QUESTION 1.

4 Paul works part-time for a large software company. The company sells security software to
a number of banks. He also runs his own software company that produces and sells computer
games.

Six statements about computer ethics are shown below.

Draw lines to indicate whether each statement describes ethical or unethical behaviour.

Statement

To save time, Paul fakes the test results

when testing the bank security software.

Paul uses the software developed in his

day job to help write some of the games
software routines.

Ethical

To allow him to concentrate on his games

software, Paul has frequently turned down
job opportunities in his day job.

To make the games software more

realistic, Paul uses password protection
code used in the bank security software.

Unethical
Because his work load is increasing, Paul
is now using overseas companies to write
some of the routines used in his games
software.

Paul carries out training on how to write

games software in his spare time.

[6]

© UCLES 2015 9608/11/O/N/15 [Turn over

QUESTION 2. 7

5 Three types of software licensing and four descriptions are shown in the table below.

Put a tick (✓) in each row to match each description to the appropriate type of software licensing.

Type of software

Description Open source Shareware Commercial

Software is purchased
before it can be used
Source code comes with
the software
Software is provided free
on a trial basis

The software can be

modified by the user

[4]

6 A team of software engineers is developing a new e-commerce program for a client.

State three of the principles of the ACM/IEEE Software Engineering Code of Ethics. Illustrate
each one, with an example, describing how it will influence their working practices.

1 .......................................................................................................................................................

..........................................................................................................................................................

..........................................................................................................................................................

..........................................................................................................................................................

2 .......................................................................................................................................................

..........................................................................................................................................................

..........................................................................................................................................................

..........................................................................................................................................................

3 .......................................................................................................................................................

..........................................................................................................................................................

..........................................................................................................................................................

......................................................................................................................................................[6]

© UCLES 2016 9608/11/M/J/16 [Turn over

QUESTION 3. 12

6 Raj has joined a software company as a trainee programmer. He was given the company’s Code
of Conduct document during his induction training. The handbook has a section headed ‘Ethical
Behaviour’.

(a) Describe what is meant by ethics.

...................................................................................................................................................

...................................................................................................................................................

...............................................................................................................................................[2]

(b) Raj is assigned to work as a new member of a development team.

In his first week, Raj feels uncomfortable working with one of his colleagues. He is unfamiliar
with the programming language used by the team. Next week, he will be working on the site
of one of the company’s clients with a colleague. Raj is very nervous about working in an
unfamiliar workplace.

Raj has a review with his manager after his first three weeks.

The Code of Conduct document was produced by the Human Resources section. It closely
follows the ACM/IEEE Software Engineering Code of Ethics that uses these eight key
principles:

Public Client and Employer Product Judgement

Management Profession Colleagues Self

There are issues Raj will want to raise with his manager.

• Describe two of these issues.

• Circle the key ACM/IEEE principle this comes under.
• Suggest what action should be taken to demonstrate ethical behaviour.

Issue 1

Description ................................................................................................................................

...................................................................................................................................................

...................................................................................................................................................

ACM/IEEE principle (Circle one only)

Public Client and Employer Product Judgement

Management Profession Colleagues Self

Possible action .........................................................................................................................

...................................................................................................................................................

...................................................................................................................................................

© UCLES 2017 9608/11/O/N/17

 13

Issue 2

Description ................................................................................................................................

...................................................................................................................................................

...................................................................................................................................................

ACM/IEEE principle (Circle one only)

Public Client and Employer Product Judgement

Management Profession Colleagues Self

Possible action .........................................................................................................................

...................................................................................................................................................

...................................................................................................................................................
[6]

Question 7 begins on the next page.

© UCLES 2017 9608/11/O/N/17 [Turn over

QUESTION 4. 9

5 The IEEE Software Engineering Code of Ethics uses eight key principles shown in the right-hand
column of the following diagram.

Tom is employed as a tester with a software company. He is keen to become a trainee programmer.

The middle column in the diagram labels six incidents which have happened to Tom this week.
The table that follows the diagram describes each incident.

