BIG IDEA #5: IMPACT OF COMPUTING

Big Idea #5: Impact of Computing

Beneficial and Harmful Effects

Think about the activities that make up day-to-day life: going to school, shopping, working, eating, and so on. Increasingly, computing innovations have come to play a role in more and more of these activities. As new innovations come out, people will change how they go about their day-to-day business to take advantage of the new technology. For example, companies like Amazon and Instacart have changed the way many people shop. Instead of going to a physical store, people can now buy their groceries, clothing, and other consumer goods online.

Beneficial and Harmful Effects

Computing innovations have fostered progress and creativity in many ways.

• Machines have vastly improved the medical field, saving countless lives.

• Engineers take advantage of computing innovations to collect data and design products.

• Communications have especially flourished; today, we can communicate instantaneously with people anywhere around the world.

• The artistic world has also benefited from new ways to create, share, and sell creative works.

Beneficial and Harmful Effects

Here are some more harmful effects of computing innovations:

• Loss of privacy, and the use of private information gathered by companies

• Replacement of humans by computing innovations, leading to the loss of previously existing jobs and economic hardship for the now-unemployed workers

• Dependence on technology

• Negative health consequence

Beneficial and Harmful Effects

Vocabulary

World Wide Web

Targeted Advertising

Machine Learning

Data Mining

Multiple Choice

MeeReader is an e-reading application that allows users to download and read books and articles on a device. Each user creates a profile with the following personal preferences.

·       Screen brightness and contrast

·       Choice of typeface and font size

·       Amount of spacing between lines of text

·       Activation of a text-to-speech feature that reads the text out loud

When the user launches the application, the application scans the user’s face and uses facial recognition software to determine the user’s identity. Once the user has been identified, the user’s personal preferences are applied to whatever book or article the user chooses to read.

The application stores all user information in a database, including personal preferences and a record of previously read books and articles.

Which of the following is most likely to be a beneficial effect of using MeeReader?

 

• Users may have a reduced risk of the application being used in unintended ways.

• Users may have a reduced risk of their biometric data being misused.

• Users with limited Internet access may be able to more easily obtain books and articles.

• Users with visual impairments may be able to more easily read or listen to books and articles.

Multiple Choice

MeeReader is an e-reading application that allows users to download and read books and articles on a device. Each user creates a profile with the following personal preferences.

·       Screen brightness and contrast

·       Choice of typeface and font size

·       Amount of spacing between lines of text

·       Activation of a text-to-speech feature that reads the text out loud

When the user launches the application, the application scans the user’s face and uses facial recognition software to determine the user’s identity. Once the user has been identified, the user’s personal preferences are applied to whatever book or article the user chooses to read.

The application stores all user information in a database, including personal preferences and a record of previously read books and articles.

From the perspective of the application’s developers, which of the following is most likely to be a benefit of storing all user data in a database?

 

• The developers can analyze the data to make improvements to the application based on user behavior.

• The developers can analyze the data to ensure that no patterns emerge in the data.

• The developers can reduce the amount of data storage required to support the application.

• The developers can reduce the need for data encryption.

Multiple Choice

A software development company has created an application called FileCleanUp. When the application is run on a user device, it searches for all files (including pictures, videos, and documents) that have not been accessed in the past month, stores them on the company’s Web server, and deletes them from the user device. The application runs once each day. Users have the ability to manually retrieve files from the server if they are needed.

Which of the following is most likely to be a harmful effect of using FileCleanUp?

• It prevents users from accessing frequently used files when there is no Internet connectivity.

• It prevents users from accessing infrequently used files when there is no Internet connectivity.

• It prevents users from accessing frequently used files when there is reliable Internet connectivity.

• It prevents users from accessing infrequently used files when there is reliable Internet connectivity.

Digital Divide

The digital divide refers to the gaps between those who have access to technology and the internet and those who don't.

