Logging in with a friend's password just to look: is it a crime?

The Computer Misuse Act 1990

• The Computer Misuse Act 1990 (CMA) makes hacking a crime in the UK. Unauthorised means without the owner's permission.

• Most countries have similar laws. Learn the ideas; you won't need the UK name.

Laws that protect personal data

• Personal data is any information that identifies a living person: name, address, photo, location, health records.
• In the UK, the Data Protection Act 2018 (DPA) and the UK GDPR control how organisations collect, store and use it. Organisations must follow seven principles:

• Many countries have data protection laws built on similar principles.

Your rights over your data

• The person the data is about is the data subject. The organisation deciding how it is used is the data controller.

• Serious data breaches must be reported to the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) within 72 hours of finding out.

You paid for an app. What exactly did your money buy?

Who owns software?

• Intellectual property (IP): creations of the mind, such as code, music, inventions, brands.
• Copyright protects a creator's work, including code, graphics and sound. It applies automatically and usually lasts the creator's life plus 70 years.
• It protects the work, not the idea.
• Copying or selling a work without permission is illegal.

Software licences

• A software licence is the copyright owner's legal permission to use their software, with rules attached.
• Buying software normally gets you a licence, not the copyright.
• A licence can set: how many devices or users; whether you may copy, change or pass it on; one-off or subscription.
• Why license? Creators earn money and control use; users get clear, legal permission.

Open source or proprietary?

• "Free" doesn't always mean open source: some free programs are proprietary and still hide their code.

Protecting inventions

• A patent protects an invention: a new, inventive way something works, such as a new fingerprint sensor. Others may not copy it without permission.
• You must apply. A UK patent lasts up to 20 years, with yearly fees.
• Copyright is automatic; patents are not.

A free app knows where you were all week. Who agreed to that?

Personal data and privacy

• Personal data identifies you: name, photos, location, browsing history, smartwatch health data.
• Privacy is your right to control who sees information about you.
• Apps collect it through permissions and by tracking what you do.
• Data is valuable for targeting adverts or selling on. "Free" apps are often paid for with your data.

Consent and misuse

• Consent means agreeing to your data being collected and used. Fair consent is informed, freely given and easy to withdraw.
• Tapping "Allow" or accepting the terms is usually treated as consent, read or not.
• Misuse: using data in ways people didn't agree to, such as selling or leaking it.

Issues across new technologies

• Most technologies bring benefits and risks; exam answers should weigh both.

Culture and inclusion

• The digital divide is the gap between people with technology and the skills to use it, and those without. Causes: cost, age, poor broadband, disability.
• Those left out lose access to jobs, learning and online-only services.
• Inclusion: screen readers, captions and voice control help everyone.

Professional standards

• Computing workers control systems and data others rely on, so they must behave ethically.
• A formal code is written and signed up to: an acceptable use policy, or a professional code such as the BCS Code of Conduct.
• An informal code is unwritten: expectations, customs, habits, personal integrity.

Your old phone is in a drawer. Why does that matter to the planet?

The life of a device

• Every device goes through four stages, and each affects the environment.

• Much of the impact happens before you even switch a device on.

Energy consumption

• Devices, routers and servers use electricity, much of it still generated from fossil fuels, releasing carbon dioxide.
• Data centres run nonstop and need cooling. In 2024 they used about 1.5% of the world's electricity (415 TWh), expected to more than double by 2030, partly due to AI.
• To cut it: efficient processors, sleep modes, renewable energy, cool-climate data centres, switching off instead of standby.

E-waste and disposal

• E-waste is thrown-away electrical and electronic equipment. It is growing faster than recycling.
• In landfill, toxic substances such as mercury and lead can leak into soil and water.
• Some is shipped to poorer countries and burned or stripped by hand, harming workers' health.
• Recycling recovers metals: 2022's e-waste held about US$91 billion worth.
• Best first: keep using, repair, reuse, then recycle.

