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MCQ Test Corrections

Final Review

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Week + Link
Week 2
Week 1
Week 0

Week 2

5.5 Notes

• Open source: programs are made freely avaiable and may be redistributed and modified
• Open access: Online research output free of any and all restriction on access and free of many restrictions on use, such as copyright or license restrictions
• Intellectual Property (IP): a work or invention that is the result of creativity ot which one has rights
• Material created on a computer is the intellectual property of the creator or an organization
• The ease of access and distribution of digitized information raises concerns over the ownership, value, and use of intellectual property
• Intellectual property must be protected
• You should always cite material created by others when you use it
• Creative Commons, open source, and open access are legal ways to use material created by someone else
• Using computing to harm individuals or groups of people raises legal and ethical concerns
• Copyright protects your IP and keeps anyone from using it, unless you give them your permission
• Creative Commons provides free licenses that you can use to tell others how you want them to use your creations

Actions

1.

• Creative Commons License - allows people to use your work but also states what people can and cannot do with your work
• Open Source MIT License - open source program that is free for anyone to use and is good for making and distributing closed source versions
• Open Source GPL License - also an Open Source License which prevents distribution of closed source versions and provides a lot of flexibiility with what you can do with that work

2.

• We ended up choosing the Creative Commons License for our team repository. We ultimately made this decision based on what we felt would work best for the overall purpose of our website. Our thinking was that we want the website to still be used, even after we are done with the CompSci principles class or even graduate from Del Norte. With the Creative Commons License, we are able to accomplish this goal as this allows future CompSci students or even other people to use the code that we have created and even make adjustments to our website. However, we are still able to set restrictions with what people are able to do with our code, which is ideal as it prevents people from abusing what we have created. I also ended up choosing the Creative Commons License for my personal repository. This was ideal for my personal repository are I can prevent people from copying or distributing my code, while still allowing people to use it.

5.6 Notes

• Personally identifiable information (PII) is information about an individual that identifies, links, relates, or describes them
• Search engines can record and maintain a history of searches made by users
• Websites can record and maintain a history of individuals who have viewed their pages
• Devices, websites, and netowkrs can collect information about a user’s location
• Technology enables the collection, use, and exploitation of information about, by, and for individuals, groups, and instituions
• Search engines can use search history to suggest websites or for targeted marketing
• Disparate personal data, such as geolocation, cookies, and browsing history, can be aggregated to create knowledge about an individual
• PII and other information placed online can be used to enhance a user’s online experiences
• PII stored online can be used to simplify making online purchases
• Commercial and government curation of information may be exploited if privacy and other protections are ignored
• Once information is placed online, it is difficult to delete
• Authentication measures such as strong password and multi-factor authentication protect devices and information from unauthorized access
• Phishing: An attempt to trick a user into providing personal information, like your usernames and passwords, account numbers, or social security numbers

Actions

1.

• Some example of PII I have seen in our Computer Science Principles project include the information that we have entered into our CRUD databases. Our CRUD databases have included information such as our name, email, and phone number, all of which are considered forms of personally identifiable information. Thus, our CRUD databases have been an instance where I’ve seen PII in our Computer Science Principles project.

2.

• The exposure of my PII and the concept of PII in general rather scares me. It is crazy to me that a simple Google search has the capability to bring up so much information about an individual, such as their phone number, email address, home address, and more. I am concerned that if my PII were to be exposed, people could have the ability to stalk me, both online and in real life, which is a rather terrifying thought.

3.

• A good password should contain a minimum of 10 characters, with a mixture of symbols, numbers, and letters. A bad password would either contain less than 10 characters and only have letters. A bad password could also be something that could be easily guessed, such a particular name, word, or birthday. Another step that could be used in authentication is multi-factor authentication. Multi-factor authentication could involve sending a code to a separate device that is then used to sign into an account. Multi-factor authentication just provides an extra layer of security for you and your password protected accounts.

4.

• Symmetric encryption is when both the sender and receiver have a private key, hence the name symmetric since the sender and receiver both have private keys. Asymmetric encryption is when the sender has a public key, but then the receiver was a private key that must be used in order to decrypt the information that the sender has sent to the receiver, hence the name asymmetric since the sender’s key is public while the receiver’s key is private.

5.

• An example of encryption we used in deployment is when we used Certbot. Certbot allows us to secure our website through the use of encryption.

6.

