GCSE Computer Science, Unit 12, Lesson 1 of 5

Ethics, privacy and culture

About 1 min to read, then 7 practice questions

Questions without one right answer

Technology brings benefits and costs, and different people (stakeholders) feel them differently.

  • Privacy: location tracking, smart speakers, face recognition and monitoring at work collect data people may not want shared.
  • Fairness: an AI trained on biased data repeats the bias. Important decisions should be explainable and open to challenge.
  • Jobs: automation removes some jobs and creates others with different skills.
  • Wellbeing: designs that keep people scrolling or spending; screen time; cyberbullying.
  • Culture and access: the digital divide between people with good access and skills and those without; accessibility features such as screen readers and captions.

Writing a 6-mark discussion

  1. Name the stakeholders and say how each is affected.
  2. Give benefits and drawbacks, each explained with a "because" and linked to the situation.
  3. Bring in the law (data protection, misuse, copyright) and the environment if they apply.
  4. Finish with a judgement that follows from what you wrote.

Marks come from developed points tied to the scenario, not from a long list of one-word ideas.

Practise this: 7 questions, about 4 min

Answering from memory soon after reading is what makes it stick, so now is a good time.

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