A student checks flight fares on a travel site without logging in. The site records her IP address, her location and the pages she opened. This data trail is her

Answer: B. Data collected while she browses, without her intentionally submitting it, is a passive digital footprint. An active footprint would be something she wrote or posted herself. A copyright record and a ransomware record are not kinds of footprint.

Consider these statements. (1) Active digital footprints are data that a user intentionally submits online. (2) Passive digital footprints are created without the user's intention. (3) Deleting a post guarantees that its footprint is fully removed from the Internet. (4) Footprints can be stored on servers where the user cannot remove them. Which statements are correct?

Answer: D. Statements 1, 2 and 4 are correct. Statement 3 is wrong because there is no guarantee that a footprint is ever fully eliminated from the Internet. Every other option includes statement 3.

Meera copies three paragraphs from a blog into her school project and does not mention the source. This act is

Answer: A. Copying content from the Internet without naming the source or the original creator is plagiarism. Hacking is unauthorised access to a system, trademark infringement is misuse of a brand mark, and ransomware is an attack that locks data for payment.

Societal Impacts — CUET Computer Science Notes & MCQs

📌 Snapshot

Digital footprints, copyright, cyber crime, electronic waste and ergonomics, with real scenarios and traps.
Active and passive footprints, netiquette, and how copyright, patents and trademarks protect different things.
The six Creative Commons licences, GPL, FOSS and software piracy compared in clear tables.
Hacking, phishing, identity theft and ransomware matched to situations, plus the IT Act, e-waste law and posture rules.

📖 Detailed Notes

Written and reviewed by Rohit Singh, Computer Science & Commerce faculty at UniDrill (MCA, Osmania University · 6 years teaching). Based on NCERT Informatics Practices Class XII, Chapter 6.

You deleted the photo. Is it gone?

Imagine you post party photos for one friend, argue with him the next day and delete them that same morning. By evening, another friend shows you one of those photos. How? Because deleting a post removes it from your page, not from every server, screen and phone it reached while it was visible. This chapter is about that gap between what you think you control online and what you actually do, and about the rules, laws and habits that keep a digital society safe: etiquette, privacy, ownership, crime, waste and health.

Digital footprints: the trail you cannot fully erase

Whenever you use a phone, tablet or computer online, you leave a trail of data. That trail is your digital footprint. It includes the websites you visit, the emails you send, anything you submit online, and also your computer's IP address, location and device details. The data can be used for targeted advertising, and it can also be misused.

Type	How it is created	Examples
Active digital footprint	Data you intentionally submit	An email you write, a social media post, a form you fill
Passive digital footprint	Data collected unintentionally, without you typing anything	Your IP address logged when you open a site, app usage, browsing history

Why it can't simply be deleted. Part of your footprint sits in the browser (history, cookies, saved passwords, autofill). But most of it sits on the servers where the apps are hosted. You may have no access to remove it and no control over how it is used. So even if you delete your side, there is no guarantee that a footprint is fully eliminated from the Internet. All online activity leaves a trace both on the Internet and on the device you used, which is also how people who spread hate, bully others or commit crimes are traced.

Pause and predict: a student uploads a photo, deletes it ten minutes later, and finds out a classmate already saved it. Has the student's digital footprint been erased?

Check your answer: no. The classmate holds a copy that the student cannot touch, and the platform's servers may still store the original. This is the reason the textbook advice is to think before you upload anything.

The netizen: etiquette in three layers

Anyone who uses digital technology along with the Internet is a digital citizen or netizen. Being a good netizen means using technology in a safe, ethical and legal way. The rules come in three groups.