Technology can also help

• Smart meters and smart heating show energy use and cut waste.
• Video calls and remote working reduce travel.
• Sensors and satellites monitor pollution, deforestation and ice loss; computer models forecast weather and climate change.
• Online documents and e-tickets save paper, although the servers behind them still use energy.
• In an exam answer, weigh the harms against these benefits.

Health

• Long hours at a computer can cause repetitive strain injury (RSI) in hands and wrists, eye strain and headaches, and back and neck pain from poor posture.
• Sitting a lot means less exercise; late-night screens can disturb sleep.
• Reduce risks: regular breaks, adjustable chair, screen at eye level, wrist rest.
• Technology also helps health: fitness trackers, online doctor appointments.

Could a test tube of DNA solve a puzzle like a computer?

Why look beyond today's chips?

• For decades, chips got faster by fitting in more, smaller transistors: the number doubled roughly every two years (Moore's law).
• Parts of today's transistors are only tens of atoms across. Shrinking further is hard: chips overheat and current leaks.
• So researchers are exploring new ways to compute (quantum, DNA) and new tiny structures (nanotechnology), while AI changes what computers do.

Quantum computing

• A bit is 0 or 1. A qubit can be in a superposition of 0 and 1 until measured, when it gives one value.
• n qubits can hold all 2ⁿ combinations at once, speeding up some problems.
• Uses: simulating molecules for medicines; factorising huge numbers, which could break today's encryption (the UK wants quantum-safe encryption by 2035).
• Drawbacks: most need cooling near absolute zero; errors are common.

DNA computing

• DNA stores information as four bases: A, C, G, T. DNA computing uses DNA strands to represent data and chemical reactions to process it.
• Trillions of strands react at once: massive parallel processing.
• In 1994 Leonard Adleman used DNA to find a route visiting each of seven points exactly once.

Nanotechnology

• Nanotechnology is controlling matter at about 1 to 100 nanometres (a nanometre is a billionth of a metre).
• At this scale materials behave differently, allowing smaller, faster, more efficient parts.
• Uses: smaller transistors, new chip materials such as graphene and carbon nanotubes, denser storage, and (in research) delivering medicine precisely in the body.
• Concerns: unknown health and environmental effects; high cost.

Artificial intelligence

• Artificial intelligence (AI): computers doing tasks that normally need human intelligence, such as recognising speech and images or making decisions.
• Machine learning, a type of AI, learns patterns from example data instead of following hand-written rules.
• Uses: voice assistants, medical scans, recommendations, self-driving cars.
• Issues: biased training data, lost jobs, unclear responsibility, high energy use.

Big ideas

• Getting into a computer system without permission is a crime, even with no damage; adding intent to commit another crime or to impair the system makes it more serious. (UK example: Computer Misuse Act 1990)
• Organisations must collect only the personal data they need, keep it accurate and secure, use it only for the stated purpose and delete it when no longer needed; people can see and correct their data.
• Copyright protects code, images and music automatically; copying, sharing or selling them without permission is illegal.
• When you buy software you buy a licence: permission to use it on set terms.
• Open source gives you the code to view and change, usually free; proprietary hides the code and is usually paid for, with company support.
• Patents protect inventions and must be applied for.
• Personal data has value; collecting and using it fairly needs informed consent, and using it for anything else is misuse.
• New technologies bring benefits and risks: weigh both, including privacy, safety and who is responsible.
• Professionals follow formal and informal codes of conduct; inclusion means designing technology everyone can use.
• Devices harm the environment at every stage: manufacture, use (energy), the replacement cycle and disposal.
• E-waste is growing faster than recycling; keeping devices longer, repairing and recycling all help.
• Technology affects health too: RSI, eye strain and posture problems can be reduced with breaks and good set-up.
• Shrinking silicon is reaching its limits, so researchers are exploring quantum computing, DNA computing and nanotechnology.
• Quantum computers use qubits in superposition; DNA computers use trillions of molecules working in parallel; both suit only certain problems.
• AI and machine learning learn from data, bringing big benefits and issues such as bias and responsibility.