Digital devices harm the environment at every stage of their life. The spec names four issues: energy consumption, manufacture, the replacement cycle and disposal.
Energy consumption: devices, networks and data centres run on electricity. Much of it is still generated by burning fossil fuels, which releases carbon dioxide and adds to climate change.
Data centres run all day and all night and need cooling, which uses yet more electricity (and often water).
Manufacture: making a device needs metals such as copper, gold, cobalt and lithium. Mining them destroys habitats, uses a lot of energy and can pollute nearby land and rivers.
Making microchips uses very large volumes of ultra-pure water. This can leave less water for local people and farms, and polluted waste water can harm rivers and wildlife.
Making components also uses energy and hazardous chemicals, and devices are shipped round the world.
Each stage of a device’s life has its own environmental issue
Exam tip‘It’s bad for the environment’ earns nothing. Give the issue and its linked consequence: ‘chip factories use huge volumes of water (1), so there may be less clean water for people and farms nearby (1).’
Energy consumption
The electricity used to make and run devices, networks and data centres; much is generated from fossil fuels.
Data centre
A building full of servers that store and process data for online services; it uses electricity to run and cool them.
Edexcel 1CP2 · 5.1.1
Replacement cycles, disposal and reducing the impact
The replacement cycle is how long people keep a device before replacing it. Smartphones are often replaced every two or three years.
Why cycles are short: new models with better features, phone contracts that offer an upgrade, batteries that can’t be replaced, software updates that stop for older models, and devices that are hard or expensive to repair.
A short cycle means more devices are made (more mining, water and energy) and more are thrown away (more e-waste). A longer cycle reduces both.
Disposal: old devices become e-waste. In landfill, toxic substances such as lead and mercury can leak into soil and water. Burning e-waste releases toxic fumes.
Some e-waste is shipped to other countries with weaker rules, where people may take devices apart by hand, harming their health and the local environment.
Ways to reduce the impact
How it helps
Recycle old devices properly
Metals are recovered, so less mining is needed, and toxins are kept out of landfill.
Repair, reuse, refurbish; replaceable batteries; longer software support
Each device lasts longer, so fewer new ones are made.
Energy-efficient devices; sleep mode; switching off
Less electricity is used.
Power data centres with renewable electricity
Less carbon dioxide is released.
Environmental monitoring: sensors and computers that track pollution, weather or wildlife
Problems are spotted early, so people can act on them.
Exam tipExaminers found the first mark for replacement cycles easy and the linked second mark harder. Say what the cycle causes: ‘replacing phones every two years (1) means more are manufactured, using more rare metals and energy (1).’
Replacement cycle
How long a device is used before it is replaced by a new one.
E-waste
Discarded electrical and electronic devices.
Environmental monitoring
Using sensors and computers to measure the environment (e.g. pollution, weather) so that harm can be spotted and reduced.
Edexcel 1CP2 · 5.2.1
Legal and ethical
An action is legal if it is in accordance with the law.
An action is ethical if it is considered to be the right thing to do.
An action can be legal but unethical: for example, an app that, as its long terms and conditions allow, sells users’ exercise data to advertisers. Most users never read the terms, so they don’t really know what they’ve agreed to.
An action can also be unethical and illegal: for example, a member of staff looking up a celebrity’s records on a work system without a reason.
Laws are slow to catch up with new technology, so many questions (especially about AI) are mainly ethical for now.
Exam tipIf a question asks for an ethical issue, talk about what is fair or right (privacy, honesty, fairness). If it asks for a legal issue, say which law could be broken (data protection, computer misuse, copyright).
Legal
In accordance with the law.
Ethical
Considered to be the right thing to do.
Edexcel 1CP2 · 5.2.1
Personal data: what it is and how it’s collected
Personal data is data that relates to an identified or identifiable individual: a living person who can be identified from it, on its own or combined with other data.
Examples: name, address, date of birth, email address, phone number, photo, location, bank details, health records, an ID number.
How it’s collected: cookies on websites (small files that record what you do on a site); location-based apps (maps, fitness, delivery apps); social media posts; online forms and accounts; loyalty cards; smart devices in the home.
Why it’s valuable to organisations: to target adverts at the people most likely to buy; to recommend products; to improve services; to predict what customers will do; to sell to other companies.
Websites must tell users about the cookies they set and, for most cookies that aren’t needed for the site to work, ask for consent first. This is governed by law (in the UK, the Privacy and Electronic Communications Regulations).
Smart devicesEmbedded systems and the Internet of Things (in the Secondary storage and embedded systems topic) collect personal data too, such as when someone is at home.
Personal data
Data that relates to an identified or identifiable individual.
Cookie
A small file a website stores on the user’s device to record data such as their visits and choices.
