Ethical Issues questions

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Ethical Issues question collection

Review Ethical Issues questions for Computer Science, with correct answers shown and coverage across privacy and data protection; ownership and copyright; environmental impact.

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Question 1

What does copyright give creators?
  1. Legal control over use of their work
  2. Guaranteed payment whenever their work is used
  3. Ownership of the hardware used to create it
  4. Protection for ideas that have not been recorded

Question 2

What is plagiarism?
  1. Presenting someone else’s work as your own
  2. Quoting someone else’s work with clear attribution
  3. Summarising a source and citing its author
  4. Collaborating when the task permits joint work

Question 3

What does open-source software allow users to do?
  1. Inspect and modify its source code under the licence
  2. Run it without being given access to its source code
  3. Copy it without following any licence conditions
  4. Claim authorship of code written by its contributors

Question 4

What is proprietary software?
  1. Software whose use and source code are controlled by its owner’s licence
  2. Software whose source code is licensed for public modification
  3. Software released without an owner or copyright
  4. Software designed to run on a particular operating system

Question 5

What does the Computer Misuse Act 1990 make illegal?
  1. Unauthorised access to computer systems
  2. Unlicensed copying of protected music
  3. Unfair collection of personal data
  4. Publication of inaccurate statements about someone

Question 6

How must personal data be processed under UK data protection law?
  1. Processed lawfully and fairly
  2. Shared publicly by default
  3. Stored forever regardless of need
  4. Sold without consent

Question 7

What does data minimisation mean?
  1. Collect only data that is necessary
  2. Collect all possible data
  3. Delete all data daily
  4. Store only paper records

Question 8

What does purpose limitation mean for personal data?
  1. Use it only for the stated purpose
  2. Keep it until the device storing it is replaced
  3. Collect as much of it as technology permits
  4. Share it whenever another organisation requests it

Question 9

What can individuals request under data protection rights?
  1. Access to their personal data
  2. The server source code
  3. All company passwords
  4. A permanent admin account

Question 10

What can people request if their personal data is wrong?
  1. Rectification
  2. Decryption
  3. Defragmentation
  4. Virtualisation

Question 11

What does the ICO in the UK do?
  1. Enforces UK data-protection law
  2. Sets the licence terms for commercial software
  3. Investigates every offence under the Computer Misuse Act
  4. Registers the domain name for every UK website

Question 12

What is the digital divide?
  1. Unequal access to and use of digital technology
  2. The difference between analogue and digital data
  3. The boundary between public and private networks
  4. The gap between source code and machine code

Question 13

What is e-waste?
  1. Discarded electronic devices
  2. Electricity used while devices are idle
  3. Data deleted from electronic storage
  4. Packaging discarded after software installation

Question 14

Which resource do data centres use heavily to power servers and cooling?
  1. Electricity
  2. Printer ink
  3. Vehicle fuel
  4. Natural fibres

Question 15

What is a good way to reduce e-waste?
  1. Repair and reuse working devices
  2. Replace working devices whenever a new model appears
  3. Discard broken devices with household rubbish
  4. Leave obsolete devices powered while unused

Question 16

What does explainability let someone affected by an automated decision do?
  1. Understand and challenge the decision
  2. Change the system’s training data without permission
  3. View another user’s personal records
  4. Bypass every rule used by the system

Question 17

What is one privacy concern with smart devices?
  1. Collecting personal data without meaningful consent
  2. Installing security updates automatically
  3. Processing sensor data on the device
  4. Encrypting data while it is transmitted

Question 18

What do strong access controls help organisations to do?
  1. Protect sensitive data
  2. Increase plagiarism
  3. Remove all backups
  4. Bypass authentication

Question 19

How can cloud services use hardware more efficiently?
  1. Share computing resources among many users
  2. Reserve a separate idle server for every user
  3. Duplicate every workload on unused devices
  4. Run every server at full power regardless of demand

Question 20

Which right may let someone have personal data deleted when it is no longer needed?
  1. Right to erasure
  2. Right of access
  3. Right to rectification
  4. Right to data portability

Question 21

Why must accessibility be considered when designing a digital service?
  1. People with disabilities must be able to use it
  2. Every user must use the same input method
  3. Only expert users need to understand the interface
  4. Hardware design covers every accessibility need

Question 22

What is informed consent for data collection?
  1. Users understand and agree before data is collected
  2. Users are told only after data is sold
  3. Users are automatically opted in without notice
  4. Users must share all personal data to use a service

Question 23

What is personal data?
  1. Information that can identify an individual
  2. An anonymised statistic about a group
  3. A device’s processor speed
  4. A public weather forecast

Question 24

Why should an organisation collect only the personal data it needs?
  1. It reduces the data exposed by misuse or a breach
  2. It makes the data anonymous automatically
  3. It removes the need for security controls
  4. It allows the data to be kept indefinitely

Question 25

Which UK law protects original creative work?
  1. Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988
  2. Computer Misuse Act 1990
  3. Data Protection Act 2018
  4. Freedom of Information Act 2000

Question 26

Why can automated decision systems be unfair?
  1. Their training data or rules may contain bias
  2. The system uses encrypted data
  3. The system has a human user
  4. The data is stored in a database

Question 27

What is accessibility in digital design?
  1. Making technology usable by people with different needs
  2. Designing for a single type of user
  3. Removing keyboard navigation
  4. Requiring every user to use the same input method

Question 28

Why should e-waste be recycled separately?
  1. It contains hazardous materials and recoverable resources
  2. It is mainly food waste and compostable fibres
  3. It is mainly paper that can be pulped
  4. It is deleted data that must be encrypted

Question 29

Which is a privacy concern about public facial recognition?
  1. Tracking people without meaningful consent
  2. Biased identification across demographic groups
  3. Unclear reasons for automated matches
  4. Replacing staff who monitor public spaces

Question 30

What does a software licence specify?
  1. How the software may be used and shared
  2. Whether the software will be free of defects
  3. Which hardware will run the software fastest
  4. How long every user will receive technical support

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Review Ethical Issues questions for Computer Science, with correct answers shown and coverage across privacy and data protection; ownership and copyright; environmental impact.

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