• differences in internet access

  • socioeconomic

  • geographic

  • demographic

• impact of the digital divide on groups and individuals

Digital Divide

• issues the existence of the digital divide raises

  • equity

  • access

  • influence

  • global/regional disparity

• ways the digital divide can be impacted

  • to decrease it

  • and actions that might increase it

Digital Divide

Vocabulary

Digital Divide

Internet Access

Multiple Choice

Which of the following actions is most likely to help reduce the digital divide?

• Adding a requirement that all users of a popular social media site link their accounts with a phone number.

• Deploying satellites and other infrastructure to provide inexpensive Internet access to remote areas of Earth

• Digitizing millions of books from university libraries, making their full text available online

• Offering improved Internet connections to Internet users who are willing to pay a premium fee for more bandwidth

Multiple Choice

Which of the following actions is most likely to be effective in reducing the digital divide at a local level?

• Creating an application that offers coupons and discounts for local businesses

• Offering a discount to utility customers who pay their bills online instead of by mail

• Providing free community access to computers at schools, libraries, and community centers

• Requiring applicants for local government jobs to complete an online application

Multiple Choice

Which of the following is LEAST likely to be a contributing factor to the digital divide?

• Some individuals and groups are economically disadvantaged and cannot afford computing devices or Internet connectivity.

• Some individuals and groups do not have the necessary experience or education to use computing devices or the Internet effectively.

• Some parents prefer to limit the amount of time their children spend using computing devices or the Internet.

• Some residents in remote regions of the world do not have access to the infrastructure necessary to support reliable Internet connectivity.

Computing Bias

As we've discussed throughout these guides, computing innovations can reflect existing biases.

Biases are tendencies or inclinations, especially those that are unfair or prejudicial. Everyone has their own biases, but certain biases, especially those based on someone's identity, can be actively harmful to society.

Biases exist in the world and in individuals. Computing innovations use data from the world around them, data that people pick out to feed to the computing innovation to use. Therefore, computing innovations can reflect those existing biases.

Computing Bias

• Criminal risk assessment tools are used to determine the chances that a defendant will re-offend, or commit another crime. This information is then used to influence decisions across the judicial process.

  • However, these algorithms are trained to pick out patterns and make decisions based on historical data, and historical data is historically biased against certain races and classes. As a result, risk assessment tools may disproportionally flag people from certain groups as risks.

Computing Bias

• Facial recognition systems are often trained on data sets that contain fewer images of women and minorities than white men. Algorithms might be biased by exclusion because they're trained on sets of data that aren't as diverse as they need to be.

• Recruiting algorithms used by companies to help them sort through large quantities of applicants can be biased against certain races or genders. For example, if successful candidates for a position tend to be men because historically only men have applied, an recruting algorithm might teach itself that male candidates are preferred over female ones.

Prevention

• Use diverse and representative data sets: Using data sets that are diverse and representative of the overall population can help to reduce bias in machine learning models (such as our facial recognition program above).

• Review algorithms for potential biases: Carefully reviewing algorithms for potential biases, and testing them on diverse data sets, can help to identify and mitigate any biases that may be present.

Prevention

• Incorporate fairness metrics: Using fairness metrics, such as demographic parity or equal opportunity, can help to ensure that machine learning models do not produce discriminatory outcomes.

• Address human bias: It is important to be aware of the potential for human bias in the development and use of technical systems, and to actively seek out and address potential sources of bias.

• Increase diversity in the tech industry: Increasing diversity in the tech industry can help to bring a wider range of perspectives and experiences to the development of technical systems, reducing the potential for bias.

Multiple Choice

The developers of a music-streaming application are updating the algorithm they use to recommend music to listeners. Which of the following strategies is LEAST likely to introduce bias into the application?

• Making recommendations based on listening data gathered from a random sample of users of the application

• Making recommendations based on the most frequently played songs on a local radio station

• Making recommendations based on the music tastes of the developers of the application

• Making recommendations based on a survey that is sent out to the 1,000 most active users of the application

Multiple Choice

A mobile game tracks players’ locations using GPS. The game offers special in-game items to players when they visit real-world points of interest. Which of the following best explains how bias could occur in the game?

