Fiveable
Fiveable

or

Log in

Find what you need to study


Light

Find what you need to study

5.5 Legal and Ethical Concerns

7 min readmay 11, 2023

Minna Chow

Minna Chow

Minna Chow

Minna Chow

The Internet gives people easy, quick, and free access to both a lot of other people and a lot of content. Computing innovations are also notorious for being used far beyond their intended purposes. If not handled well, these two facts could spell a recipe for disaster.

The widespread development and use of computing innovations raises many different types of legal and ethical concerns. One of the areas where concerns are raised is in the field of and copyright law.

Intellectual Property

is defined by the World Organization (WIPO) as "creations of the mind, such as inventions; literary and artistic works; designs; and symbols, names, and images used in commerce."

Material created on a computer (ex: an image, a piece of digital art, a piece of writing) is the of the creator who made it. Sometimes, creators sign away their rights to their , such as when a work is made for hire. In that case, the organization the creator made a contract with owns the rights.

In the digital age, challenges to rights are more powerful than ever before. This is because it's very easy to access and distribute found on the internet. Oftentimes, making a copy of a digital picture or book only takes a few button clicks. Because it's so easy to make copies, content creators often find it very, very difficult to control access to their works.

Protecting , at its best, helps foster innovation. It makes sure that content creators get credit and/or can financially benefit from their hard work.

One of the ways is protected is through copyright.

Copyright

Copyright is the legal right that the creator of a work has to it. The WIPO defines two types of rights under copyright:

  1. Economic Rights: rights to financial benefits from the use of the work

  2. : rights that aren't financial, but are still important. For example, the right to claim authorship or the right to prevent harmful changes.

Copyright is not a new concept. Copyright laws have been around since the 18th century. However, the digital age has created new challenges to copyright and demands new ways to protect it as well.

🔗 Check out this primer on copyright!

Before you use or repost content from the internet, you have to consider copyright. Just because a piece of art or an image can be easily found on the internet doesn't mean that it's free to use, especially not if you're turning a profit.

Check what the copyright license is on all online content is before you use it. Some pieces of content require permission from the creator before being used. Some pieces aren't allowed to be used for financial purposes. Even if this isn't the case, you should always cite any material you use that you didn't create as good practice.

Using content created by someone else without permission or citation can have consequences, such as a fine or an order to remove copyrighted content.

If you claimed the said content was your own, even unintentionally, you might be found guilty of .

Plagiarism

is when you take the content of someone else and claim it as your own. The most common type of students hear about is the of written ideas and/or phrases. It's possible to accidentally plagiarise by simply forgetting to cite the original source of an idea or phrase.

can have serious consequences, especially in the world of academia. It can get students expelled and see the careers of professors destroyed. Furthermore, there could be legal consequences as well.

It's not difficult in the age of image searches and Turnitin.com to be caught plagiarising or violating copyright. It can also be incredibly disheartening for content creators to see their hard work taken without permission or credit.

Legal Ways to Use The IP of Others

So, what's an aspiring slide-show creator or aesthetic post-maker to do? Fortunately, the internet offers free material for people to use. Furthermore, there are ways to use the IP of others without violating copyright law.

  • Creative Commons is a public copyright license that a creator uses when they want to give others the right to use their work. Many Wikipedia images, for example, fall under a license. provides six levels of licensing that you can read about here!

  • is an exception to copyright law that allows the use of copyrighted material without permission for limited purposes, such as educational or news-reporting. It can be very difficult to determine what is and isn't , so don't use it as a cure-all!

Open sourcing vs. Open access

  • , as briefly discussed in Big Idea 1, allows for work to be freely shared, distributed, and modified. is usually mentioned in the context of software.

  • , on the other hand, refers to research available to the general public that's free of many restrictions. For example, some academic journals are open-access or have open-access sections. Works that are under the umbrella of are often free of copyright use restrictions, but it's important to verify that this is the case with each work.

https://firebasestorage.googleapis.com/v0/b/fiveable-92889.appspot.com/o/images%2F-2cwEv3Jad3kI.jpg?alt=media&token=52f83238-f7a3-46f9-8af1-d914fdab8a2c

Websites like Unsplash and Pixabay offer free and beautiful stock images, many of which were used to help write these guides! Image source: Rubén García on Unsplash.

