Ethics in Computing Quiz

What does GDPR stand for?

• General Data Privacy Regulation

• General Data Protection Regulation

• Global Data Privacy Rights

• General Digital Protection Regulation

Which of the following best describes a "digital footprint"?

• The physical size of a computer's hard drive

• The trail of data left behind by a user's online activity

• The number of devices connected to the internet

• The amount of storage used by digital files

What is the term for a licence that allows users to use, modify, and distribute software freely?

• Proprietary licence

• Commercial licence

• Open-source licence

• Shareware licence

Which of the following is an example of intellectual property rights protection in computing?

• Encrypting a user's password

• Applying copyright to original software code

• Installing a firewall on a network

• Deleting browsing history regularly

A student downloads a free trial of a video editing programme and continues to use it after the trial period has expired without purchasing a licence. Which type of software licensing violation does this represent?

• Open-source misuse

• Piracy through unauthorised copying

• Breach of a shareware licence agreement

• Violation of a Creative Commons licence

A company collects customer data for processing orders but then sells that data to third-party advertisers without informing customers. Under GDPR, which principle has the company most likely violated?

• Data minimisation

• Purpose limitation

• Storage limitation

• Data accuracy

A cybersecurity professional discovers a vulnerability in a widely used banking application. Which of the following actions best reflects ethical behaviour in this situation?

• Exploiting the vulnerability to demonstrate its severity publicly

• Selling the information about the vulnerability to the highest bidder

• Reporting the vulnerability privately to the organisation responsible for the application

• Ignoring the vulnerability as it is not their responsibility

A teenager regularly uses social media, shops online, and plays multiplayer games. Analyse how these activities collectively contribute to their digital footprint and explain which activity is most likely to pose the greatest long-term privacy risk and why.

• Playing multiplayer games, because game usernames can be used to track physical location in real time

• Shopping online, because it generates detailed financial and behavioural data that can be used to build a comprehensive personal profile over time

• Using social media, because profile pictures are stored permanently on servers

• All three activities pose equal risk because they all require an internet connection

A software development company releases a programme under a proprietary licence. A rival company reverse-engineers the software to replicate its core features and releases a competing product. Evaluate the ethical and legal issues involved, and determine which course of action would best protect the original company's intellectual property rights.

• The original company should release their software as open-source to prevent further copying

• The original company should pursue legal action for breach of copyright and trade secret law, as reverse-engineering proprietary software without authorisation violates intellectual property rights

• The rival company has acted legally because they created their own version of the software

• The original company should update their software frequently to make reverse-engineering more difficult, as there are no legal remedies available

A school network administrator notices unusual outbound traffic from a student's account, suggesting the student may have installed unauthorised software that is transmitting data externally. The administrator must balance the ethical responsibility to protect the school network and student data with the student's right to privacy. Evaluate the most appropriate course of action, considering both cybersecurity ethics and data privacy regulations.

• The administrator should immediately publish the student's account activity to warn other students about the risks

• The administrator should ignore the activity to avoid infringing on the student's privacy rights

• The administrator should investigate the suspicious activity within the boundaries of the school's acceptable use policy, document findings, and report to the appropriate authority whilst ensuring the student's personal data is handled in accordance with GDPR

• The administrator should delete the student's account immediately without any investigation to eliminate the security threat