Edexcel 1CP2 · 5.2.1
Privacy, ownership, consent and misuse
When asking for consent, an organisation should tell people: that they are giving consent and can refuse; what the data will be used for; that they can withdraw consent later; whether the data will be shared with others; how long it will be kept; that it will be kept securely.
Issue
What it means
Example
Privacy
People’s right to keep their personal lives and data to themselves.
A voice assistant always listening in a family kitchen; a person’s location visible to strangers.
Ownership
Data protection law gives individuals control of their own personal data (Pearson calls this ownership): they can see it, correct it and, in many cases, have it deleted.
A customer asks a shop for a copy of everything it holds about them.
Consent
Organisations must get people’s agreement before collecting and using their data for many purposes.
A tick box (not ticked already) to agree to marketing emails.
Misuse
Using data in ways people didn’t agree to or that harm them.
Selling customer lists without permission; staff snooping on records.
Data protection
The law that sets out how personal data must be handled.
See the next section.
Exam tipExaminers didn’t accept ‘where the data will be kept’ as something a consent request must say. The purpose, whether it is shared and the right to withdraw are the strongest answers.
Privacy
The right of people to keep their personal lives and data to themselves.
Consent
A person’s clear agreement to their personal data being collected and used for a stated purpose.
Edexcel 1CP2 · 5.2.1
Data protection legislation
Data protection legislation controls how organisations collect, store and use personal data. In the UK it is the UK GDPR with the Data Protection Act 2018, amended by the Data (Use and Access) Act 2025. The regulator is the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO). You don’t need the names of the laws: say “data protection legislation”.
Individuals’ rights include: to be told how their data is used; to see the data held about them; to have wrong data corrected; to have data erased; to object to some uses (such as direct marketing); and rights about decisions made automatically by computers.
Organisations that break the law can be investigated and fined by the ICO.
Principle
In plain words
1 Lawfulness, fairness and transparency
Have a lawful reason to use the data, be fair, and be open with people about what you do with it.
2 Purpose limitation
Collect data only for a clear, stated purpose, and don’t use it for something different.
3 Data minimisation
Collect only the data you need for that purpose.
4 Accuracy
Keep data accurate and up to date; correct mistakes.
5 Storage limitation
Don’t keep data that identifies people for longer than you need it.
6 Integrity and confidentiality (security)
Keep data secure against unauthorised access, loss or damage.
Plus accountability
The organisation is responsible for following the principles and must be able to show that it does.
The six principles, plus accountability
Six or seven?Pearson asks for “the six data protection principles”. The law also makes organisations accountable, so the ICO lists seven. Learn the six, and know that accountability goes with them. (Checked against legislation.gov.uk and ico.org.uk, 7 November 2026.)
Exam tipExaminers accepted plain-English versions (‘only collect the data you need’, ‘don’t keep it longer than necessary’, ‘keep it secure’). The best answers covered both people’s rights and organisations’ duties. Don’t repeat a principle the question has already given.
Data minimisation
Collecting and keeping only the personal data needed for the purpose.
Storage limitation
Not keeping personal data in a form that identifies people for longer than it is needed.
Purpose limitation
Collecting personal data only for a specified purpose and not using it for something incompatible.
Accountability
The organisation is responsible for following the principles and must be able to show it does.
Edexcel 1CP2 · 5.2.1
Computer misuse legislation
Computer misuse legislation makes it a crime to access a computer system without permission. In the UK it is the Computer Misuse Act 1990 (still in force, checked on legislation.gov.uk on 7 November 2026).
Access is unauthorised if the person isn’t entitled to it and doesn’t have permission from whoever is. Knowing the password doesn’t make it allowed.
How it protects personal data: hackers can be prosecuted and sent to prison, so the law deters them from breaking in to steal or change people’s data.
Ethical hackers carrying out an authorised penetration test (Network security topic) aren’t breaking the law, because the owner has given permission.
Offence (UK)
Example
Unauthorised access to computer material
Logging in with someone else’s password; guessing a password to get into an account.
Unauthorised access with intent to commit further offences
Getting into an online bank account to move money out.
Unauthorised acts that impair the operation of a computer
Spreading malware; deleting or changing data; flooding a website so it stops working.
Making or supplying tools for these offences
Writing and selling malware.
Exam tipIf someone gets into a system without permission, the law broken is computer misuse legislation. If an organisation handles personal data badly, it is data protection legislation. Don’t mix them up.
Computer misuse legislation
Law that makes unauthorised access to computer systems, and related acts such as spreading malware, criminal offences.
Unauthorised access
Using or entering a computer system or its data without permission.
Edexcel 1CP2 · 5.2.2
AI, machine learning and robotics
Machine learning is one way of building AI: rather than a programmer writing every rule, the system works out the rules from training data.
A device is a robot if it acts on its own: a sensor detects something and the system responds with no one pressing a button.