IEEE category

Public

Incident A Client and Employer

Ethical
Incident B Product
behaviour

Incident C Judgement

Incident D Management

Unethical Incident E Profession

behaviour
Incident F Colleagues

Self

Incident Description
Tom has received some phishing emails. He reported this to the bank they were
A
supposed to have come from.
B Tom has asked his manager if they will pay for him to attend a programming course.
Tom is testing beta versions of new games software at work. He copies the software on
C
to CD-Rs and sells them to his friends.
D Tom has completed the application forms to join the Chartered Institute for IT.
Tom finds it difficult to work with one of his colleagues. His way of dealing with this has
E
been to refuse to speak with the colleague.
Tom’s manager had considered the testing of a new game was completed. Tom reported
F
to his manager that he thought there were still bugs which needed to be rectified.

(a) Draw a line on the diagram to link each of the six incidents to either ethical behaviour or
unethical behaviour. [2]

(b) Consider each incident you have identified as ethical behaviour.

Draw a line from each incident to indicate the IEEE category it maps to. [4]
© UCLES 2017 9608/12/O/N/17 [Turn over
QUESTION 5. 10

5 For each of the following scenarios, tick (3) one box for each scenario to indicate whether you
think the person’s behaviour is ethical or unethical. Justify your choice.

(a) Kevin is a software engineer who has recently started a job with a new company. He is using
program code from his previous employer in his new employer’s programs.

Ethical
Unethical

Justification ...............................................................................................................................

...................................................................................................................................................

...................................................................................................................................................

...............................................................................................................................................[2]

(b) Nadya is a software developer. She has accepted a new job. She has never worked with
the programming languages used by this new company. Nadya is planning to increase her
knowledge of these programming languages before she starts her new job.

Ethical
Unethical

Justification ...............................................................................................................................

...................................................................................................................................................

...................................................................................................................................................

...............................................................................................................................................[2]

(c) Maria finds that one of her team members has produced some inventive code. She presents
this to her manager, stating that it was produced by the team. She does not mention the
individual’s name.

Ethical
Unethical

Justification ...............................................................................................................................

...................................................................................................................................................

...................................................................................................................................................

...............................................................................................................................................[2]

© UCLES 2018 9608/11/O/N/18

QUESTION 6. 11

(c) The processor uses buses in the FE cycle.

The diagram shows three buses and two descriptions.

Draw one line from each bus to its appropriate description.

Bus Description

Control bus
Unidirectional
(one direction)

Address bus

Bidirectional
(two directions)
Data bus

[2]

5 This question presents three scenarios. For each scenario, tick (✓) one box to show whether you
think the person’s behaviour is ethical or unethical. Justify your choice.

(a) Wendy is a software engineer who is developing a program for her company. Her friend,
Noah, is developing a program for a different company. Wendy looks at the code that Noah is
writing to get ideas for her own program.

Ethical
Unethical

Justification ...............................................................................................................................

...................................................................................................................................................

...................................................................................................................................................

.............................................................................................................................................. [2]

© UCLES 2018 9608/12/O/N/18 [Turn over

 12

(b) Amit is fixing some bugs in the computer system of a large multinational company. He is
asked to sign a confidentiality agreement. He sees some confidential information which
contains the names of other multinational companies that have broken the law. He copies this
information and releases it on the Internet.

Ethical
Unethical

Justification ...............................................................................................................................

...................................................................................................................................................

...................................................................................................................................................

.............................................................................................................................................. [2]

(c) Farah is providing a company with an estimate for the cost of writing a program. The company
she works for is in financial difficulty so she increases the estimate by 10%.

Ethical
Unethical

Justification ...............................................................................................................................

...................................................................................................................................................

...................................................................................................................................................

.............................................................................................................................................. [2]

6 Kim is using her laptop computer to write a program in a high-level language.

(a) Kim needs to make sure the program is secure against unauthorised access. She has already
set up a username and password on her laptop.

Identify two additional electronic measures that Kim can use to keep the program secure.

1 ................................................................................................................................................

2 ................................................................................................................................................
[2]

(b) Kim will use library routines in her program.

(i) Describe what is meant by a library routine.

...........................................................................................................................................

...........................................................................................................................................

...........................................................................................................................................

...................................................................................................................................... [2]

© UCLES 2018 9608/12/O/N/18

QUESTION 7. 8

3 This question presents three scenarios. Tick (✓) one box for each scenario to indicate whether
you think the person’s behaviour is ethical or unethical. Justify your choice.

(a) Mason is using his work computer to book a holiday whilst at work.

Ethical
Unethical

Justification ...............................................................................................................................

...................................................................................................................................................

...................................................................................................................................................

