1. Topic 6: The Bigger Picture
Trends, Issues, and Impact

2. Impacting the Environment
With the huge increase in consumption of electronic goods
We have had to increase the production of these electronic goods
With increased production, comes increased waste
Computers/laptops
Mobile Devices
Cars
Video Game Consoles
TVs
Household Appliances
The Bigger Picture: Trends, Issues, and Impact

3. Impacting the Environment
Not only is there waste to consider when producing these goods, there’s also the waste of the goods themselves!
Many people will throw away their old electronic devices
When they brake or ‘become too old’
These electronic devices will often go to landfill sites
Taking up space (which may be running out)
But there is something better we can do with this waste
The Bigger Picture: Trends, Issues, and Impact

4. Impacting the Environment
Most electronic devices contain circuit boards
The ‘backbone’ of a device
Which enables electrical signals to travel across the device
These circuit boards are often made up of copper, silver, gold, platinum, and palladium
Some of these metals, like gold, are readily recyclable
Sometimes containing a higher ‘density’ of gold than ore mined in the USA!
However, these boards can also contain toxic materials (like lead) that are hazardous when not disposed of properly
The Bigger Picture: Trends, Issues, and Impact

5. Impacting the Environment
What else can we do other than recycle old circuit boards?
If the circuit board is contained within a computer, it’s actually more energy efficient to refurbish it than recycle it
Refurbishing means “to clean up” – making it workable and ready for a ‘second-hand user’
Many online retailers will offer refurbished products to purchase at cheaper rates
Click here for an interesting video on the topic!
The Bigger Picture: Trends, Issues, and Impact

6. Impacting the Environment
However, even refurbishing computers doesn’t come without its own flaws
Many big companies (that will purchase hundreds to thousands of computers) actually refuse to refurbish their old computers for second-hand use
The big concern for this: data security
If not properly handled, data can remain on second- hand computers
If that data is sensitive, then it could be a potential legal problem if that sensitive data is leaked via a refurbished computers
The Bigger Picture: Trends, Issues, and Impact

7. Impacting the Environment
It’s just waste that is a problem
There is also the energy usage of computers and devices
In some ways, the age of computing and the Internet has helped reducing energy usage
Many people can work from home, reducing commuting effects (less fuel usage)
Electronic mail means less paper is needed (thus less printing)
However, there is an offside to this
The Bigger Picture: Trends, Issues, and Impact

8. Impacting the Environment
The most important thing is that technology consumes energy
Computers require electricity to work, and that electricity has to come from somewhere
Computers need electricity to turn on and function
Mobile devices need electricity to charge
Flash memory uses electricity to store data
The Bigger Picture: Trends, Issues, and Impact

9. The Bigger Picture: Trends, Issues, and Impact
Impacting Ethics
It’s not just the environment that newer, better, and faster devices impact
Computers affect our day-to-day lives, and our usage of them can affect other people just as strongly
The biggest impact of our inter-connected society is on privacy
And what, exactly, we say about ourselves as we communicate on the Internet
The Bigger Picture: Trends, Issues, and Impact

10. The Bigger Picture: Trends, Issues, and Impact
Impacting Ethics
With how easy it is to ‘update’ all our friends and family with our recent goings-on, can we truly say our lives are “private” any more?
With the advent of social media (like Facebook and Twitter), it has become easier than ever to say what we are doing, when we are doing it
However, do we still ‘own’ that information once its published to those social media sites?
The Bigger Picture: Trends, Issues, and Impact

11. The Bigger Picture: Trends, Issues, and Impact
Impacting Ethics
In fact, this data that we upload actually gets uploaded and saved onto the servers that Facebook and Twitter own
So, technically, they ‘own’ that data
However, there are laws stating what they can and can’t do with that data
Even outlining what they must do in terms of protection
Once such law is the Data Protection Act (DPA)
The Bigger Picture: Trends, Issues, and Impact

12. The Bigger Picture: Trends, Issues, and Impact
Impacting Ethics
The DPA sets out to govern
Who can access the data stored
The accuracy and validity of the stored data
The rights of selling that data
The steps for removing that data
The main occurrence of the DPA in the public eye is when a company breaches that act
For example, one company was fined for not wiping/destroying sensitive data from hard-drives before selling that computer to be refurbished
The Bigger Picture: Trends, Issues, and Impact