• Points of interest may be more densely located in cities, favoring players in urban areas over players in rural areas.

• Some players may engage in trespassing, favoring players in urban areas over players in rural areas.

• Special items may not be useful to all players, favoring players in urban areas over players in rural areas.

• Weather conditions may be unpredictable, favoring players in urban areas over players in rural areas.

Multiple Choice

A software company is designing a mobile game system that should be able to recognize the faces of people who are playing the game and automatically load their profiles. Which of the following actions is most likely to reduce the possibility of bias in the system?

• Testing the system with members of the software company’s staff

• Testing the system with people of different ages, genders, and ethnicities

• Testing the system to make sure that the rules of the game are clearly explained

• Testing the system to make sure that players cannot create multiple profiles

Crowdsourcing

The rise of the internet has led to a rise in the amount of data and human capital available to researchers.

This free flow of data and information makes identifying and solving problems easier, and more people have access to the solution once it's found.

• Think about all the problems you've been able to solve with a quick Google Search, where before you'd have to consult a manual or a professional.

• Today, the findings of scientific research are available in online journals or news articles that can be accessed all around the world, whereas before you'd have to get a physical copy or hear through word of mouth.

The internet can foster a spirit of collaboration, on a good day. Science has benefitted from this collaborative spirit. Two examples are citizen science and crowdsourcing.

Citizen Science

the practice of getting a large amount of input or information from people on the Internet. Citizen science is an example of crowdsourcing, but crowdsourcing can also take other forms.

Crowdsourcing

-scientific research that the general population helps to conduct. Ordinary citizens, often non-scientists, help contribute data to research projects using computing devices.

Citizen Science

Multiple Choice

Which of the following activities is most likely to be successful as a citizen science project?

• Collecting pictures of plants from around the world that can be analyzed to look for regional differences in plant growth.

• Designing and building a robot to help with tasks in a medical laboratory.

• Sorting scientific records and removing duplicate entries in a database with a large number of entries.

• Using a simulation to predict the impact of a construction project on local animal populations.

Multiple Choice

Which of the following applications is most likely to benefit from the use of crowdsourcing?

• An application that allows users to convert measurement units (e.g., inches to centimeters, ounces to liters)

• An application that allows users to purchase tickets for a local museum

• An application that allows users to compress the pictures on their devices to optimize storage space

• An application that allows users to view descriptions and photographs of local landmarks

Multiple Choice

A mobile application is used to display local traffic conditions. Which of the following features of the application best exemplifies the use of crowdsourcing?

• Users can save an address to be used at a later time.

• Users can turn on alerts to be notified about traffic accidents.

• Users can submit updates on local traffic conditions in real time.

• Users can use the application to avoid heavily congested areas.

Legal and Ethical Concerns

The Internet gives people easy, quick, and free access to both a lot of other people and a lot of content. Computing innovations are also notorious for being used far beyond their intended purposes. If not handled well, these two facts could spell a recipe for disaster.

The widespread development and use of computing innovations raises many different types of legal and ethical concerns. One of the areas where concerns are raised is in the field of intellectual property and copyright law.

Intellectual Property

Intellectual Property is defined by the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) as "creations of the mind, such as inventions; literary and artistic works; designs; and symbols, names, and images used in commerce."

In the digital age, challenges to intellectual property rights are more powerful than ever before. This is because it's very easy to access and distribute intellectual property found on the internet. Oftentimes, making a copy of a digital picture or book only takes a few button clicks. Because it's so easy to make copies, content creators often find it very, very difficult to control access to their works.

Copyright

Copyright is the legal right that the creator of a work has to it. The WIPO defines two types of rights under copyright:

1. Economic Rights: rights to financial benefits from the use of the work

2. Moral Rights: rights that aren't financial, but are still important. For example, the right to claim authorship or the right to prevent harmful changes.

