This page contains the NCERT Informatics Practices class 12 chapter 6 Societal Impacts from the book Informatics Practices. You can find the solutions for the chapter 6 of NCERT class 12 Informatics Practices, for the Exercise Questions in this page. So is the case if you are looking for NCERT class 12 Informatics Practices related topic Societal Impacts question and answers.
EXERCISE
1. After practicals, Atharv left the computer laboratory but forgot to sign off from his email account. Later, his classmate Revaan started using the same computer. He is now logged in as Atharv. He sends inflammatory email messages to few of his classmates using Atharv’s email account. Revaan’s activity is an example of which of the following cyber crime?
Justify your answer.
a)
Hacking
b)
Identity theft
c)
Cyber bullying
d)
Plagiarism ✔
Explanation: Revaan used Atharv’s logged-in email identity to send messages, i.e., misuse of another person’s account/credentials (using someone else’s “password/identity”).
2. Rishika found a crumpled paper under her desk. She picked it up and opened it. It contained some text which was struck off thrice. But she could still figure out easily that the struck off text was the email ID and password of Garvit, her classmate. What is ethically correct for Rishika to do?
a)
Inform Garvit so that he may change his password. ✔
b)
Give the password of Garvit’s email ID to all other classmates.
c)
Use Garvit’s password to access his account.
Explanation: Rishika should inform Garvit about the password so that he can change it and protect his account from unauthorized access. That is the ethically correct action.
3. Suhana is down with fever. So, she decided not to go to school tomorrow. Next day, in the evening she called up her classmate, Shaurya and enquired about the computer class. She also requested him to explain the concept. Shaurya said, “Mam taught us how to use tuples in python”. Further, he generously said, “Give me some time, I will email you the material which will help you to understand tuples in python”. Shaurya quickly downloaded a 2-minute clip from the Internet explaining the concept of tuples in python. Using video editor, he added the text “Prepared by Shaurya” in the downloaded video clip. Then, he emailed the modified video clip to Suhana. This act of Shaurya is an example of —
a)
Fair use
b)
Hacking
c)
Copyright infringement ✔
d)
Cyber crime
Explanation: He downloaded someone else’s content and reused/modified it without permission; adding “Prepared by…” does not make it his original work.
4. After a fight with your friend, you did the following activities. Which of these activities is not an example of cyber bullying?
a)
You sent an email to your friend with a message saying that “I am sorry”. ✔
b)
You sent a threatening message to your friend saying “Do not try to call or talk to me”.
c)
You created an embarrassing picture of your friend and uploaded on your account on a social networking site.
Explanation: Threats and posting embarrassing pictures are cyber bullying, but apologising is not.
5. Sourabh has to prepare a project on “Digital India Initiatives”. He decides to get information from the Internet. He downloads three web pages (webpage 1, webpage 2, webpage 3) containing information on Digital India Initiatives. Which of the following steps taken by Sourabh is an example of plagiarism or copyright infringement? Give justification in support of your answer.
a)
He read a paragraph on “ Digital India Initiatives” from webpage 1 and rephrased it in his own words. He finally pasted the rephrased paragraph in his project.
b)
He downloaded three images of “ Digital India Initiatives” from webpage 2. He made a collage for his project using these images.
c)
He downloaded “Digital India Initiative” icon from web page 3 and pasted it on the front page of his project report.
Explanation:
(a)
Rephrasing is okay only if he gives proper citation. If he doesn’t cite, it becomes plagiarism.
(b)
Using downloaded images can be copyright infringement if the images are not free to use.
(c)
Downloading an icon and using it can also be copyright infringement if permission/license is not allowed.
6. Match the following:
Column A
Column B
Plagiarism
Fakers, by offering special rewards or money prize asked for personal information, such as bank account information
Hacking
Copy and paste information from the Internet into your report and then organise it
Credit card fraud
The trail that is created when a person uses the Internet.
Digital Foot Print
Breaking into computers to read private emails and other files
The following is the table with the values matched:
Column A
Column B
Plagiarism
Copy and paste information from the Internet into your report and then organise it
Hacking
Breaking into computers to read private emails and other files
Credit card fraud
Fakers, by offering special rewards or money prize asked for personal information, such as bank account information
Digital Foot Print
The trail that is created when a person uses the Internet.
7. You got the below shown SMS from your bank querying a recent transaction. Answer the following —
a)
Will you SMS your pin number to the given contact number?
b)
Will you call the bank helpline number to recheck the validity of the SMS received?
Explanation:
(a)
No. Never SMS your PIN (PIN/OTP are confidential).
(b)
Yes, verify by calling the official bank helpline number (from the bank website/card/app), not necessarily the number in the SMS.
8. Preeti celebrated her birthday with her family. She was excited to share the moments with her friend Himanshu. She uploaded selected images of her birthday party on a social networking site so that Himanshu can see them. After few days, Preeti had a fight with Himanshu. Next morning, she deleted her birthday photographs from that social networking site, so that Himanshu cannot access them. Later in the evening, to her surprise, she saw that one of the images which she had already deleted from the social networking site was available with their common friend Gayatri. She hurriedly enquired Gayatri “Where did you get this picture from?”. Gayatri replied “Himanshu forwarded this image few minutes back”.