• I have personally not been the target of a phishing scheme, but I personally know someone that has. In this particular instance, they were sent an email from what appeared to be their bank, asking them to login to make some adjustments to their account. However, it was really their bank that sent them this email. They would’ve been able to tell if they had looked at the email’s domain, which was @gmail.com instead of the bank’s actual domain. They ended up clicking on the link and entering their bank login info when prompted to “login” to their account. Thankfully, this person realized their mistake quickly enough to change their password quickly enough to prevent any permanent damage being done to their bank account. This just goes to show how easy it is to fall for a phishing scheme. This is only one example of the numerous different methods of phishing. Other examples of phishing include asking for people’s information, usually credit card information of banking information, over the phone by posing as the IRS or some other agency. People may also try other tactics of phishing via email by impersonating somebody in order to get some type of information from a particular person.

Week 1

5.3 Notes

• Computing innovations can reflect existing human biases because the people who created the innovation may have been biased or the data used by the innovation may be biased
• Programmers should try to minimize the bias in their algorithms used for computing innovations in order to combat existing human biases
• Biases can occur at all levels of software development
• Biases are evident on Netflix as Netflix original shows are typically featured more prominently than other shows
• Companies direct content towards based on what they think your interests are
• Biases have the potential to either be intentionally or accidentally harmful or beneficial to certain groups of people

Actions

HP Video:

• Black man is using the face tracking software of a state of the art HP computer
• The computer camera is supposed to follow the face of the man as he moves
• When a white person steps into frame, the computer’s camera instantly recognizes their face and starts to track it
• The camera pans in and out and follows the white woman’s face around
• As soon as the black man steps back into frame, the computer is no longer following a face

1.

• The owner of the compter does not appear to think that this bias was intentional. Rather, he appears to think that this is just an unfortunate result of the way this computing innovation was designed.
• I concluded this based on the fact that he appears to be joking about the situation, rather than becoming angry which is another indication that he likely did not think that this was intentional.

2.

• I think that this happened as a result of the envrionment that the HP computer was created in. It is likely that the people who created the computer were white and thus designed a solution that would work for people with the same skin tone, failing to account for people with differing skin tones. During the testing process for this computing innovation, the computing innovation was likely only tested on white test subjects. Once it was found to work with white test subjects, the engineers likely concluded that the innovation was complete, not accounting for people of different skin tones.

3.

• This is both harmful and exclusive because it means that owners of this computing innovation that are black do not get to utilize the same features of the same product as users that are white. I do not think that it was intedned to be harmful or exclusive, but rather it was just an unforunate result of the development process for this computing innovation.

4.

• This issue should definitely be correct so that in the future humans of all races and skin tones can be able to utilize this computing innovation equally and to its fullest capabilities.

5.

• In order to produce a better outcome, more testing is needed during the development process of new computing innovations. During the testing process, more people from different backgrounds should be brought in to diversify the audience that the product will be able to work with once it is released.

5.4 Notes

• Widespread access to information and public data allows for problems to be indentified, solutions to be developed, and for results to be shared
• Citizen science is a valuable tool for solving scientific problems
• Citizen science is way of conducting scientific research where distributed individuals who may or may not be scientists contrbiute their own data to research using their own computing devices
• People can give their own feedback and input for public data sets
• With distributed computing spare computing power can be donated to help with calculations

Actions

1.

• One potential crowdsource idea for our CompSci class would be for classmates to give each other feedback on their websites and potential features they’d like to see implemented on others websites. Crowdsourcing would be beneficial in this situation because people can receive input from a wide variety of peers with different backgrounds and perspectives. If a group is having trouble coming up with a new feature to implement on their website, crowdsourcing can help them come up with ideas that they otherwise may have not had. This could be initiated in our envrionment by having all groups create google forms where once a week, other groups need to fill out the form and give input and provide ideas.
• Crowdsourcing at Del Norte could appear in the form of a forum where people can share their experiences with certain classes and teachers. By sharing experiences with certain classes and teachers, students who have already taken those classes can help students who are interested in taking those classes make the final decision of whether or not they do take that class. Our project could definitely be benefited by crowdsourcing because crowdsourcing would allow us to find out what books are popular at the moment and we can add those books accordingly to a recommended books section on our webpage.

Week 0

5.1 Notes

• People create computing innovations that often are incorporated into the ways that they do certain tasks
• The effects of a particular computing innovation can not always be predicted beforehand
• Depending on different perspectives, a single effect of a computing innovation can be viewed as beneficial or harmful to different people or even a single person
• The original purpose of the World Wide Web was to rapidly and easily exchange information within the scientific community
• Targeted advertising is meant to help businesses but can be abused by individuals
• Machine learning and data mining have paved the way for innovation in medicine, business, and science but certain groups have been discriminated because of the information discovered through these methods

Actions

1.

