Unit 5 · Impact of Computing

Beneficial and harmful effects ● (core concept) — A single effect of a computing innovation can be viewed as both beneficial and harmful, by different people or even by the same person. Computing advances have also generated creativity in other fields, such as medicine, engineering, communications, and the arts.

Unintended consequences ● (core concept) — Effects of a computing innovation beyond its creators' original intent, which are not always anticipated in advance. Examples include targeted advertising misused at individual and aggregate levels, and mined data used to discriminate against groups; rapid sharing or large-scale use can magnify impacts beyond the programmer's control.

Responsible programmer ○ — A developer who tries to consider the unintended ways a computing innovation can be used and its potential beneficial and harmful effects, while recognizing that no programmer can consider every possible use.

Digital divide ● (core concept) — Differing access to computing devices and the Internet based on socioeconomic, geographic, or demographic characteristics, or between countries. It affects both groups and individuals, raises issues of equity, access, and influence locally and globally, and is shaped by the actions of individuals, organizations, and governments.

Computing bias ● (core concept) — Bias reflected in computing innovations because of biases written into the algorithms or biases in the data the innovation uses. Bias can be embedded at all levels of software development, so programmers should take action to reduce bias in their algorithms.

Crowdsourcing ● (core concept) — The practice of obtaining input or information from a large number of people via the Internet. It creates new models for collaboration, such as connecting businesses or social causes with funding, and shows how computing can enhance human capabilities.

Citizen science ● (core concept) — Scientific research conducted in whole or part by distributed individuals, many of whom are not scientists, who contribute relevant data to research using their own computing devices. Widespread access to information and public data makes such large-scale problem solving possible.

Intellectual property ● (core concept) — Material created on a computer is the intellectual property of the creator or their organization. The ease of accessing and distributing digitized information raises concerns about ownership, value, and use, so measures should be taken to safeguard it.

Plagiarism ● (core concept) — Using material created by someone else without permission and presenting it as one's own. It may have legal consequences.

Creative Commons ● (core concept) — A public copyright license that enables the free distribution of an otherwise copyrighted work. It is used when the creator wants to give others the right to share, use, and build upon what they created.

Open source ● (core concept) — Programs that are made freely available and may be redistributed and modified.

Open access ● (core concept) — Online research output that is free of restrictions on access and free of many restrictions on use, such as copyright or license restrictions.

Citing sources ● (core concept) — Always crediting the origin or author of material created by someone else when that material is used.

Copyright ○ — The legal right that controls how a creative work may be copied, shared, and used. Licenses such as Creative Commons grant specific permissions within that right.

Personally identifiable information (PII) ● (core concept) — Information about an individual that identifies, links, relates, or describes them. Examples include Social Security numbers, phone numbers, medical information, and biometric data.

Data aggregation ● (core concept) — Combining disparate pieces of personal data, such as geolocation, cookies, and browsing history, to create knowledge about an individual. It shows how scattered data can reveal more than any single piece suggests.

Online data collection ● (core concept) — The routine recording of user data: search engines keep search histories, websites track who viewed their pages, and devices and networks can collect location information. Such data can target marketing or simplify purchases, but information placed online can be forwarded, viewed by unintended audiences, used to stalk or steal identity, and is difficult to delete once posted.

Authentication ● (core concept) — Measures that protect devices and information from unauthorized access. Examples include strong passwords and multifactor authentication.

Strong password ● (core concept) — A secret that is easy for its user to remember but difficult for someone else to guess, even with knowledge of that user.

Multifactor authentication ● (core concept) — Access control in which a user is granted access only after presenting at least two separate pieces of evidence, typically from different categories: knowledge (something they know), possession (something they have), and inherence (something they are). Each step adds a new layer of security that must be broken to gain unauthorized access.

Encryption and decryption ● (core concept) — Encryption is the process of encoding data to prevent unauthorized access; decryption is the process of decoding it. Symmetric-key encryption uses one key for both encryption and decryption, while public-key encryption pairs a public key for encryption with a private key for decryption, so the sender does not need the receiver's private key to send a secure message.

Digital certificate ● (core concept) — A credential issued by a certificate authority that validates the ownership of encryption keys used in secure communications, based on a trust model.

Phishing ● (core concept) — A technique that attempts to trick a user into providing personal information, which can then be used to access sensitive online resources such as bank accounts and emails.

Keylogging ● (core concept) — The use of a program to record every keystroke made by a computer user in order to gain fraudulent access to passwords and other confidential information.

Rogue access point ● (core concept) — A wireless access point that gives unauthorized access to secure networks. It is one way that data sent over public networks can be intercepted, analyzed, and modified.

Computer virus ● (core concept) — A malicious program that can copy itself and gain access to a computer in an unauthorized way, often attaching itself to legitimate programs and running independently on the computer.

Malware ● (core concept) — Software intended to damage a computing system or to take partial control over its operation. Untrustworthy free downloads and unsolicited emails, attachments, links, and forms are common ways malware compromises a system.

Software updates ○ — Regular updates that fix errors or design flaws which could be exploited to compromise a computing system. All real-world systems have flaws that can be exploited, so keeping software current is a basic defense.