Privacy Issues
Master Privacy Issues for GCSE Computer Science with this free worksheet and full mark scheme — Foundation and Higher exam-style questions with worked answers for AQA GCSE Computer Science (8525). Privacy issues concern how personal data is collected, stored, shared and protected.
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These worksheets and mark schemes are original, written for Virtus Academy and checked against the current AQA specification. Every worksheet comes with a full mark scheme.
Topic overview
Privacy concerns how much personal data is collected about people and what is done with it.
Organisations collect far more than users usually realise: browsing history, location, purchases, search terms and social media activity. This is used to target advertising and to build detailed profiles. The trade is often invisible — a free service is paid for with data rather than money, and the terms are agreed by clicking accept without reading.
The concerns are concrete. Data can be sold to third parties without the user's meaningful knowledge. A breach can expose data the user never intended to share widely. And aggregating separately harmless pieces of data can reveal something far more sensitive than any one piece alone.
Revision notes
What is collected
Browsing history, location, purchases, search terms, social media activity and contacts.
This is used to target advertising and to build detailed profiles of individual users. A free service is often paid for with data rather than money.
Why consent is questionable
Terms are typically agreed by clicking accept without reading.
The documents are long and complex, so users rarely know what they have agreed to. Whether this constitutes meaningful consent is the central ethical question.
The specific risks
Data can be sold to third parties the user has never heard of.
A breach can expose data the user never intended to share widely. And aggregating separately harmless pieces of data can reveal something far more sensitive than any one piece alone.
Key points
- Organisations collect extensive personal data.
- It is used for targeted advertising and profiling.
- Free services are often paid for with data.
- Terms are agreed without being read.
- Data can be sold to third parties.
- Aggregated data can reveal sensitive information.
Worked examples
Example 1
Explain why clicking 'accept' may not represent meaningful consent. [2 marks]
Working
Example 2
Explain how combining separate pieces of data can create a privacy risk. [2 marks]
Working
Example 3
State two types of personal data commonly collected by online services. [2 marks]
Working
Common mistakes
Saying users consent so there is no issue.
Whether clicking accept is meaningful consent is precisely the question.
Giving only one privacy risk.
Selling, breaches and aggregation are all examinable.
Confusing privacy with security.
Security is protecting data; privacy is about what is collected and why.
Ignoring that free services have a cost.
The payment is data rather than money.
Exam tips
- Question whether consent is meaningful.
- Name several distinct privacy risks.
- Explain aggregation as a specific danger.
- Distinguish privacy from security.
Key terms
- Privacy
- Control over what personal data is collected and used.
- Profiling
- Building a detailed picture of an individual from their data.
- Aggregation
- Combining separate data pieces to reveal more.
- Consent
- Agreement to data collection, often given without reading terms.
Related topics
Written and reviewed against the current AQA specification. Spotted an error? Let us know.