Group	Principle	What it means
Net etiquettes	Be ethical	Do not violate copyright; share expertise only if the information is true, unambiguous and not already available
Net etiquettes	Be respectful	Respect privacy (never pass on private images or files without consent) and respect diversity
Net etiquettes	Be responsible	Avoid cyber bullying; do not feed the troll
Communication etiquettes	Be precise	Respect other people's time and data limits (send a cloud link or a compressed file instead of a huge attachment)
Communication etiquettes	Be polite	Stay non-aggressive in live (synchronous) and delayed (asynchronous) communication
Communication etiquettes	Be credible	Your comments build or damage your reputation over time
Social media etiquettes	Be secure	Strong, regularly changed password; know who you befriend; beware of fake information
Social media etiquettes	Be reliable	Think before you upload, because deleted files may remain on remote servers

Cyber bullying is insulting, degrading or intimidating online behaviour, such as repeatedly posting rumours, giving threats, posting the victim's personal information or mocking them in public. It means repeatedly targeting someone to hurt or embarrass them. An Internet troll deliberately starts quarrels or upsets people by posting inflammatory or off-topic messages in an online community, just for amusement. Trolls feed on attention, so the best response is to ignore them. For unwanted junk email (spam), neither reply nor open its attachments.

Data protection: what must be kept private?

Sensitive data is data that could cause substantial harm, embarrassment, inconvenience or unfairness to a person if it is breached. Examples are biometric information, health information, financial information, and personal documents, images, audio and video. Its privacy is protected by encryption, authentication and other secure methods, so that only the authorised user can reach it, and only for a legitimate purpose. Each country has its own data protection policies: legal documents that set guidelines for the processing, storage and transmission of sensitive information, to protect it from modification or disclosure.

Encryption just means turning readable data into a form that is useless without the key. The toy example below shifts each capital letter forward by $k$ places. Real systems use far stronger methods, but the idea is the same.

Code
`def caesar(text, k):`
`out = ""`
`for ch in text:`
`if ch.isalpha():`
`out += chr((ord(ch) - 65 + k) % 26 + 65)`
`else:`
`out += ch`
`return out`
`print(caesar("HELLO", 3))`
`print(caesar("KHOOR", -3))`

Output
`KHOOR`
`HELLO`

Shifting forward by 3 locks the message, and shifting back by 3 (the key) unlocks it.

Intellectual property: who owns an idea?

Intellectual property means inventions, literary and artistic expressions, designs, symbols, names and logos. The ownership lies with the creator, which lets creators earn recognition or money from their work. The law protects it through copyrights, patents and trademarks. Take a new messaging app: its code is covered by copyright, the functional idea by a patent, and its name and logo by a registered trademark.

Feature	Copyright	Patent	Trademark
Protects	Original writing, photographs, audio, video, sculpture, architecture, software	An invention	A visual symbol, word, name, design, slogan or label that distinguishes a brand
How you get it	Granted automatically to the creator	The inventor must apply (file)	Mark is used and registered for a brand
Rights	Copy, create derivative works, distribute, publicly display or perform	Exclusive right, for 20 years, to prevent others from using, selling or distributing the invention; after that anyone can use it	Only the owner can use the brand for those goods; confusingly similar marks are barred
Example	A novelist's rights over her book	A new device	A confusingly similar spelling of a famous brand name is barred

Licensing. Copyright and licensing are two sides of one coin. A licence is a contract, usually for a price, in which the creator permits someone to use the work, and copyright is the creator's legal right. A software licence gives legally binding guidelines for authorised use. An End User Licence Agreement (EULA) states how many copies you can install, whether the source code is available and whether you can modify or redistribute. Breaking a licence is an infringement of IPR and a criminal offence.

Violations of IPR. These are three different acts, and exam scenarios test whether you can tell them apart.

Violation	What it is	Scenario
Plagiarism	Presenting someone else's idea or work as your own, or copying from the Internet without naming the source	Copying three paragraphs from a blog into your project without mentioning it
Copyright infringement	Using a person's work without their permission, or without paying if it is being sold	Using a downloaded photo in your project when the owner does not allow free use, even if you list the source
Trademark infringement	Unauthorised use of someone else's trademark on products and services	Selling shoes under a brand name that closely copies a registered brand

Pause and predict: Rahul downloads a video clip, adds the text "Prepared by Rahul" and submits it as his own project without naming the source. Is this plagiarism, copyright infringement, or both?

Check your answer: both. He presents another person's work as his own (plagiarism) and uses it without permission (copyright infringement). MCQs usually offer only one of these two, so pick the one that matches the wording of the scenario: "as his own" points to plagiarism, "without permission" points to infringement.