Systems like , , and allow a great deal of intellectual work to be shared and used widely, thereby lowering intellectual barriers.

Other Legal and Ethical Concerns

There are many other legal and ethical concerns besides those related to copyright and IP. This is because fundamentally, computing innovations have the potential to do harm to people or groups of people.

Here are just a few further examples:

  • Streaming software allows you to watch your favorite movies and TV shows anytime, anywhere. Illegal streaming software, on the other hand, can violate copyright law and deprive creators of much-needed revenue. This software can also spread viruses and bugs. (For more about viruses, check out 5.6 Safe Computing!)

  • Biased algorithms can misrepresent or exclude people, as seen in 5.3 Computing Bias.

  • Some computing innovations use data that comes from the continuous monitoring of user activities. An example would be a step-tracker or screen-time tracker on your phone, which only works because it's constantly recording what you do. This process raises concerns about privacy and personal data use. (For more, check out 5.6 Safe Computing.)

  • The itself also raises ethical concerns, for reasons covered in 5.2 Digital Divide.

Today, computing innovations play a massive role in society and politics. Legal and ethical concerns also arise because this is not always for the better. For example…

  • The internet can be used to spread that could be harmful to people's health and well-being.

  • Algorithms designed to keep people scrolling on social media websites can create , contributing to political polarization.

  • Recently, there's also been debate about the role that internet platforms should play in free speech. How far does and should the principle of free speech go on Social Media platforms?

    • For more information about the right to freedom of expression, go here: The 1st Amendment Note that the does not apply to private businesses, which most Social Media platforms are.

Can you think of any other examples besides the ones mentioned here?

In Summary…

Computing innovations are wonderful things. They’ve fundamentally transformed the way we live and allow us to do some pretty amazing things! However, it's important to remember that behind every computer screen, computing innovation and computing system effect is a person (or a group of people). The power of computing innovations can seriously hurt people if we forget that.

Furthermore, the digital age is still very new. We'll run into further legal and ethical issues the more and more we navigate it. It's up to make sure we're doing our best to be ethical computing innovation users and developers (or future developers.)

🔗 Ethical Use of the Computer: AP Central

Key Terms to Review (12)

AI Art

: AI Art is a form of artistic expression created with artificial intelligence technology. It involves using algorithms and machine learning techniques to generate visual or auditory artworks that mimic human creativity.

Creative Commons

: Creative Commons is a licensing system that allows creators to share their work with specific permissions for others to use, remix, or distribute it. It provides a way for creators to grant certain rights while still retaining some control over their work.

Digital divide

: The digital divide refers to the gap between individuals or communities who have access to and can effectively use digital technologies, such as computers and the internet, and those who do not.

Echo chambers

: Echo chambers refer to online environments or social circles where individuals are exposed only to ideas, opinions, and perspectives that align with their own beliefs, reinforcing their existing views and limiting exposure to diverse viewpoints.

Fair Use

: Fair use is a legal doctrine that allows limited use of copyrighted material without permission from the copyright owner. It provides exceptions to copyright law for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, and research.

First Amendment

: The First Amendment refers to the part of the United States Constitution that guarantees the freedom of speech, religion, press, assembly, and petition. It protects individuals' rights to express themselves and their opinions without government interference.

Intellectual Property

: Intellectual property refers to creations of the mind, such as inventions, artistic works, designs, symbols, and names that are protected by law.

Misinformation

: Misinformation refers to false or inaccurate information that is spread unintentionally or deliberately, often through various media channels.

Moral Rights

: Moral rights refer to the legal rights that creators have over their work, which include the right to be recognized as the author and the right to protect the integrity of their work.

Open Access

: Open access refers to unrestricted online access to scholarly research articles. It allows anyone with internet access to read, download, copy, distribute, print, or use the articles for any lawful purpose without financial, legal, or technical barriers.

Open sourcing

: Open sourcing refers to making source code available to the public so that anyone can view, modify, or distribute it. It promotes collaboration and transparency in software development.

Plagiarism

: Plagiarism is the act of using someone else's words, ideas, or creations without giving them proper credit. It involves presenting someone else's work as your own.

