Legal and Ethical Concerns: Study Guide (Computer Science Principles 5.5)

Who owns what is made on a computer?

When you write a story, draw a picture, record a song or write a program, you create something that belongs to you. Material created on a computer is the intellectual property of its creator, or of an organisation the creator works for. Intellectual property is a kind of ownership of ideas and creations, protected by law in most countries (laws differ).

Digital technology has made this harder to manage. The ease of access to and distribution of digitised information raises intellectual-property concerns about ownership, value and use. A song can be copied perfectly and sent around the world in seconds, at no cost to the copier, but at a possible cost to the creator. So measures should be taken to safeguard intellectual property, such as licences, technical protections and clear rules of use.

Plagiarism and citation

Plagiarism is using material created by someone else without permission and presenting it as your own. It may have legal consequences as well as consequences in school and work. Two separate ideas are involved:

• Permission: do you have the right to use the material?
• Credit: have you told people where it came from?

Even when permission is given, material created by someone other than you should always be cited. Citing means naming the creator and where the material can be found. For code, an acknowledgement in the documentation does this (Topic 1.3).

Legal ways to use other people’s work

Creators often want their work shared and reused, so there are legal routes to doing it:

Route	What it is	Typical condition
Creative Commons	A public copyright licence that lets the creator allow others to share, use and build on a work that would otherwise be fully protected	Conditions are stated by the licence, such as crediting the creator or not using the work commercially; read which apply
Open source	Programs made freely available that may be redistributed and modified	The licence may require, for example, that modified versions are shared under the same terms
Open access	Online research output free of any and all restrictions on access, and free of many restrictions on use, such as copyright or licence restrictions	Credit the authors; check any remaining terms
Permission	Asking the owner	Follow whatever the owner agrees

Creative Commons, open source and open access have enabled broad access to digital information. They work because the creator chose to share and set the terms; the user must follow those terms.

Legal and ethical concerns of computing innovations

Beyond ownership, computing raises wider concerns. The word legal refers to what the law requires or forbids; ethical refers to what is right or fair, which may go beyond the law. Something can be legal but still raise ethical questions.

• Harm to individuals or groups. Using computing to harm people, for example by harassment or by spreading false information about them, raises legal and ethical concerns.
• Computing in social and political issues. Computing can play a role in social and political issues, which often raises legal and ethical concerns. Here the course asks you to analyse concerns in a neutral way, not to take sides.
• The digital divide raises ethical concerns about fairness in access (Topic 5.2).
• Examples of innovations that raise concerns: software that gives access to digital media downloads and streaming (ownership, payment for creators), algorithms that include bias (Topic 5.3), and devices that collect and analyse data by continuously monitoring activities (privacy; Topic 5.6).

A balanced method for a scenario

1. Identify the innovation and what it does.
2. List stakeholders: who is affected (users, non-users, creators, companies, communities)?
3. Benefits for each stakeholder.
4. Harms or risks for each stakeholder.
5. Legal and ethical questions: ownership, permission, privacy, fairness, safety.
6. Safeguards or alternatives that keep the benefit and reduce the harm.

Worked example 1: using materials in a project

Scenario. A student, Imran, is making a website about local history. He wants to use four things. (1) A photograph on a photo-sharing site whose page says it is released under a Creative Commons licence that allows reuse if the photographer is credited. (2) A current pop song, fully protected, as background music. (3) An open-source code library that lets him add an image slideshow, released under a licence that allows reuse and modification. (4) A history article from an open-access journal, whose licence allows copying with credit.

Task. For each item, say whether it can be used and what he must do.

Item	Can he use it?	What he must do
(1) Creative Commons photo	Yes, within the licence	Credit the photographer as the licence requires; check there is no condition he cannot meet (for example, a ban on commercial use if his site shows adverts)
(2) Protected pop song	Not without permission	Ask the owner for permission, or choose music released under a licence that allows reuse, or make his own
(3) Open-source library	Yes	Follow the licence (for example, keep the copyright notice) and acknowledge the library in his code documentation
(4) Open-access article	Yes, within its terms	Quote or copy only as the licence allows, and cite the authors

Check. Each row answers the two questions: permission and credit. Presenting item (2) as his own, or using it without permission, would be the risk. Notice that “free to look at” is not the same as “free to reuse”: the song may be free to stream but not free to copy into a website.

Worked example 2: a classroom monitoring device

Scenario. A fictional company sells “FocusBand”, a wristband that measures students’ movement and heart rate during lessons and reports a “focus score” to teachers. Some schools say it helps them support students who are struggling. Some parents worry about what the data are used for.

Task. Analyse the legal and ethical concerns in a balanced way.

Step 1: identify. A device that continuously collects personal data about students and analyses them.

Step 2: stakeholders. Students, parents, teachers, the school, the company.

Step 3: benefits. Teachers may spot students who need help earlier; students may get support; schools may adjust lesson timing.

Step 4: harms and risks. Students’ body data are sensitive personal information. The score might be inaccurate or biased (for example, for students with a medical condition or who fidget differently), and wrong scores could label a student unfairly. Data might be kept, shared or sold beyond the school’s purpose. Students may feel watched.

Step 5: legal and ethical questions. Who owns the data? Did students and parents agree, and could they refuse? How long are the data kept? Does the score treat all students fairly? Laws about children’s data differ between countries, so the school would need to check the rules where it is.

Step 6: safeguards or alternatives. Collect only what is needed, tell families clearly what is collected and why, let families opt out without penalty, delete data after a set time, check accuracy for different groups, and keep teachers’ judgement in charge.

Check. The answer gives benefits and harms for several stakeholders, separates legal from ethical questions and ends with practical safeguards. It does not say whether such devices are good or bad overall.

Wording to watch for in questions

Questions on this topic use a few standard stems. “Explain why this raises an ethical concern” wants a stakeholder, a possible harm and a reason it is unfair or risky. “Describe a legal way to use the work” wants a named route (a licence, permission, open source or open access) and the condition that goes with it, usually credit. “Identify the intellectual-property concern” wants a statement about ownership, value or use of digital material, such as copies being made easily. “Justify a safeguard” wants a specific measure and the harm it reduces.

In each case use the scenario’s own details, avoid taking a side on a political question, and where laws might differ between places, say that the legal position depends on the country. That is not a way of avoiding the question; it is an accurate statement that the course expects you to understand concepts, not to give legal rulings.

Common misconceptions

• “If it is on the Internet, it is free to use.” Material online is usually protected unless a licence or permission says otherwise.
• “If I change a few words, it is no longer plagiarism.” Presenting someone else’s work as your own, even modified, without credit is still plagiarism.
• “Credit means I do not need permission.” Credit and permission are separate.
• “Open source means no rules.” Open-source licences set terms.
• “Legal means ethical.” Something can be allowed by law and still raise ethical concerns.
• “Creative Commons means anything goes.” Each licence has conditions.
• “I do not need to cite free material.” Material created by others should always be cited.

Where this leads

This topic links ownership and fairness with bias (5.3) and privacy (5.6). Citing and acknowledging also matter for the Create performance task you complete in class: follow your teacher’s current instructions on sources and collaboration. Practise with the practice questions, recap with the revision notes, and check your skills on the checklist.