Beyond the textbook. For the exam: copyright is automatic and a patent must be filed. In reality: in India, copyright arises when the work is created, but registering it is still possible and gives the owner an official record to rely on in a dispute. And the 20-year patent term is counted from the date the application is filed, not from the date of invention. In answers, use the textbook version: copyright automatic, patent by filing.

Public access, FOSS, GPL and piracy

Copyright can restrict how others use a work. But if others may use and build on existing work, there is more collaboration and innovation. So authors can share their work under a public licence. The two famous families are the GNU General Public License (GPL) for software and Creative Commons (CC) for all kinds of creative works such as websites, music, film and literature.

Type of software	Source code	What users may do
Proprietary	Not shared	Copying is prohibited by copyright law
Freeware (for example Skype, Adobe Acrobat Reader)	Not shared	Free to use and copy for personal use, but commercial distribution is prohibited
GPL licensed	Open	Run, study, share and modify, with the same rights preserved in all derivative works; fees may be charged for copies
FOSS (free and open source software)	Open to everyone	Access, modify, correct and improve; for example Ubuntu, Fedora, LibreOffice, Mozilla Firefox

Notice what GPL is not: it does not mean "always free of charge". Those who distribute GPL works may charge a fee for copies or give them away. What GPL guarantees is the freedom to run, study, share and modify.

Software piracy is the unauthorised use or distribution of software. If you buy a licence for one copy, you cannot make more copies without the owner's permission. It is copyright infringement whether done for sale, for free distribution or for your own use. Pirated software also degrades the performance of a computer system and harms the software industry and so a country's economy.

Creative Commons: six licences, four building blocks

Creative Commons is a non-profit organisation (creativecommons.org) that offers CC licences free of charge, so that creative and academic works can be shared and reused without infringing the owner's rights, with proper attribution. The licensed work is still governed by copyright law, and the author sets the conditions. Four building blocks combine into six licences: BY (attribution, so give credit), SA (ShareAlike, so licence new works on identical terms), NC (NonCommercial) and ND (NoDerivs, so no adapted versions).

Licence	Credit needed	Commercial use	Remix or change	New works must use identical terms
CC BY	Yes	Yes	Yes	No
CC BY-SA	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
CC BY-ND	Yes	Yes	No, cannot be shared in adapted form	Not applicable
CC BY-NC	Yes	No	Yes, new works must also be non-commercial	No
CC BY-NC-SA	Yes	No	Yes	Yes
CC BY-NC-ND	Yes	No	No	Not applicable

CC BY-NC-ND is the most restrictive: others may only download your work and share it with credit. A quick way to choose: a teacher who wants a worksheet shared widely, even commercially, but credited, picks CC BY. A photographer who allows sharing but no edits and no selling picks CC BY-NC-ND.

Beyond the textbook. For the exam: "free to use" on the Internet does not always mean usable, so check the licence. In reality: an image that appears in search results is usually still protected by copyright. The safe habit is to look for a CC licence or public domain label, follow its conditions, and still credit the creator. Even content open for public use should be cited to avoid plagiarism.

Cyber crime: when the computer is the target or the tool

Cyber crime is a criminal activity or offence carried out in a digital environment, in which either the computer is the target or it is used as the tool. It can be aimed at an individual, a group, an organisation or even a country, with the intent to cause physical harm, financial loss or mental harassment. A computer virus is malicious code that can copy itself and destroy data or corrupt a system. Malware is software designed to gain unauthorised access to computer systems.

Crime	What it is	The clue in a scenario
Hacking	Unauthorised access to a computer, network or digital system	Someone breaks into a system without permission
Ethical (white hat) hacking	Hacking with positive intent, finding loopholes and reporting them to the owner	A specialist tests a site and informs the owner of the flaws
Non-ethical (black hat) hacking, cracking	Gaining access to steal data or bring systems down for gain or damage	Data theft, leaking sensitive information, taking a rival site down
Phishing	Fake websites or emails that look genuine, used to collect usernames, passwords and bank or card details	A "bank" email with a logo but a wrong web address
Email spoofing	Using a forged email address; the most common phishing method	The sender address looks like the bank but is not
Identity theft	Using stolen personal data (PAN, Aadhaar, banking credentials) to commit fraud	Someone applies for a loan in your name
Ransomware	Blocking access to your data, usually by encrypting it, then demanding payment	"Your files are locked; pay to unlock"

Identity theft comes in three types: financial (used for money), criminal (used by criminals to hide their own identity) and medical (used to get drugs or treatment). Ransomware reaches a computer through malicious or unsafe websites, software from doubtful sources, spam attachments or malicious advertisements. Some attackers also threaten to publish private information unless the ransom is paid. Phishing can also come through phone calls or text messages.

