Under GDPR, personal data is any information that can identify a living person directly or indirectly. An IP address can be used to identify a device and often a person, so it is classified as personal data. Organisations must have a lawful basis to collect it and must inform users.

A passive digital footprint is created without the user actively providing data - for example, websites recording your IP address, advertisers tracking your browsing history, or apps logging your location in the background. An active digital footprint is data you deliberately share, such as social media posts or form submissions.

The Computer Misuse Act 1990 makes it illegal to access any computer system without authorisation, even if no data is altered. Section 1 covers unauthorised access to computer material. The Data Protection Act governs how personal data is handled by organisations - it is not primarily a criminal law for hacking. The CDPA 1988 covers copyright infringement.

Software is protected as a creative work under the Copyright Designs and Patents Act 1988. Even open source software is covered by copyright - the licence specifies what you are allowed to do. Copying and distributing code without complying with licence terms (e.g. GPL requires derivatives to also be open source) can be a copyright infringement.

Data centres consume enormous amounts of electricity - both to run the servers and to cool them (servers generate significant heat). This electricity often comes from fossil fuels, contributing to carbon emissions. Some data centres in countries like Ireland have faced criticism for their high proportion of national electricity usage. Cooling is sometimes the larger energy cost.

E-waste is hazardous because electronic devices contain toxic substances including lead, mercury, cadmium and brominated flame retardants. When dumped in landfill, these chemicals leach into the soil and groundwater. Much e-waste is illegally shipped to developing countries where it is processed unsafely, causing serious health problems for local communities.

The digital divide describes the inequality between those who have access to modern digital technology and the internet, and those who do not. This divide can be based on income, geography (rural vs urban), age, disability, or country of origin. It matters because digital access is increasingly essential for education, employment and accessing public services.

This describes algorithmic bias - a real case involving Amazon's AI recruitment tool, which was trained on historical hiring data that over-represented male applicants. The algorithm learned to penalise CVs containing terms associated with women. Algorithmic bias occurs when a system produces unfair outcomes due to biased training data or flawed design. Amazon discontinued the tool in 2018.

A filter bubble occurs when recommendation and personalisation algorithms (used by social media, search engines and news sites) show users content aligned with their past behaviour and preferences. This can reinforce existing beliefs, limit exposure to different viewpoints, and contribute to political polarisation. The term was coined by internet activist Eli Pariser.

Open source software makes its source code publicly available. Users are typically free to view, modify and distribute the code, but must comply with the specific open source licence (e.g. GPL, MIT). It is not the same as freeware - open source is about access to source code and redistribution rights, not just price. Examples include Linux, Firefox and LibreOffice.