...............................................................................................................................................[2]

(b) Ethan is supervising a trainee. The trainee asks Ethan for a reference for another job. Ethan
does not want to lose the trainee, so refuses to give him a reference.

Ethical
Unethical

Justification ...............................................................................................................................

...................................................................................................................................................

...................................................................................................................................................

...............................................................................................................................................[2]

(c) Margarita finds that one of her team members has produced some inventive code. She
presents this to her manager, praising the individual by name.

Ethical
Unethical

Justification ...............................................................................................................................

...................................................................................................................................................

...................................................................................................................................................

...............................................................................................................................................[2]

© UCLES 2018 9608/13/O/N/18

QUESTION 8. 8

4 A software developer works in a team for a large software development company.

(a) Two principles of the ACM/IEEE Software Engineering Code of Ethics are:

• developers must act consistently with the public interest

• developers must act in the best interest of their client and employer.

Name and describe three other principles in the ACM/IEEE Software Engineering Code of
Ethics.

Principle 1 .................................................................................................................................

Description ................................................................................................................................

...................................................................................................................................................

...................................................................................................................................................

Principle 2 .................................................................................................................................

Description ................................................................................................................................

...................................................................................................................................................

...................................................................................................................................................

Principle 3 .................................................................................................................................

Description ................................................................................................................................

...................................................................................................................................................

...................................................................................................................................................
[6]

(b) The software development company uses data backup and disk-mirroring to keep their data
secure.

Explain how data backup and disk-mirroring allow the company to recover from data loss.

Data backup .............................................................................................................................

...................................................................................................................................................

...................................................................................................................................................

...................................................................................................................................................

Disk-mirroring ...........................................................................................................................

...................................................................................................................................................

...................................................................................................................................................

...................................................................................................................................................
[4]
© UCLES 2019 9608/11/M/J/19
QUESTION 9. 4

2 Frankie is a software developer. He is developing a program to manage customer records for a

client with an online retail business. He must ensure that data stored about each customer are
both secure and private.

(a) State the difference between security and privacy.

...................................................................................................................................................

...................................................................................................................................................

...................................................................................................................................................

............................................................................................................................................. [2]

(b) Computer systems can be protected by physical methods such as locks.

Describe two non-physical methods used to improve the security of computer systems.

1 ................................................................................................................................................

...................................................................................................................................................

...................................................................................................................................................

...................................................................................................................................................

...................................................................................................................................................

...................................................................................................................................................

2 ................................................................................................................................................

...................................................................................................................................................

...................................................................................................................................................

...................................................................................................................................................

...................................................................................................................................................

...................................................................................................................................................
[6]

© UCLES 2019 9608/13/M/J/19

 5

(c) A computer uses parity blocks to check the data that has been received is the same as the
data that has been transmitted.

The following is an example of a parity block.

Parity
Data
bit
1 1 1 1 0 0 0 1
0 0 0 0 1 1 1 0
1 1 0 1 1 0 0 1
Parity
1 1 0 1 1 0 0 1
byte

(i) Describe how a parity block check can identify a bit that has been corrupted during
transmission.

...........................................................................................................................................

...........................................................................................................................................

...........................................................................................................................................

...........................................................................................................................................

...........................................................................................................................................

...........................................................................................................................................

...........................................................................................................................................

..................................................................................................................................... [4]

(ii) Give a situation where a parity block check cannot identify corrupted bits.

...........................................................................................................................................

..................................................................................................................................... [1]

© UCLES 2019 9608/13/M/J/19 [Turn over

 6

(d) One principle of the ACM/IEEE Software Engineering Code of Ethics is to always act in the
best interest of the client.

Explain how Frankie can ensure that he is acting in the best interest of his client.

...................................................................................................................................................

...................................................................................................................................................

...................................................................................................................................................

...................................................................................................................................................

...................................................................................................................................................

...................................................................................................................................................

...................................................................................................................................................

............................................................................................................................................. [3]

(e) When the program is complete, Frankie uses a compiler to prepare the program for the client.

Explain why Frankie uses a compiler instead of an interpreter.

...................................................................................................................................................

...................................................................................................................................................

...................................................................................................................................................

...................................................................................................................................................

...................................................................................................................................................

...................................................................................................................................................

...................................................................................................................................................

............................................................................................................................................. [3]

© UCLES 2019 9608/13/M/J/19