Help Preeti to get answers for the following questions. Give justification for your answers so that Preeti can understand it clearly.
a)
How could Himanshu access an image which I had already deleted?
b)
Can anybody else also access these deleted images?
c)
Had these images not been deleted from my digital footprint?
The following is the explanation for Preeti to understand the situation clearly, along with the explanation.
(a)
Himanshu could have already saved/downloaded/screenshot the image before deletion, or it may still exist on a server backup.
(b)
Yes, others can also access if someone already copied/shared it (like Gayatri received it).
(c)
Deleting from the profile does not always erase it fully; it may still remain as part of your digital footprint on servers/backups.
9. The school offers wireless facility (wifi) to the Computer Science students of Class XI. For communication, the network security staff of the school have a registered URL schoolwifi.edu. On 17 September 2017, the following email was mass distributed to all the Computer Science students of Class XI. The email claimed that the password of the students was about to expire. Instructions were given to go to URL to renew their password within 24 hours.
Your Password will expire in 1 day Inbox ✕
Dear Students,
This email is meant to inform you that your SchoolWifi network password will expire in 24 hours.
Please follow the link below to update your password.
schoolwifii.edu/updatepassword
Thank you
Network security staff
a)
Do you find any discrepancy in this email?
b)
What will happen if the student will click on the given URL?
c)
Is the email an example of cyber crime? If yes, then specify which type of cyber crime is it. Justify your answer.
(a)
Yes. The registered URL is schoolwifi.edu, but the email link shows schoolwifii.edu (extra “i”) → suspicious.
(b)
Clicking it may open a fake website to steal password/credentials (or spread malware).
(c)
Yes, it is a cyber crime: phishing / fraud email (email spoofing).
10. You are planning to go for a vacation. You surfed the Internet to get answers for the following queries —
a)
Weather conditions ✔
b)
Availability of air tickets and fares ✔
c)
Places to visit ✔
d)
Best hotel deals ✔
Which of your above mentioned actions might have created a digital footprint?
Explanation: All of the above actions (a, b, c, d) would create a digital footprint as they involve online searches and interactions that can be tracked. In otherwords, searching/visiting websites leaves a trail of data.
11. How would you recognise if one of your friends is being cyber bullied?
a)
Cite the online activities which would help you detect that your friend is being cyber bullied?
b)
What provisions are in IT Act 2000, (amended in 2008) to combact such situations.
Recognising cyber bullying + IT Act provisions:
(a)
Online activities that show cyber bullying (examples):
•
Repeated threatening messages, abusive comments
•
Posting embarrassing pictures/videos
•
Spreading rumours, creating fake profiles to insult/harass
•
Sharing private info without consent (doxxing)
(b)
Provisions in IT Act (2000, amended 2008) that help in such cases (depending on what happened):
•
66C (identity theft)
•
66D (cheating by personation—often used for phishing/impersonation)
•
66E (violation of privacy—capturing/publishing private images without consent)
•
67 / 67A / 67B (publishing/transmitting obscene/sexually explicit content, including children)
•
72 (breach of confidentiality and privacy)
Also, the cyber crimes can be reported to cyber cells and the Act outlines cyber crimes and penalties.
12. Write the differences between the following —
a)
Copyrights and Patents
b)
Plagiarism and Copyright infringement
c)
Non-ethical hacking and Ethical hacking
d)
Active and Passive footprints
e)
Free software and Free and open source software
a) Copyrights and Patents
Basis
Copyright
Patent
What it protects
Original work (creative expression)
Inventions (scientific/technological findings)
How it is obtained
Generally exists for original work (creator holds rights)
Inventor must apply (file) for a patent
Rights given
Prevents others from copying/using/selling the work; rights to distribute and publicly display/perform the work
Owner gets exclusive right to prevent others from using/selling/distributing the invention
Control
Creator controls use through copyright and licensing
Patentee has full control to decide whether/how invention can be used by others
Duration
–
20 years, then it can be freely used
Examples
Using parts of a book without permission is infringement
Protects a new invention/design/technology
(b) Plagiarism and Copyright infringement
Basis
Plagiarism
Copyright infringement
Meaning
Presenting someone else’s idea/work as one’s own
Using another person’s work without permission (or without paying if it is being sold)
Core issue
No/insufficient citation (not mentioning source/original creator)
No permission / no payment, even if you give reference
What you should do to avoid it
Cite the author/source properly
Check copyright status and obtain license/permission (or pay if required)
Nature of wrong
Serious ethical offence, sometimes treated as fraud
Violation of copyright / infringement of IPR; can be a legal offence
Example
Copy text from Internet into project and don’t mention source
Download an image and use it though owner doesn’t permit free use (even if referenced)
(c) Non-ethical hacking and Ethical hacking
Basis
Ethical hacking (White-hat)
Non-ethical hacking (Black-hat / crackers)
Intent
Positive intent: improve security
Malicious/illegal intent
What they do
Explore vulnerabilities/loopholes during testing; may exploit a site to discover weaknesses
Gain unauthorised access to steal sensitive data, damage systems, or bring systems down
Outcome
Reports findings to owner; helps strengthen security
Used for identity theft, monetary gain, leaking sensitive info, harming rivals, etc.