• One innovation in computing that has led to both beneficial and harmful effects have been the creation of devices like Tile and Apple Airtags. Devices like these can be beneficial in the everyday lives of people by helping them to keep track of their belongings. A common use case for these devices is to attach them to key or leave them in a backpack. With these devices, if you were to lose the item that these devices are attached to you would be able to track these devices through an app on your phone to locate your item once again. Devices like these can be harmful when in the wrong hands though. For example, several news stories have reported on people being tracked by Apple Airtags, only to find out when their phones alerted them that they were being followed by an Airtag. Devices like these are easy to hide especially on something like a car. When abused, these devices have severe implications on the privacy of citizens and thus can be harmful.
• Another innovation in computing that has led to both beneficial and harmful effects have been the creation of smart speakers such as Google Home and Amazon Alexa. Devices like these can be beneficial in the everyday lives of people by allowing people to make simple requests such as a timer or by answering questions for people. Voice controlled devices like these are convenient since they allow the user to use them without doing anything more than simply talking to them. However, these devices can also be harmful since they have potentially harmful implication on the privacy of people. Users may not really know when their smart speakers are recording audio and thus encroaching on their privacy, hence making these computing innovations potentially harmful.
• One final innovation in computing that has led to both beneficial and harmful effects have been the creation of security cameras. Devices like these can be beneficial as they serve as a deterrent to thieves or other criminals and can also record criminal activity should it occur. This is obviously beneficial as these devices can be used to protect property. However, these devices can also be harmful because of the privacy implications that they entail. Security cameras are often connected to the internet so that they can be viewed by owners remotely, but this also means that hackers can hack into them and gain access to their video feed which is a huge privacy issue and something that is obviously harmful.

2.

• Dopamine issues are something that is certainly real and not conspiracy and has been proven by science. Dopamine issues can have potentially detrimental effects on high schoolers and others by distracting them from more important things in their lives. High schoolers are busy enough with their lives as is with their school work and extracurricular activities. Adding in the dopamine associated with apps like Instagram, Tiktok, and Snapchat can lead to disastrous effects. The dopamine caused by these apps can cause high schoolers to waste significant amounts of their time on these apps rather than doing more productive things. I have personal experience with this as it always takes me longer to do my homework assingments when I have my phone next to me. When my phone is next to me I am always tempted to go on it and check various social media platforms, causes of dopamine. By separating myself from my phone when I need to be productive, I find that I can get my work done much more efficiently.

5.2 Notes

• Socioeconomic, geographic, and demographic characteristics as well as the country where an individual lives all play a role into an individual’s ability to access the internet
• The “digital divide” refers the differing access to computing devices and the Internet across different individuals based on certain characteristics
• Affects both individuals and groups
• Raises issues of equity, access, and influence both globally and locally
• This divide is affected by the actions of individuals, organizations, and governments

Actions

1.

• Someone can empower themselves in a digital world by seeking out resources to access the internet, if they have the ability to. People can also empower themselves in a digital world by educating themselves on how to safely use the internet to avoid potential fraud or hackers. It is my personal belief that as we live in an increasingly digital world, it is vital for all people to learn how to stay safe on the internet. The ability to use the internet safely is a key step to someone becoming empowered in a digital world. Ultimately, it takes the correct resources for someone to become empowered in the digital world, and unfortunately as a result of the digital divide it is not possible for everyone to become empowered in the digital world. However, for people who are fortunate enough to have access to techonology and the internet, they can become empowered in the digital world by learning the ins and outs of how techonology works.

2.

• Someone that is empowered in the digital world can help someone that is not empowered in the digital world by educating others or donating resources. Unfortunately, a digital divide exists which means that due to socioeconomic, geographic, or demographic based reasons, not everyone has equal opportunities to access technology and the internet. This digital divide can be reduced by people who have the means necesary by donating technology to the less fortunate. Another way for people who are empowered in the digital world to help someone that is not empowered is by educating them on how to use technology. People who are not empowered in the digital world may have access to technology and the internet, but just may not have the knowledge to use these tools effectively and safely. Someone who is empowered in the digital world can educate these other people on how to effectively and safely use technology and the internet, thus empowering people who were previously not empowered in the digital world. Something that could be done at Del Norte to is to hold seminars to educate people on how to effectively utilize their technology and possibly donate old computers to people in need of them.

3.

• I would say that red tape is definitely blocking digital empowerment. Examples of red tape blocking digital empowerment at Del Norte include certain websites or applications being blocked on the school wifi network. These websites and applications could potentially be useful in the classroom and support the learning of students, but red tape is blocking access to these websites and applications. An example of red tape blocking digital empowerment elsewhere is the great firewall of China. The great firewall of China severely restricts the websites that people in China have access to, thus preventing people from becoming empowered in the digital world.