Legal issues
Legal issues relate to intellectual property matters, such as A set of rights that prevents people copying and distributing a piece of work without the copyright holder's permission., An official licence from the government to allow a person or business the sole right to make, use or sell an invention. and The programs, applications and data in a computer system. Any parts of a computer system that aren't physical. A legal agreement between the company that published the software and the end user covering areas such as copyright..
Intellectual property issues
Intellectual property refers to creative work such as art, music, inventions and the written word. The Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 gives the creator of published material the control over the way it is used. is the most relevant area of law that protects intellectual property. Other methods of protecting intellectual property include using Something that allows a brand to be recognised, such as a logo, product name or jingle. , registered designs, and A model for creating technology that promotes free access to its design and makes it free to share. and Software owned by a company. The opposite of open source. software.
The Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988
The Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 exists to protect personal or organisational creations.
When someone or an organisation creates an original work that has required skill, judgement or time, they own it. What they create might include:
- a picture, drawing or photograph
- a video, television programme or film
- text, such as a book, article or report
- a game
Copyright is a legal means of ensuring that content creators can protect their work. Copyright is applied automatically - it is not necessary to register copyright or to use a 漏 symbol. Work is automatically protected by copyright unless the copyright holder chooses to give that right away.
Copyright gives the copyright holder exclusive rights to publish, copy, distribute and sell their creation. No one else can use the work without permission. When someone buys a book, film or album, the copyright holder grants permission for it to be used as part of the sale. This is called a licence. The licence is generally only for the buyer to use.
When using computers, unless you have permission with regard to particular copyrighted material, it is illegal to:
- make copies of the material (unless for personal A copy of important files that is kept separately in case the original files are lost or damaged. purposes)
- publish it and sell it without permission
- distribute it to other people
- sell copies to other people
This applies to any copyrighted material, such as music, films, games and television programmes. The internet has made it extremely easy to access copyrighted material illegally. Downloading a music track, film, game or programme without the copyright holder鈥檚 permission is against the law.
There are, however, some situations where it is legal to copy, publish, distribute or sell copyrighted material. These are:
- when you are the copyright holder
- when you have the copyright holder鈥檚 permission
- when the copyright holder has chosen to give up their copyright
Open source and proprietary software
One way to classify software is through ownership and licencing. There are two types of ownership and licensing software:
- open source software
- proprietary software
While both types of software are usually widely available, they differ considerably in what can and cannot be done.
Open source software
Open source software means the source code is freely available and doesn鈥檛 cost anything to purchase.
Some of the advantages of open source software are:
- it costs nothing and provides the The code behind a computer program, written in a programming language. so that anyone can modify the software for their own purposes
- it can have many authors, which over time enables programmers to contribute to the development of a program, refining and improving it and adding extra features
- a modified version, known as a A modified version of an open source program., must also be made freely available for anyone else to use or adapt
- it has no A set of rights that prevents people copying and distributing a piece of work without the copyright holder's permission. restrictions
Open source software has its disadvantages too:
- there is no guarantee that it works properly as there is no requirement for anyone to ensure it is An error in a program. free
- support might not be readily available, especially if the program is not in widespread use
Examples of open source software are:
- Linux operating system
- Firefox An application that displays web pages.
- Python A language used by a programmer to write a piece of software.
- Libre Office productivity suite
- Apache A computer that serves web pages to users.
- GIMP image editing software
Proprietary software
Proprietary software is copyrighted, which means it can only be obtained by paying for a licence.
Proprietary software has many advantages:
- The product should be free of bugs. If bugs exist, updates known as An update to a piece of software, usually to fix bugs or improve the software in some way. are often provided free of charge, which fix these bugs.
- Help can be sought from the organisation who supplied the software if problems occur.
- Feature updates which extend the software's facilities are often available, although usually at a cost.
- Proprietary software that is in widespread use often has support available from many sources.
Proprietary software also has a number of disadvantages:
- There is an initial or ongoing - subscription - cost.
- Software cannot be adapted to meet the needs of the user. Only the Also called object-code, this is low-level code that represents how computer hardware and CPUs understand instructions. It is represented by either binary or hexadecimal numbers. version of the software is distributed, which cannot be edited.
- It can be limited to a single computer or network, so unless the licence allows it, a user may not redistribute the software.
Examples of proprietary software are:
- Windows and OS X operating systems
- Microsoft Office productivity suite
- Adobe Creative Suite productivity software
- Logic music creation software
- paid-for games for consoles
Cyber security
When digital Units of information. In computing there can be different data types, including integers, characters and Boolean. Data is often acted on by instructions. has been stolen or damaged in a cyber-security attack, several laws are relevant:
- personal data is covered legally in the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and Data Protection Act 2018
- hacking is covered in the Computer Misuse Act 1990
- the Network and Information Security Directive 2016
The Network and Information Security Directive 2016/1148 became law in 2018. It applies to any organisation that supplies a service affecting the running of the UK. Examples are the NHS, water and transport. The government recognises that cyber-security attacks could have major consequences.
Depending on what happens during a cyber-security attack, other criminal laws might be relevant, eg those covering theft and fraud.