--- title: "The Impacts of Computing: Law, Ethics and the Environment" description: "What computing does beyond the machine: the rules on holding people's data, the choices behind who a system serves well, and the energy and materials a device costs." canonical: https://lightmysky.com/learn/computing/the-impacts-of-computing-law-ethics-and-the-environment-mt_veX-psjipc source: https://lightmysky.com/learn/computing/the-impacts-of-computing-law-ethics-and-the-environment-mt_veX-psjipc.md retrieved: 2026-09-12 --- > **Agent view.** This is the Markdown twin of the page, for tools and assistants. > When to use this site, and the call that answers each job: https://lightmysky.com/agent-instructions.md > API description (OpenAPI 3.1): https://lightmysky.com/openapi.json · Authentication: https://lightmysky.com/auth.md > Pricing: https://lightmysky.com/pricing.md · Catalog: https://lightmysky.com/llms.txt · Full catalog: https://lightmysky.com/llms-full.txt > Every machine-readable file on this domain: https://lightmysky.com/.well-known/ai-catalog.json > Ask for Markdown with `Accept: text/markdown`, a `.md` address, or `?mode=agent`. # The Impacts of Computing: Law, Ethics and the Environment What computing does beyond the machine: the rules on holding people's data, the choices behind who a system serves well, and the energy and materials a device costs. Subject: Computing · Area: Computer Systems · Ages 15 to 16 Page: https://lightmysky.com/learn/computing/the-impacts-of-computing-law-ethics-and-the-environment-mt_veX-psjipc ## Ready when they can - State one legal duty an organisation has over personal data it holds - Argue both sides of a case where a useful system harms some group - Account for a device's environmental cost across making it, running it and throwing it away ## Lesson: Who gains, who loses, what the law says Hospitals, apps, and research labs can all hold copies of your health data, and each of them carries legal duties. They must keep the data secure, use it only for the reason you agreed to, control who can open each file, and tell you if something leaks. Privacy matters most here because a leaked history can follow you into jobs and insurance. Access control, deciding who may use each resource, is how those promises hold. **Example.** Picture a hospital system that helps decide who gets treatment first. It can be genuinely useful and still quietly favour one group of patients over another, and nobody planned that harm. A small simulation shows the same pattern: tiny personal preferences pile into segregation nobody intended. So always argue both sides: who gains from the system, who loses, and what check would catch the bias. A smart speaker costs more than its shelf price suggests. Someone mined its materials, factory workers built it, servers burn energy answering it, and it becomes waste one day. That is the full environmental cost: making it, running it, and throwing it away. Judging a device means counting all three stages, not just the electricity it uses in your room. **Tip.** Holding data is an ongoing duty, not a lock you fit once. Intruders can hide inside a system for months, quietly watching and copying. Keep defences working, review who has access, and adapt as the rules change. A system that cannot change cannot stay within the law. **Recap.** Name the duty, weigh who gains against who loses, and count what a device costs from mine to bin. ## Practice 8 questions on this page, each with its working shown. ## Needs first - [The Future of AI](https://lightmysky.com/learn/computing/the-future-of-ai-mt__LiAEHt9nk) - [AI Data Collection and Privacy](https://lightmysky.com/learn/computing/ai-data-collection-and-privacy-mt_HopZomN12L) - [Reusing Someone Else's Work: Licences and Giving Credit](https://lightmysky.com/learn/computing/reusing-someone-elses-work-licences-and-giving-credit-mt_SeLxugBmM7) - [Cyber Threats and How Systems Defend](https://lightmysky.com/learn/computing/cyber-threats-and-how-systems-defend-mt_zMJzhIdEWd) ## Opens up - [Dependencies, Licences and the Supply Chain](https://lightmysky.com/learn/computing/dependencies-licences-and-the-supply-chain-mt_2kilqPb0aV) - [Agents That Take Actions, Not Just Answer](https://lightmysky.com/learn/computing/agents-that-take-actions-not-just-answer-mt_D7KzIdIsjb)