13. The Bigger Picture: Trends, Issues, and Impact
Impacting Ethics
One interesting point about the DPA is the rights of selling this information
Indeed, companies can record select bits of information
About what you upload, or even what websites you visit
The DPA outlines what they can and can’t do with this information
One thing it says it can do is use a select amount of data to form a ‘profile’ of sorts
This is sold to advertisers who can selectively choose which advertisements to show us
The Bigger Picture: Trends, Issues, and Impact

14. The Bigger Picture: Trends, Issues, and Impact
Impacting Ethics
This tracking of usage isn’t restricted to social media websites either
A lot of web servers will actually keep track of your public IP address as you use the World Wide Web
Some companies will use this information for their gain
For example, when booking holidays online, it is often recommended to use a proxy server and a private browsing mode
Most holiday sellers will install a cookie on your browser which tracks the different holiday selling websites you visit
When you go back to their website, they’ll then adjust their online price to try and make you buy a holiday with them
The Bigger Picture: Trends, Issues, and Impact

15. The Bigger Picture: Trends, Issues, and Impact
Impacting Ethics
It’s not just privacy that is a concern on the Internet
There is also the matter of unethical Internet usage
We saw this before with hacking and exploiting computer vulnerabilities
This act of exploiting vulnerabilities on a computer network to gain access to private data is covered in the Computer Misuse Act, which makes it a criminal offence to
Access computer material without permission
Access computer material without permission and with intent to commit criminal offences
Alter computer data without permission
The Bigger Picture: Trends, Issues, and Impact

16. The Bigger Picture: Trends, Issues, and Impact
Impacting Ethics
However, criminal offences aren’t the only way that unethical usage can come into it
There is also the issue of cyberbullying and trolling
Cyberbullying – abusing another person using threats, insults, hurtful remarks and messages over the Internet
Trolling – posting messages or comments with the intent to evoke negative emotional responses from others
The Bigger Picture: Trends, Issues, and Impact

17. The Bigger Picture: Trends, Issues, and Impact
Impacting Ethics
There is also this notion of the digital divide
A global issue where some people do not have access to the Internet and the World Wide Web
There are a few factors into why some people do not have Internet access, but the most important ones are
Lack of money to buy Internet-connected devices
Living in an area without any Internet coverage
Lack of training (IT literacy) so they are not comfortable using a computer
The Bigger Picture: Trends, Issues, and Impact

18. The Bigger Picture: Trends, Issues, and Impact
Impacting the Law
On the more legal side, the Internet has also made to work with, and impact, two legal areas
Copyright
Patents
A patent involves registering ownership of an invention or new process
This patent is registered with an authority
Patents don’t only apply to physical devices as well
They could apply to user interfaces or simply a new way of encrypting data
The Bigger Picture: Trends, Issues, and Impact

19. The Bigger Picture: Trends, Issues, and Impact
Impacting the Law
Mobile devices (especially smartphones) are quite often at the centre of patent disputes
Originally called the Smartphone Patent Wars
For example, one company may patent a way of unlocking a smartphone device
By the user swiping their thumb horizontally along the screen
Another smartphone manufacturer could make use of this feature, and find themselves in infringement of the original manufacturer’s patent
The Bigger Picture: Trends, Issues, and Impact

20. The Bigger Picture: Trends, Issues, and Impact
Impacting the Law
There is also a huge problem with Copyright at the moment
A Copyright gives the creator of an original piece of work the rights to control how that piece of work is used and distributed
Using said Copyrighted material without strict permission is illegal
However, the World Wide Web makes it very easy to copy images and use them in your own work
Especially when using a search engine to find images that someone would want
The Bigger Picture: Trends, Issues, and Impact

21. The Bigger Picture: Trends, Issues, and Impact
Impacting the Law
When it comes to ethical usage of material online, it is best to look for Creative Commons work
Any work subject to Creative Commons does not have a Copyright
Making it free and available for anyone else to use and change as they see fit
However, most people to subject their work to Creative Commons (or even Copyright it) add a license to it, stating how it can/can’t be used
License
Description
Attribution
Can be copied, modified, displayed, and performed as long as the original creator is credited
Non-commercial
As above, but without the need for accreditation, but cannot be used for commercial reasons
No derivative works
As Attribution, but without the need for accreditation, but cannot be modified
Share-alike
As Attribution, but the modified work must use a similar license
The Bigger Picture: Trends, Issues, and Impact