Plagiarism

When you take the content of someone else and claim it as your own. The most common type of plagiarism students hear about is the plagiarism of written ideas and/or phrases. It's possible to accidentally plagiarise by simply forgetting to cite the original source of an idea or phrase.

Legal Ways to use others property

• Creative Commons is a public copyright license that a creator uses when they want to give others the right to use their work. Many Wikipedia images, for example, fall under a Creative Commons license.

• Fair Use is an exception to copyright law that allows the use of copyrighted material without permission for limited purposes, such as educational or news-reporting. It can be very difficult to determine what is and isn't Fair Use, so don't use it as a cure-all!

Open sourcing vs Open Access

• Open sourcing, allows for work to be freely shared, distributed, and modified. Open sourcing is usually mentioned in the context of software.

• Open access, on the other hand, refers to research available to the general public that's free of many restrictions. For example, some academic journals are open-access or have open-access sections. Works that are under the umbrella of open access are often free of copyright use restrictions, but it's important to verify that this is the case with each work.

Multiple Choice

Which of the following actions is most likely to raise legal or ethical concerns?

• An analyst writes a program that scans through a database of open-access scientific journals and creates a document with links to articles written on a particular topic.

• A computer scientist adds several features to an open-source software program that was designed by another individual.

• A musician creates a song using samples of a copyrighted work and then uses a Creative Commons license to publish the song.

• A public interest group alerts people to a scam that involves charging them for a program that is available for free under a Creative Commons license.

Multiple Choice

A researcher wants to publish the results of a study in an open access journal. Which of the following is a direct benefit of publishing the results in this type of publication?

• The researcher can allow the results to be easily obtained by other researchers and members of the general public.

• The researcher can better anticipate the effect of the results and ensure that they are used responsibly.

• The researcher can ensure that any personal information contained in the journal is kept private and secure.

• The researcher can prevent copies of the research from being accessed by academic rivals.

Multiple Choice

A programmer created a piece of software and wants to publish it using a Creative Commons license. Which of the following is a direct benefit of publishing the software with this type of license?

• The programmer can ensure that the algorithms used in the software are free from bias.

• The programmer can ensure that the source code for the software is backed up for archival purposes.

• The programmer can include code that was written by other people in the software without needing to obtain permission.

• The programmer can specify the ways that other people are legally allowed to use and distribute the software.

Safe Computing

• Computers and computer systems often store the personal data of their users. Other information, such as your location, cookies, and browsing history, can also be used to identify your personal data.

  • Search engines can track your search history and use it to suggest websites and search phrases. They can also show you ads based on your search history, a part of a process known as targeted marketing.

Safe Computing

• Devices, websites, and networks can collect information about a user's location, such as recording the IP address of the devices they use.

• Besides a specific spot on the map, certain programs can also record all the locations you've been to, how you got there, and how long you were there.

A key tenet of safe computing is protecting your personally identifiable information, or (PII).

information could be exploited

Harm

Enhances experience

Benefits

Safe Computing

information could be exploited

Harmful

Enhances experience

Benefits

Safe Computing

Principles of Safe Computing

Authentication

• Strong passwords

• Multifactor Authentication - Knowledge, possession, inheritance

Encryption

• Symmetric key encryption uses one key for both encrypting and decrypting code.

• Public key encryption uses a public key to encrypt but a private key to decrypt the message.

Multiple Choice

StreamPal is an audio-streaming application for mobile devices that allows users to listen to streaming music and connect with other users who have similar taste in music. After downloading the application, each user creates a username, personal profile, and contact list of friends who also use the application.

The application uses the device’s GPS unit to track a user’s location. Each time a user listens to a song, the user can give it a rating from 0 to 5 stars. The user can access the following features for each song that the user has rated.

·       A list of users on the contact list who have given the song the same rating, with links to those users’ profiles

·       A map showing all other users in the area who have given the song the same rating, with links to those users’ profiles

A basic StreamPal account is free, but it displays advertisements that are based on data collected by the application. For example, if a user listens to a particular artist, the application may display an advertisement for concert tickets the next time the artist comes to the user’s city. Users have the ability to pay a monthly fee for a premium account, which removes advertisements from the application.

