1.6.3

Ethical Issues

Test yourself

The Digital Divide

The digital divide is an important ethical issue in today's society, and the divide is growing.

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What is the digital divide?

  • Not everyone has access to computers and the Internet.
  • Those without access to technology are at a disadvantage in terms of education, welfare and career opportunities.
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Education and career

  • Those without access to technology do not have access to free educational websites, and often cannot afford to pay for formal education.
  • This can have huge impacts on their career progression.

Net Neutrality

Net neutrality concerns how bandwidth is controlled on the Internet.

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Net neutrality

  • For a long time, a key principle of the Internet was that all packets are treated equally.
  • That means that if two websites both want access to a network, they should both have equal response times.
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Collapse of net neutrality

  • Net neutrality is now being threatened, particularly in the United States of America.
  • Companies are interested in paying Internet Service Providers (ISPs) to prioritise their traffic.
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Impacts of net neutrality collapsing

  • If net neutrality collapses it could mean that the large, rich technology companies could have more control over the traffic of the Internet.
  • They could pay to have their traffic prioritised over their competitors.

Jump to other topics

1Computer Systems

1.1Systems Architecture

1.2Memory & Storage

1.3Computer Networks, Connections & Protocols

1.4Network Security

1.5Systems Software

1.6Ethical, Legal, Cultural & Environmental Concern

2Computational Thinking, Algorithms and Programming

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