Pause and predict: you receive an SMS that claims to be from your bank, with a link to "confirm your account within 24 hours". What should you do first?

Check your answer: do not click the link or reply with any PIN or password. Contact the bank through its official helpline or website and report the message. The urgency and the demand for credentials are the signs of phishing.

Staying safe. The textbook's safety measures for reducing the risk of cyber crime:

Habit	Why it helps
Regular backups	Limits the damage of ransomware or data loss
Updated antivirus and system software, including the browser	Closes known weaknesses
Strong passwords, different for each site, changed periodically	One leaked password does not open every account
Download only from known, secure (HTTPS) sites; avoid pirated software	Pirated and doubtful sources carry malware
Avoid sites that the browser warns about	The warning means the site's security certificate could not be confirmed
On a shared computer, don't save passwords or autofill; use a private window	The next user cannot log in as you
Do not accept cookies on unknown sites	Fewer trackers
Shop only on well known, secure sites; secure home Wi-Fi with a strong password	Protects payment details and your network

The IT Act: the law for the digital world

The Information Technology Act, 2000 (amended in 2008) provides guidelines for the processing, storage and transmission of sensitive information. It gives legal recognition to electronic records and digital signatures, which gives a legal framework for electronic governance, outlines cyber crimes and penalties, and lets government departments accept, create and store official documents in digital form. Many Indian states have cyber cells in police stations where cyber crime can be reported. A digital signature is the digital equivalent of a paper certificate: it attaches the signer's identity, through a unique digital ID, to a document. It can be issued only by a Certifying Authority (CA) licensed under Section 24 of the Act. The Cyber Appellate Tribunal was set up to settle disputes arising from cyber crimes such as tampering with computer source documents, hacking, using another person's password, and publishing others' sensitive personal data without consent.

Beyond the textbook. For the exam: the Cyber Appellate Tribunal resolves disputes under the IT Act. In reality: since 2017 the Cyber Appellate Tribunal no longer exists as a separate body, and its work has gone to the Telecom Disputes Settlement and Appellate Tribunal (TDSAT). Use the textbook name in answers.

E-waste: hazards and management

E-waste is electric or electronic gadgets and devices that are no longer in use, such as discarded computers, laptops, phones, televisions, tablets, printers and scanners near or at the end of their useful life. Globally, e-waste makes up more than 5 per cent of municipal solid waste, and it is among the fastest growing environmental hazards. The wider term is Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE).

What it does to the environment. When dumped in landfills, the metals and chemicals in electronics meet air and moisture and leach (a substance is removed by water passing through it). The harmful chemicals seep into soil, then reach groundwater, making it unfit for people, animals and farming. Dust loaded with heavy metals causes air pollution.

Material	Where it is found	Harm to humans
Lead	Monitors, batteries	Kidneys, brain and central nervous system; children are especially vulnerable
Beryllium	Created when circuit boards are burnt	Skin diseases, allergies, increased risk of lung cancer
Mercury	Some devices	Respiratory disorders and brain damage
Cadmium	Semiconductors, resistors	Kidneys, liver and bones
Plastics	All electronics	Immune system damage, stress and anxiety

Burning insulated wires to get at the copper can cause neurological disorders.

Managing e-waste: the three Rs. E-waste cannot be completely destroyed, but its harm can be cut.

