📋 Chapter Summary
- The Data Protection Act protects personal data through six core principles, with a few exemptions (domestic use, law enforcement, intelligence services).
- Copyright (via the Copyright, Designs & Patents Act) protects original creative and intellectual work from being copied, distributed, or modified without permission.
- Digital tech allows monitoring of individuals (CCTV, ANPR, GPS, network data) — powerful for safety, but controversial for privacy.
- Prolonged IT use causes health issues (RSI, eye strain, back problems, headaches) and physical safety risks (electrocution, fire, trip hazards) — both need prevention strategies.
- Online safety means knowing how to protect yourself while using the internet, email, social media, and online games.
- Acceptable Behaviour Policies (ABPs) set the rules for how people should behave in online communities.
- Digital tech has a real environmental impact — carbon footprint, e-waste, resource consumption, and energy use — with mitigation strategies for each.
📜 1. Laws Impacting Digital Technology
Data Protection
Every time you sign up for an app, hand over your phone number to a shop, or fill in a school form, you're giving away a little piece of yourself — your personal data. The Data Protection Act (DPA) exists because that data can easily be misused: sold to advertisers, leaked, or used to track you without your knowledge. The DPA is the law that says "if you're going to hold someone's personal data, here are the rules you must follow."
Personal data includes things like: name, address, date of birth, race, and religion — basically anything that can identify you as an individual, especially sensitive categories that could be used to discriminate against you.
Think of it like this:
Imagine lending your house key to a neighbour so they can water your plants while you're away. The DPA is like a contract that says: they can only use the key for watering plants (not for letting themselves in for a party), they must give it back when you ask, and they can't make copies to hand out to random people. That's exactly what data protection principles do for your personal information.
The Six Data Protection Principles
Almost anyone who stores personal data (schools, banks, hospitals, apps) must follow these six principles. Learn them with their "why it matters" example — that's what exam markers want to see.
| # | Principle | What it Means for a Company | Real Example |
|---|
| 1 | Fairly & lawfully processed | Must be clear about what data they collect and why | A school can request contact details to call guardians in an emergency |
| 2 | Collected for specified, lawful purposes | Can't use data for anything other than what was stated, and can't pass it on without permission | Asking for a phone number "for delivery" then using it to market new products — this breaks the rule |
| 3 |
Adequate, relevant, not excessive |
| 4 |
| 5 |
| 6 |