ensure the network is not harmed
Ensure the security is not jeopardised
Ensure all have fair access
Ensure users are not bullied/abused
Could include:
Must not install software
Must not use own devices
Must not download internet files
Must not access unauthorised data/programs
Must comply with the law
Backup and recovery procedures
Backup policy
The copying of programs/data stored on the network to safeguard them in case of natural/man-made disasters
Who is responsible for the back-up
Which data will be backed up (e.g. incremental backup)
When back-up is to be made
Threats to computer systems/networks
How often back-ups will be made
How the back-ups will be done
Where the back-ups will be kept
How long the back-ups will be kept
Recovery policy
Procedures the organisation will follow to restore normal systems operations in case of natural/man-made disasters
How often it should be tested
A list of all possible threats and counteractions
Statement of where back-ups are kept
Name of person responsible for planning/carrying out restoration of data
Description of data to be restored and the order
List of all outside agencies involved/contacted
Cybersecurity
The protection of computer systems from unauthorised access or being damaged or made inaccessible
Governments etc. store data on computer
Cyber attacks
Gain access to data contained within the system
Delete or modify information
Make the system unavailable for use
Physically damage a device connected to the network
Data
Data Representation
Text
American Standard Code for Information Interchange (ASCII)
7-bit is original
Defined list of characters recognised by a computer's hardware and software is kown as its character set
Unicode
and
Extended ASCII
try to over come the challenge, and Unicode is now used, as it permits a larger character set to be represented
Bitmaps
Made up of pixels, the smallest bit of an image
Resolution is measured in pixels per inch
Colour depth is the number of bits used to encode the colour of each pixel
File size = width x height x colour depth
Sound
The larger the amplitude, the louder the sound is. The larger the frequency, the higher the pitch is
Analogue recording uses a microphone to convert sound waves into an electric signal
Analogue to Digital Conversion (ADC)
takes samples of the amplitude at certain points in time
Sampling interval is the time between each sampling point
Sample rate/Sampling frequency is the number of sound samples per second
Bit depth is the number of bits used to encode each sound sample. Using a high bit depth allows smaller changes in the volume to be recorded
File size = sample rate x bit depth x duration
Data storage & compression
Data capacity is the amount of data that can be stored in a computer's memory or storage device
Compression is the reduction of file size by removing/repackaging some data
Lossless compression
Reduces the size of a file while retaining the exact meaning of the original data. Can be fully reconstructed
.PNG - images, .FLAC - audio, .ZIP - files
Reduce file size by ~50%. Removes redundant data, simplifying pixels of which there are lots with the same colour to a specific code, so that there is less memory needed
Lossy compression
Reduces file size by ~90% because it permanently deletes data
.JPEG - images, .MP3 - audio
Analyses all the data and finds areas with minute differences, so gives them the same value, needs fewer bits