R	Meaning	Real-style example
Reduce	Buy only what you need, use devices to their full capacity, maintain them to extend their life	Repair your phone instead of upgrading every year
Reuse	Reuse after slight modification; donate or sell working equipment. Re-selling old electronics at lower prices is refurbishing	A refurbished laptop sold at a lower price
Recycle	Convert devices into something usable again; only products that cannot be repaired, refurbished or reused should be recycled	Door-to-door pick-up of old gadgets by companies and NGOs

The law in India. The Environmental Protection Act, 1986 applies the Polluter Pays Principle: whoever causes pollution pays for the damage to the environment, and violations are punishable. The Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) guidelines make the manufacturer "personally" responsible for the final safe disposal of its product when it becomes e-waste. The Department of Information Technology issued a technical guide, "Environmental Management for Information Technology Industry in India", which industries follow for recycling and reuse.

Health and ergonomics: using devices without hurting yourself

Hours in front of screens can cause eye strain, backache, neck and shoulder pain, wrist and finger problems, stress, physical fatigue and obesity, and heavy Internet use can be addictive. Ergonomics is the branch of science that deals with designing or arranging workplaces, including furniture, equipment and systems, so that they are safe and comfortable for the user. It reduces strain, fatigue and injury from long use.

Body or setup point	Recommended
Viewing distance	19 to 24 inches from the screen
Seat back angle	90 degrees
Knee angle	90 degrees
Wrists	Kept straight
Lower back	Supported by lumbar support
Feet	On the floor, or on a footrest for shorter people
Eyes	Look at distant objects periodically and take outdoor breaks

Beyond the textbook. For the exam: learn the posture table above. In reality: many eye specialists recommend the 20-20-20 habit: every 20 minutes, look at something about 20 feet away for 20 seconds. It is a simple way to apply the textbook's "focus on distant objects" advice. Balance matters too, since online friends are good but real-life time with friends and sports is just as important.

Exam traps

The trap	Why it's tempting	The truth
"A post you wrote is a passive footprint."	You did not type your IP address	Anything you intentionally submit is active; data collected without you submitting it is passive
"Copyright must be applied for."	A patent must	Copyright is automatic; a patent needs filing
"A patent lasts for the inventor's lifetime."	Rights feel permanent	A patent protects an invention for 20 years
"CC BY-ND is the most restrictive licence."	ND sounds strict	CC BY-NC-ND is the most restrictive; CC BY-ND allows commercial reuse
"GPL software is always free of cost."	It is called free software	The freedom is to run, study, share and modify; fees for copies are allowed
"Cracker means a white hat hacker."	Both are hackers	A cracker is a black hat (non-ethical) hacker
"Beryllium damages the kidneys."	Metals all sound alike	Lead damages kidneys, brain and CNS; beryllium causes skin disease and lung cancer; cadmium damages kidneys, liver and bones; mercury causes respiratory disorders and brain damage
"Software piracy applies only if you sell the copies."	Selling feels worse	Copying without permission is infringement even for your own use

60-second revision

Topic	Lock this in
Footprints	Active = you submit · passive = collected without you submitting · never fully erased
Etiquette	Net: ethical, respectful, responsible · Communication: precise, polite, credible · Social media: secure, reliable
Sensitive data	Biometric, health, financial, personal documents · protected by encryption and authentication
IPR	Copyright automatic · patent filed, 20 years · trademark identifies a brand
IPR violations	Plagiarism · copyright infringement · trademark infringement
Open licences	GPL for software · CC for creative works · FOSS = open source code
CC	BY credit · SA same terms · NC no commercial use · ND no changes · BY-NC-ND most restrictive
Cyber crime	Hacking · phishing (email spoofing) · identity theft (3 types) · ransomware
IT Act	2000, amended 2008 · digital signatures from licensed CA · Cyber Appellate Tribunal
E-waste	Lead, beryllium, mercury, cadmium, plastics · Reduce, Reuse, Recycle · Polluter Pays
Ergonomics	19 to 24 inch viewing distance · 90 degree back and knee angles

Where this chapter connects

Earlier chapter: Societal Impact (Class XI) introduces digital footprints, cyber safety and IPR, and this chapter takes the same ideas further.
Same book: Internet and Web explains cookies, HTTPS and browsers, which are the tools behind footprints and phishing.
Related chapter: Security Aspects covers malware, firewalls and other protection methods in more technical depth.

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