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Flashcards · AP® Computer Science Principles · Unit 5

Unit 5: Impact of Computing (IOC) flashcards

35 cards on topics 5.1 to 5.6. Pick a topic or study the whole unit.

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5.1 Beneficial and Harmful Effects

Can an effect of a computing innovation be both beneficial and harmful?
Yes. A single effect can help one person and harm another, or even the same person. A delivery robot saves a shop time but removes a driver's work, so name both groups.
What is an unintended effect?
An effect the creators did not plan. It can be beneficial (advances in other fields) or harmful (to society, the economy or culture). Unintended is not the same as harmful.
What is use beyond the intended purpose?
An innovation used for something its creators did not design it for. Examples are the World Wide Web, targeted advertising, and machine learning with data mining.
Why does scale matter when judging effects?
Rapid sharing or very many users can create impacts beyond the programmer's control, and multiply both benefits and harms.
Can programmers prevent every harm?
No. Responsible programmers try to consider unintended uses, but cannot consider every use. A good answer suggests a specific safeguard linked to a specific harm.

5.2 Digital Divide

What is the digital divide?
Differing access to computing devices and the Internet, based on socioeconomic, geographic or demographic characteristics. It exists between and within countries and affects groups and individuals.
Which parts of access make up the digital divide?
Device, connection, cost, skills and support, and suitability. It is more than having a computer.
What do equity, access and influence mean in this topic?
Equity: fair opportunity, not being disadvantaged by lack of access. Access: reaching services and information. Influence: taking part in decisions and being considered in design.
Who can affect the digital divide?
Individuals, organisations and governments. Their actions can widen or narrow it, locally and globally.
How do you write a good solution to a digital divide problem?
Name the specific barrier, say who benefits and say who is still left out. One solution rarely fixes everything. Library tablets with data plans help families without a device but not those with no signal.
How do you work out the percentage without access?
Number without access ÷ total × 100. In a survey of 80 households with 20 having no Internet, 20 ÷ 80 = 25% have none and 75% have some access.

5.3 Computing Bias

How can computing innovations reflect human bias?
Through biased algorithms or biased data. Biases can be embedded at all levels of software development, even when the code never mentions a group.
What is a proxy in a biased system?
A feature closely linked to a characteristic that can have the same effect as using that characteristic. A rule requiring 5 years in the same job may act as a proxy against people with career breaks.
How do you detect bias in a system's results?
Compute the results for each group and compare. An overall figure can hide a gap: 45 of 50 correct for Group P is 90% and 20 of 40 for Group Q is 50%, yet overall is about 72%.
What is a percentage-point gap?
The difference between two percentages, found by subtracting. 90% − 50% is a gap of 40 percentage points.
Why does collecting more data not remove bias?
More data from the same source repeats its bias. The data must be representative of the groups the system affects.
What are ways to reduce bias?
Use representative data, test across groups, review the rules, include varied perspectives, add human review and monitor after release. A fix should say what data, what test or what rule changes.

5.4 Crowdsourcing

What is crowdsourcing?
Obtaining input or information from a large number of people via the Internet. It is not only fundraising, although it can connect businesses or social causes with funding.
What is citizen science?
Research done in whole or in part by distributed individuals, many not scientists, who contribute data using their own devices.
What challenges do crowdsourced data have?
Data quality, uneven participation (linked to the digital divide and bias), privacy of contributors, fair use and credit.
How can organisers improve the quality of crowdsourced data?
Check and clean the data, and require several independent contributors to agree. A threshold such as at least 3 reports improves quality but can miss events in places few people report.
How do you check coverage of a crowdsourced data set?
Compare each group's share of submissions with its share of the population or area. Share of data ÷ share of population above 1 means over-represented. 15% of reports from 30% of residents is under-represented.

5.5 Legal and Ethical Concerns

What is intellectual property in computing?
Material created on a computer belongs to its creator or an organisation. Easy digital copying raises concerns about ownership, value and use.
What is plagiarism?
Using someone else's material without permission and presenting it as your own. It may have legal consequences. Always cite material created by others, even free material.
What are legal ways to use someone else's work?
With permission, or under a licence such as Creative Commons, open source or open access. Follow the licence conditions and cite the creator.
What is the difference between open source and open access?
Open source applies to programs whose code can be used under a licence. Open access applies to research output made freely available.
What is the difference between legal and ethical?
Legal is what the law requires. Ethical is what is right or fair. They can differ, so something being legal does not make it ethical.
How do you write a balanced answer to an ethical question?
Name the stakeholders, the benefits and harms for each, and a safeguard. Answer with concepts, not legal rulings, because laws differ between countries.

5.6 Safe Computing

What is personally identifiable information (PII)?
Information that identifies, links, relates or describes an individual, such as a Social Security number, age, race, phone number, and medical, financial or biometric data.
Why can data collection be a privacy risk?
Searches, page views and location can be recorded, aggregated data can reveal private information, and information online is hard to delete. Users can review permissions to control what programs collect.
What is multi-factor authentication (MFA)?
Evidence from at least two categories: knowledge (a password), possession (a phone or token) and inherence (a fingerprint). Two passwords are not MFA.
What is the difference between symmetric and public-key encryption?
Symmetric uses one key to encrypt and decrypt. Public key uses a public key to encrypt, which anyone can use, and a private key to decrypt, which only the owner holds.
What are phishing, keylogging and a rogue access point?
Phishing tricks you into revealing information. Keylogging records your keystrokes. A rogue access point is a fake or unauthorised wireless network.
How many possible PINs are there for 4 digits and for 6 digits?
10 to the power of the number of digits: 10,000 for 4 digits and 1,000,000 for 6 digits, which is 100 times as many.
What should you do about a phishing email asking you to confirm your bank login?
Do not click the link. Go to the bank's site by typing its address and report the message. If you already typed the password, change it and use MFA. A virus copies itself; malware is the general term.

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