Cambridge A Level Computer Science (9618): Ethics and Ownership – Revision Notes

Topic 7 Ethics and Ownership covers why computing professionals must act ethically, why copyright law is needed, how the main software licence types differ, and the applications and impact of artificial intelligence. Cambridge International AS & A Level Computer Science 9618 tests it in Paper 1 with written answers applied to a scenario, so marks come from precise terms and points tied to the situation described, not from general opinion.

Related: Ethics and Ownership study guide · Ethics and Ownership practice questions · Computer Science course hub

Syllabus coverage

Section	Candidates should be able to
7.1	Show understanding of the need for and purpose of ethics as a computing professional, including the importance of joining a professional ethical body such as BCS (British Computer Society) or IEEE (Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers)
7.1	Show understanding of the need to act ethically and the impact of acting ethically or unethically in a given situation
7.1	Show understanding of the need for copyright legislation
7.1	Show understanding of the different types of software licensing (Free Software Foundation, Open Source Initiative, shareware, commercial) and justify the use of a licence for a given situation
7.1	Show understanding of Artificial Intelligence (AI): its impact (social, economic and environmental) and its applications

The detailed AI techniques (graphs, A*, Dijkstra, neural networks, machine learning) are A Level content in Topic 18.

Key definitions

Term	Definition
Ethics	Moral principles that govern how a person or group behaves
Professional ethical body	An organisation (e.g. BCS, IEEE) that sets a code of conduct its members agree to follow
Code of conduct	A published set of standards of professional behaviour
Copyright	The legal right of the creator of an original work to control its copying, distribution and adaptation
Software licence	A legal agreement setting out how software may be used, copied and distributed
Plagiarism	Presenting someone else’s work as your own
Artificial intelligence	Machines or software carrying out tasks that would normally need human intelligence, such as recognising speech or making decisions

Why do computing professionals need ethics?

• Computer systems affect the safety, money and privacy of large numbers of people, and professionals often know more than their clients or users, so the public must be able to trust them.
• The law often lags behind technology; many harmful actions are not illegal.
• A code of conduct gives a professional a standard to point to when refusing an unethical instruction from an employer.

Why join BCS or IEEE? Membership shows employers and clients that you have agreed to a published code of ethics and to keep your knowledge up to date. The body provides guidance, training and recognition (qualifications or chartered status), and can discipline members who break its code. The BCS Code of Conduct is organised under four headings: public interest; professional competence and integrity; duty to relevant authority (the employer or client); duty to the profession. Typical themes across both bodies:

Theme	What it means in practice
Public interest	Put public health, safety, privacy and the environment first
Competence	Only take on work you are competent to do; keep skills up to date
Honesty and integrity	Do not make false claims about a system; report faults; avoid conflicts of interest and bribery
Duty to employer/client	Work in the client’s interest, keep confidential information confidential
Duty to the profession	Uphold its reputation, support colleagues, do not take credit for others’ work

What is the impact of acting ethically or unethically?

Use a three-step answer: what was done → who is affected → consequence.

Acting ethically	Acting unethically
Users can trust the product and the company	Users can be harmed (e.g. unsafe software, stolen data)
Company reputation and sales are protected	Company may face lawsuits, fines and loss of customers
Employee keeps professional standing	Employee may be dismissed or expelled from the professional body
Problems are fixed before release	Problems found later cost more to fix and may cause harm

Why is copyright legislation needed?

• It protects the creator’s work (code, documentation, images, music, video) from being copied, sold or adapted without permission.
• It lets creators earn money from their work, so it encourages people and companies to invest in developing software.
• It gives a legal remedy against piracy (illegal copying and distribution of software).
• Copyright protects the expression (the actual code), not the underlying idea.

How do the software licence types compare?

Licence	Cost	Source code	Copying / modifying	Suits
Free Software Foundation (free software, e.g. GPL)	May be free or sold	Must be available	Users may run, study, change and redistribute; changed versions must be released under the same terms	Developers who want everyone to keep the freedom to change the code
Open Source Initiative (open source)	Usually free	Available	Can be modified and redistributed under the terms of an OSI-approved licence, some of which allow use in closed products	Community development, peer review, businesses wanting to adapt code
Shareware	Free for a trial period or with limited features, then paid	Not available	Copying of the trial version is allowed for evaluation; the code cannot be modified	Trying software before buying
Commercial	Paid (one-off or subscription)	Not available	Copying and modification not allowed; use limited to the licence terms (e.g. number of users)	Software with support and guaranteed updates

“Free” in Free Software Foundation means freedom, not zero price. November 2024 Paper 1 questions tested software licences.

What are the applications and impact of AI?

Applications (examples to use): medical diagnosis from scans; autonomous vehicles; voice assistants and speech recognition; facial recognition; fraud detection in banking; recommendation systems in online shops and streaming; robots in manufacturing; chatbots for customer service.

Impact	Positive	Negative
Social	Faster diagnosis; help for people with disabilities; safer driving if reliable	Bias in decisions learned from biased data; loss of privacy and increased surveillance; unclear responsibility when an AI makes a wrong decision
Economic	Higher productivity; new jobs in AI development and maintenance; 24-hour service	Loss of some jobs, especially routine ones; high development cost; benefits may go to a few large companies
Environmental	Optimising energy use, traffic flow and farming to reduce waste	Large amounts of electricity (and cooling water) used to train and run AI models in data centres; electronic waste from hardware

Worked example: justifying a licence

A charity has written an app for volunteers and wants other charities to be able to improve it, while making sure no company can turn it into a closed paid product.

Choose a Free Software Foundation licence (such as the GPL): the source code is available so other charities can study and improve the app, and any modified version must be distributed with the same freedoms, so it cannot be made closed. A commercial licence would stop others changing it, and shareware hides the code.

Common mistakes and exam traps

• Writing “it is illegal” when the question asks whether something is ethical; ethics and law are different.
• Treating free software as meaning “costs nothing”.
• Saying copyright protects an idea or algorithm itself.
• Listing code-of-conduct themes without applying them to the scenario’s people and facts.
• Giving AI impacts that are all social; a question asking for social, economic and environmental impact needs one of each.
• Repeating the example given in the question stem; examiners in June 2024 and June 2025 noted that it earns no credit.

Frequently asked questions

Do I need to quote the BCS or IEEE code word for word? No. Know the main themes (public interest, competence, integrity, duty to employer and profession) and apply them.

What is the difference between free software and open source? Both give access to the source code. The Free Software Foundation stresses users’ freedoms and its licences require changed versions to stay free; the Open Source Initiative stresses practical benefits and approves a range of licences, some of which allow the code to be used in closed products.

Is shareware the same as freeware? No. Shareware is free only for a trial or with limited features and must then be paid for.

Official syllabus

Cambridge International AS & A Level Computer Science 9618, syllabus for 2026 and syllabus for 2027, 2028 and 2029, Topic 7 Ethics and Ownership (7.1). Examiner comments are from Cambridge’s Principal Examiner Reports, summarised on our 9618 past papers page.