Which of the following is most likely to be a data privacy concern for StreamPal users?

• Users of the application are required to rate songs in order to enable all of the application’s features.

• Users of the application may have the ability to determine information about the locations of users that are not on their contact list.

• Users of the application may not be able to use the application if they are located in an area with a poor Internet connection.

• Users of the application may not have similar music taste to any other users on their contact list.

Multiple Choice

StreamPal is an audio-streaming application for mobile devices that allows users to listen to streaming music and connect with other users who have similar taste in music. After downloading the application, each user creates a username, personal profile, and contact list of friends who also use the application.

The application uses the device’s GPS unit to track a user’s location. Each time a user listens to a song, the user can give it a rating from 0 to 5 stars. The user can access the following features for each song that the user has rated.

·       A list of users on the contact list who have given the song the same rating, with links to those users’ profiles

·       A map showing all other users in the area who have given the song the same rating, with links to those users’ profiles

A basic StreamPal account is free, but it displays advertisements that are based on data collected by the application. For example, if a user listens to a particular artist, the application may display an advertisement for concert tickets the next time the artist comes to the user’s city. Users have the ability to pay a monthly fee for a premium account, which removes advertisements from the application.

Which of the following is most likely to be a data privacy concern for StreamPal users?

• Users of the basic version of StreamPal are more likely to give songs higher ratings than are users of the premium version of StreamPal.

• Users of the basic version of StreamPal indirectly support StreamPal by allowing themselves to receive advertisements.

• Users of the basic version of StreamPal spend more on monthly fees than do users of the premium version of StreamPal.

• Users of the basic version of StreamPal use less data storage space on their devices than do users of the premium version of StreamPal.

Multiple Choice

A user unintentionally installs keylogging software on a computer. Which of the following is an example of how the keylogging software can be used by an unauthorized individual to gain access to computing resources?

• The software gives an unauthorized individual remote access to the computer, allowing the individual to search the computer for personal information.

• The software installs a virus on the computer and prompts the user to make a payment to the unauthorized individual to remove the virus.

• The software prompts the user to enter personal information to verify the user’s identity. This personal information is recorded and transmitted to an unauthorized individual.

• The software records all user input on the computer. The recorded information is transmitted to an unauthorized individual, who analyzes it to determine the user’s login passwords.

Multiple Choice

An individual receives an e-mail that appears to be from an insurance company. The message offers a low insurance rate, and prompts the recipient to click a link to learn more. Which of the following is most indicative that the e-mail is part of a phishing attempt?

• After clicking the link, a browser cookie is downloaded to the recipient’s computer.

• After clicking the link, a Web page opens that prompts the recipient for personal information.

• After clicking the link, the recipient’s private network becomes publicly visible via a rogue access point.

• After clicking the link, software is installed on the recipient’s computer that records every keystroke made on the computer.

Multiple Choice

An individual receives an e-mail that appears to be from an insurance company. The message offers a low insurance rate, and prompts the recipient to click a link to learn more. Which of the following is most indicative that the e-mail is part of a phishing attempt?

• After clicking the link, a browser cookie is downloaded to the recipient’s computer.

• After clicking the link, a Web page opens that prompts the recipient for personal information.

• After clicking the link, the recipient’s private network becomes publicly visible via a rogue access point.

• After clicking the link, software is installed on the recipient’s computer that records every keystroke made on the computer.

Multiple Choice

Which of the following best exemplifies the use of multifactor authentication?

• A computing device enables users to input information using multiple interfaces, including a keyboard, a mouse, and a touch pad.

• A user employs a public key encryption method that uses one key to encrypt information and a different key to decrypt information.

• A Web site requires a user to enter a password as well as a numeric code received via text message before the user can log in to an account.

• Multiple users share an account to a Web-based software program, and each user has an individual username and password.