Professional Skills & Issues (H) - Sample Exam
1. In the (UK) Data Protection Act 1998, which one of the following is
not
classified as sensitive personal data?
the data subject’s religious beliefs
the data subject’s conviction for a criminal offence.
the data subject’s race
a reference letter sent in connection with the data subject’s application for a job
2. The (UK) Data Protection Act 1998 requires explicit consent for use of sensitive personal data. Suppose that an on-line service requires users to register, entering personal data including some data that is sensitive. Which one of the following is generally regarded as providing explicit consent?
The registration form requires the user to tick a check-box to grant consent.
The registration form requires the user to untick a check-box to withhold consent.
The registration form makes no mention of consent, but refuses to allow the client to register if any field is not correctly filled.
The registration form contains a statement that, by registering for the service, the client is assumed to grant consent.
3. The (UK) Data Protection Act 1998 grants certain rights to every data subject. Which one of the following rights is
not
granted to a data subject?
the right to see his/her children’s personal data
the right to have any inaccurate personal data corrected or deleted
the right to see his/her personal data
the right to know whether his/her personal data has been disclosed to any other person or organisation.
4. The (UK) Freedom of Information Act 2000 is based on certain principles. Which one of the following is
not
one of these principles?
Any member of the public is entitled to request specified information, subject to an administration charge approved by the Information Commissioner.
Civil servants’ advice to government ministers remains completely confidential.
The government may refuse to disclose specified information, provided that it can convince the Information Commissioner that disclosure would not be in the public interest.
Whilst individuals have a right to privacy, the government does not.
5. The (UK) Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act 2000 grants certain agencies the right to seek a warrant to monitor telephone communications to or from a named person or organisation suspected of certain offences. Which one of the following agencies is
not
granted such a right?
a private detective agency, investigating suspected marital infidelity
the intelligence services, investigating suspected terrorists
the police force, investigating suspected drug dealers
HM Revenue & Customs (the agency responsible for tax collection), investigating suspected tax evasion.
6. Suppose that a university hosts its students’ personal web pages. A student posts a defamatory article on his web page, and the defamed person complains to the university. What if anything should the university do to comply with the law??
take no action
require the student to remove the article
ask the student to remove the article
close the student’s web page permanently.
7. Under current European law, an internet service provider (ISP) can be sued for damages for transmitting a defamatory article in which one of the following circumstances?
The ISP merely transmitted the article.
The ISP cached the article and, when requested by a court to remove the article, responded that it would follow its normal caching policy. (Its policy is to uncache all items more than one month old).
The ISP hosted the article and, when requested by a court to remove the article, removed it immediately.
The ISP cached the article and, when requested by a court to remove the article, uncached it immediately.
8. Nearly every country has laws restricting pornography, but what is legal varies enormously. Suppose that a pornographer based in country X has a website whose content is lawful in country X, but the website is frequently accessed by people in country Y where its content is unlawful. Which one of the following statements is
true
?
The pornographer could be prosecuted in country X for violating another country’s laws.
The pornographer could be arrested and prosecuted if he visits country Y.
The pornographer is completely immune from prosecution.
The pornographer could be extradited from country X and then prosecuted in country Y.
9. Some unsolicited e-mail is intended to defraud you. In which one of the following cases would you be reasonably confident that an e-mail message is
genuine
?
The message comes from a sender unknown to you, and invites you to open an attached Word document.
The message appears to come from a bank, and invites you to confirm your account details.
The message appears to come from an e-commerce site for which you have registered, and invites you to claim a free voucher by signing in to the site in the normal way.
The message appears to come from the same e-commerce site, and invites you to claim a free voucher by simply clicking on a link.
10. Which of the following is
not
an offence under the (UK) Computer Misuse Act 1990?
unauthorised modification of a computer’s hardware
unauthorised access to the data stored in a computer, motivated by searching for sensitive data
unauthorised access to the data stored in a computer, motivated by simple curiosity
unauthorised changes to the data stored in a computer.
11. The (UK) Computer Misuse Act and Police & Justice Act have proved to be less effective than expected. Which one of the following is
not
a reason for this problem?
Companies are reluctant to report computer security breaches for fear of damaging publicity.
Judges have tended to impose light sentences.
The police lack the expertise and resources to investigate computer misuse properly.
Juries are reluctant to convict because they do not regard computer misuse as a real crime.
12. Gary McKinnon (a UK citizen) openly admitted unauthorised access to US Department of Defense computers, but he was never brought to trial. Which one of the following statements is
false
?
He suffered from Asperger’s Syndrome.
A UK citizen suspected of unauthorised access to a computer in another country cannot be tried either in the UK or in the other country.
He claimed no malicious intent.
He was attempting to find information on UFOs suppressed by the US government.
13. Intellectual property is:
property owned by an intelligent person
property that cannot be stolen.
property created by an intelligent person
intangible property
14. In which one of the following circumstances does a company own the rights to a software product?
The author is an independent contractor working for the company (under a contract that does not specifically address copyright).
The author is an employee working in his/her own time.
The author is a freelance programmer working for the company (under a contract that does not specifically address copyright).
The author is an employee working in the company’s time.
15. Which one of the following statements is most accurate about European law on software patents?
Software is specifically excluded by the European Patent Convention.
Software can be patented in order to encourage innovative software development.
Software cannot be patented because in practice small software developers cannot afford to defend their patents against large competitors.
Software cannot be patented because there is no clear basis for defining what is inventive.
16. An application program downloaded from the Internet has no packaging on which its trade mark could be displayed. Which is the best way to get round this problem?
The application displays its trademark continuously when it is running.
The application’s desktop icon is its trade mark.
The supplier’s download page displays the trade mark.
The application displays its trademark briefly when it is launched.
17. Which one of the following statements about internet domain names is
false
?
No-one owns a particular domain name.
Domain names are global, whereas trade marks are registered in specific countries.
It is unlawful for a domain name incorporating a company’s trade mark to be registered by anyone except that company.
Domain names and trade marks are covered by completely different laws.
18. The contract for the development of a bespoke software system always includes the requirements for that system. Which one of the following is the most suitable way to do this?
The contract specifies the requirements, but allows the client to make a limited number of changes in return for an additional charge.
The contract specifies the requirements, but allows the client to negotiate with the developers to make a limited number of changes.
The contract specifies the requirements precisely, with no allowance for change.
The contract specifies the requirements, but allows the client freely to make a limited number of changes.
19. The contract for the development of a bespoke software system should define who will own the copyright in the software system. For which part of the system code could copyright reasonably be assigned to the customer?
all of the above.
open-source code
library code
newly developed code
20. If a software product is found to be defective, the supplier can limit their liability to pay damages (under UK law) in which one of the following circumstances?
Whilst the software does have defects, they do not make the software unfit for purpose.
The software licence limits the supplier’s liability to the purchase price.
Whilst the software does have defects, they do not create a risk of death or injury.
The software licence limits the supplier’s liability to a specified maximum amount of money.
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