Term
What it is
Examples
Artificial intelligence (AI)
An umbrella term for computer systems able to perform tasks that normally require human intelligence, such as speech recognition and decision-making.
Training an algorithm to learn from its inputs without being specifically programmed to perform the task. It finds patterns in large amounts of example data and improves as it gets more.
A music app learning which songs you’ll like; recognising handwriting; spotting fraud in card payments.
Robotics
Creating autonomous systems that carry out specific tasks without human intervention. A robot senses its surroundings with sensors and acts using actuators.
Warehouse robots that fetch stock; robot lawnmowers; a car that switches on its lights when it gets dark or brakes on its own.
Exam tipTo explain why something is a robot, name the sensor, what it detects, and the action taken without a human: ‘a rain sensor detects water on the windscreen (1), so the wipers start without the driver doing anything (1).’ ‘It drives itself’ alone was too vague.
Artificial intelligence (AI)
Computer systems able to perform tasks normally requiring human intelligence, such as speech recognition and decision-making.
Machine learning
Training an algorithm to learn from its inputs without being specifically programmed to perform a task.
Robotics
Creating autonomous systems that perform specific tasks without human intervention.
Training data
The example data a machine learning algorithm learns from.
Edexcel 1CP2 · 5.2.2
AI issues: accountability, safety, bias and liability
Causes of algorithmic bias: training data that is biased (it reflects past unfairness) or doesn’t include enough examples of some groups; the unconscious bias of the programmers; poor design, such as using data (e.g. postcode) that stands in for a characteristic like ethnicity.
Impacts: individuals are treated unfairly (refused a loan, a job interview or an offer); whole communities can be targeted or ignored; a feedback loop can make the bias worse over time.
Reducing the risk: train on larger, more representative data; keep a human involved in important decisions; audit and test results regularly for unfairness; be transparent about how decisions are made; involve the communities affected.
Issue
What it means
Accountability
Who is responsible for a decision made by an AI? Decisions can be hard to explain, so it is hard to challenge them or know who should answer for them.
Safety
AI and robots can fail in situations they weren’t trained or tested for (unusual or extreme events). A mistake by a robot or a medical AI could injure or kill someone.
Algorithmic bias
When an algorithm gives unfair results that favour or harm particular groups of people.
Legal liability
Who is legally to blame, and pays compensation, when an autonomous system causes harm: the manufacturer, the programmers, the owner, the user? There are currently few laws covering this, so liability and bias are largely unregulated.
Biased decisions create biased data, which trains a more biased model
Exam tipAlgorithmic bias isn’t a type of software. It is unfairness in the results. In a Discuss question, link a cause to an impact on real people in the context, then say how the risk could be reduced.
Algorithmic bias
Unfair results from an algorithm that favour or disadvantage particular groups of people.
Accountability
Being responsible for, and able to explain, a decision.
Legal liability
Being legally responsible for harm, and so having to pay compensation or face penalties.
Edexcel 1CP2 · 5.2.3
Intellectual property and licensing
Intellectual property (IP) refers to creations of the human intellect: inventions, designs, names, software, writing, music and art. There are laws that protect IP, but you don’t need the details of any particular law.
Open-source licence: the source code is available for anyone to view, change and redistribute; usually free of charge; improved by a community; may have no official support.
Proprietary licence: the source code is closed (users get only the compiled program); users usually pay for a licence; they can’t legally copy, change or redistribute it; the company provides support and updates.
Method
What it protects
How you get it
Copyright
The creator’s own work: source code, written works, images, music, video. Others can’t copy, share or sell it without permission.
Automatic when the work is created (no form to fill in or fee in the UK).
Patent
An invention: something new and inventive that can be made or used, such as a hardware design or a technical process. Others can’t make, use or sell it without permission.
Apply to the Intellectual Property Office; in the UK it lasts up to 20 years if renewed every year.
Trademark
A brand: a product or company name, logo or slogan. Stops others using it to pass off their goods as yours.
Register it; in the UK it is renewed every 10 years.
Licensing
How software can be used and distributed (number of users or devices, whether it can be copied, changed or shared).
The creator sets the licence; users agree to it.
What each kind of protection covers
Exam tipHardware inventions are protected by a patent; slogans and logos by a trademark; code by copyright. For open source, ‘anyone can use it’ or ‘it’s free’ isn’t enough: say the source code can be seen and changed.
Intellectual property
Creations of the human intellect, such as inventions, software, names and artistic works.
Copyright
Automatic protection that stops others copying, sharing or selling a creator’s original work without permission.
Patent
Protection, applied for, that stops others making, using or selling an invention without permission.
Trademark
A registered name, logo or slogan that identifies a company’s products.
Licence (software)
The creator’s terms for how software can be used and distributed.
Open source
Software whose source code is available for anyone to view, change and redistribute.
Proprietary
Software whose source code is closed; users buy a licence to use it under restrictions.
Genious