5.5 Legal and Ethical Concerns

7 min readmay 11, 2023

Minna Chow

Minna Chow

Minna Chow

Minna Chow

The Internet gives people easy, quick, and free access to both a lot of other people and a lot of content. Computing innovations are also notorious for being used far beyond their intended purposes. If not handled well, these two facts could spell a recipe for disaster.

The widespread development and use of computing innovations raises many different types of legal and ethical concerns. One of the areas where concerns are raised is in the field of and copyright law.

Intellectual Property

is defined by the World Organization (WIPO) as "creations of the mind, such as inventions; literary and artistic works; designs; and symbols, names, and images used in commerce."

Material created on a computer (ex: an image, a piece of digital art, a piece of writing) is the of the creator who made it. Sometimes, creators sign away their rights to their , such as when a work is made for hire. In that case, the organization the creator made a contract with owns the rights.

In the digital age, challenges to rights are more powerful than ever before. This is because it's very easy to access and distribute found on the internet. Oftentimes, making a copy of a digital picture or book only takes a few button clicks. Because it's so easy to make copies, content creators often find it very, very difficult to control access to their works.

Protecting , at its best, helps foster innovation. It makes sure that content creators get credit and/or can financially benefit from their hard work.

One of the ways is protected is through copyright.

Copyright

Copyright is the legal right that the creator of a work has to it. The WIPO defines two types of rights under copyright:

  1. Economic Rights: rights to financial benefits from the use of the work

  2. : rights that aren't financial, but are still important. For example, the right to claim authorship or the right to prevent harmful changes.

Copyright is not a new concept. Copyright laws have been around since the 18th century. However, the digital age has created new challenges to copyright and demands new ways to protect it as well.

🔗 Check out this primer on copyright!

Before you use or repost content from the internet, you have to consider copyright. Just because a piece of art or an image can be easily found on the internet doesn't mean that it's free to use, especially not if you're turning a profit.

Check what the copyright license is on all online content is before you use it. Some pieces of content require permission from the creator before being used. Some pieces aren't allowed to be used for financial purposes. Even if this isn't the case, you should always cite any material you use that you didn't create as good practice.

Using content created by someone else without permission or citation can have consequences, such as a fine or an order to remove copyrighted content.

If you claimed the said content was your own, even unintentionally, you might be found guilty of .

Plagiarism

is when you take the content of someone else and claim it as your own. The most common type of students hear about is the of written ideas and/or phrases. It's possible to accidentally plagiarise by simply forgetting to cite the original source of an idea or phrase.

can have serious consequences, especially in the world of academia. It can get students expelled and see the careers of professors destroyed. Furthermore, there could be legal consequences as well.

It's not difficult in the age of image searches and Turnitin.com to be caught plagiarising or violating copyright. It can also be incredibly disheartening for content creators to see their hard work taken without permission or credit.

Legal Ways to Use The IP of Others

So, what's an aspiring slide-show creator or aesthetic post-maker to do? Fortunately, the internet offers free material for people to use. Furthermore, there are ways to use the IP of others without violating copyright law.

  • Creative Commons is a public copyright license that a creator uses when they want to give others the right to use their work. Many Wikipedia images, for example, fall under a license. provides six levels of licensing that you can read about here!

  • is an exception to copyright law that allows the use of copyrighted material without permission for limited purposes, such as educational or news-reporting. It can be very difficult to determine what is and isn't , so don't use it as a cure-all!

Open sourcing vs. Open access

  • , as briefly discussed in Big Idea 1, allows for work to be freely shared, distributed, and modified. is usually mentioned in the context of software.

  • , on the other hand, refers to research available to the general public that's free of many restrictions. For example, some academic journals are open-access or have open-access sections. Works that are under the umbrella of are often free of copyright use restrictions, but it's important to verify that this is the case with each work.

https://firebasestorage.googleapis.com/v0/b/fiveable-92889.appspot.com/o/images%2F-2cwEv3Jad3kI.jpg?alt=media&token=52f83238-f7a3-46f9-8af1-d914fdab8a2c

Websites like Unsplash and Pixabay offer free and beautiful stock images, many of which were used to help write these guides! Image source: Rubén García on Unsplash.

Systems like , , and allow a great deal of intellectual work to be shared and used widely, thereby lowering intellectual barriers.

Other Legal and Ethical Concerns

There are many other legal and ethical concerns besides those related to copyright and IP. This is because fundamentally, computing innovations have the potential to do harm to people or groups of people.

Here are just a few further examples:

  • Streaming software allows you to watch your favorite movies and TV shows anytime, anywhere. Illegal streaming software, on the other hand, can violate copyright law and deprive creators of much-needed revenue. This software can also spread viruses and bugs. (For more about viruses, check out 5.6 Safe Computing!)

  • Biased algorithms can misrepresent or exclude people, as seen in 5.3 Computing Bias.

  • Some computing innovations use data that comes from the continuous monitoring of user activities. An example would be a step-tracker or screen-time tracker on your phone, which only works because it's constantly recording what you do. This process raises concerns about privacy and personal data use. (For more, check out 5.6 Safe Computing.)

  • The itself also raises ethical concerns, for reasons covered in 5.2 Digital Divide.

Today, computing innovations play a massive role in society and politics. Legal and ethical concerns also arise because this is not always for the better. For example…

  • The internet can be used to spread that could be harmful to people's health and well-being.

  • Algorithms designed to keep people scrolling on social media websites can create , contributing to political polarization.

  • Recently, there's also been debate about the role that internet platforms should play in free speech. How far does and should the principle of free speech go on Social Media platforms?

    • For more information about the right to freedom of expression, go here: The 1st Amendment Note that the does not apply to private businesses, which most Social Media platforms are.

Can you think of any other examples besides the ones mentioned here?

In Summary…

Computing innovations are wonderful things. They’ve fundamentally transformed the way we live and allow us to do some pretty amazing things! However, it's important to remember that behind every computer screen, computing innovation and computing system effect is a person (or a group of people). The power of computing innovations can seriously hurt people if we forget that.

Furthermore, the digital age is still very new. We'll run into further legal and ethical issues the more and more we navigate it. It's up to make sure we're doing our best to be ethical computing innovation users and developers (or future developers.)

🔗 Ethical Use of the Computer: AP Central

Key Terms to Review (12)

AI Art

: AI Art is a form of artistic expression created with artificial intelligence technology. It involves using algorithms and machine learning techniques to generate visual or auditory artworks that mimic human creativity.

Creative Commons

: Creative Commons is a licensing system that allows creators to share their work with specific permissions for others to use, remix, or distribute it. It provides a way for creators to grant certain rights while still retaining some control over their work.

Digital divide

: The digital divide refers to the gap between individuals or communities who have access to and can effectively use digital technologies, such as computers and the internet, and those who do not.

Echo chambers

: Echo chambers refer to online environments or social circles where individuals are exposed only to ideas, opinions, and perspectives that align with their own beliefs, reinforcing their existing views and limiting exposure to diverse viewpoints.

Fair Use

: Fair use is a legal doctrine that allows limited use of copyrighted material without permission from the copyright owner. It provides exceptions to copyright law for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, and research.

First Amendment

: The First Amendment refers to the part of the United States Constitution that guarantees the freedom of speech, religion, press, assembly, and petition. It protects individuals' rights to express themselves and their opinions without government interference.

Intellectual Property

: Intellectual property refers to creations of the mind, such as inventions, artistic works, designs, symbols, and names that are protected by law.

Misinformation

: Misinformation refers to false or inaccurate information that is spread unintentionally or deliberately, often through various media channels.

Moral Rights

: Moral rights refer to the legal rights that creators have over their work, which include the right to be recognized as the author and the right to protect the integrity of their work.

Open Access

: Open access refers to unrestricted online access to scholarly research articles. It allows anyone with internet access to read, download, copy, distribute, print, or use the articles for any lawful purpose without financial, legal, or technical barriers.

Open sourcing

: Open sourcing refers to making source code available to the public so that anyone can view, modify, or distribute it. It promotes collaboration and transparency in software development.

Plagiarism

: Plagiarism is the act of using someone else's words, ideas, or creations without giving them proper credit. It involves presenting someone else's work as your own.


© 2024 Fiveable Inc. All rights reserved.

AP® and SAT® are trademarks registered by the College Board, which is not affiliated with, and does not endorse this website.


© 2024 Fiveable Inc. All rights reserved.

AP® and SAT® are trademarks registered by the College Board, which is not affiliated with, and does not endorse this website.