Legality/ethics
Done to protect systems
Done for illegal or harmful purposes
(d) Active and Passive footprints
Basis
Active digital footprint
Passive digital footprint
Meaning
Data you intentionally submit online
Data trail generated unintentionally
Examples
Emails you write, responses/posts on websites or mobile apps
Data generated when you visit a website, browse Internet, use a mobile app
User control
More direct control (because you choose to share it)
Less direct control (collected while browsing/using services)
Keyword from chapter
“intentionally submit”
“unintentionally”
(e) Free software and Free and open source software (FOSS)
Basis
Free software / freeware (as contrasted in the chapter)
Free and Open Source Software (FOSS)
Main idea
Often “free to use” but may have restrictions (e.g., personal use only; no commercial distribution)
Free to access and source code is open
Source code
Usually not shared (often proprietary)
Source code is available to access, modify, correct and improve
User freedoms
May allow copying for personal use but can prohibit commercial distribution
Users can modify/improve; strong community contribution
Chapter examples
Freeware examples mentioned: Skype, Adobe Acrobat Reader (in the comparison)
Examples: Linux (Ubuntu/Fedora), LibreOffice, Mozilla Firefox
Licensing keywords
Proprietary/freeware licenses can restrict use/copying
Open source licenses + community; (chapter also discusses GNU GPL freedoms)
13. If you plan to use a short text from an article on the web, what steps must you take in order to credit the sources used?
Crediting sources for short text from web
Steps:
1.
Use quotes if copied exactly (or rephrase in your own words).
2.
Add proper citation/attribution: author/website name, title, date (if available), and link (in references).
3.
Ensure you are not doing plagiarism (always give adequate citation).
14. When you search online for pictures, how will you find pictures that are available in the free public domain. How can those pictures be used in your project without copyright violations?
Finding free public-domain pictures and using them safely
•
Use search filters like “Usage rights / Creative Commons / Public domain”.
•
Prefer Creative Commons licensed or public domain images and follow license conditions (especially Attribution).
•
Give proper attribution to avoid copyright/IPR violations.
15. Describe why it is important to secure your wireless router at home. Search the Internet to find the rules to create a reasonably secure password. Create an imaginary password for your home router. Will you share your password for home router with following people. Justify your answer.
a)
Parents
b)
Friends
c)
Neighbours
d)
Home tutors
Securing your wireless router + password rules + sharing
Why important? If Wi-Fi is not secured, others can use your network to steal data, misuse Internet, or access devices. The book advises securing wireless networks with strong password.
Rules for a secure password (from the chapter’s password guidance):
•
Long, mix of alphanumeric + special characters, avoid common words/names, change periodically, don’t reuse everywhere.
Imaginary router password: H0meWiFi@19#Xy7!
Share with:
•
Parents: Yes (trusted).
•
Friends: No (risk of forwarding).
•
Neighbours: No.
•
Home tutors: Usually no; if needed, give guest Wi-Fi instead.
16. List down the steps you need to take in order to ensure —
a)
your computer is in good working condition for a longer time.
b)
smart and safe Internet surfing.
Steps to ensure…
(a) Computer in good working condition (examples):
•
Regular updates, antivirus, backups, avoid pirated/untrusted downloads, proper shutdown, keep device clean/ventilated.
(b) Smart and safe Internet surfing (from the listed safety measures):
•
Use secure (HTTPS) sites, avoid untrusted websites, strong passwords, don’t save passwords on others’ computers, safe online transactions, secure Wi-Fi.
17. What is data privacy? Websites that you visit collect what type of information about you?
Data privacy + what websites collect
Data privacy means protecting your personal/sensitive data from unauthorised access and misuse.
Websites may collect: pages visited, submitted info, and also IP address, location, device details, etc.
18. In the computer science class, Sunil and Jagdish were assigned the following task by their teacher.
a)
Sunil was asked to find information about “India, a Nuclear power”. He was asked to use Google Chrome browser and prepare his report using Google Docs.
b)
Jagdish was asked to find information about “Digital India”. He was asked to use Mozilla Firefox browser and prepare his report using Libre Office Writer.
What is the difference between technologies used by Sunil and Jagdish?
Sunil vs Jagdish technologies
•
Sunil (Chrome + Google Docs): generally proprietary tools and Google Docs is cloud-based.
•
Jagdish (Firefox + LibreOffice Writer): examples of FOSS tools (open source, community-driven).
19. Cite examples depicting that you were a victim of following cyber crime. Also, cite provisions in IT Act to deal with such a cyber crime.
a)
Identity theft
b)
Credit card account theft
Examples + IT Act provisions
(a) Identity theft (example): Someone uses your login/password/OTP to create a fake account or log in as you.
Provision: Section 66C (Identity theft)
(b) Credit card account theft (example): Someone gets your card details (CVV/OTP) and makes unauthorised transactions.
Provisions (commonly applied):
•
66C (misuse of password/unique ID)
•
66D (cheating by personation using computer resource—often in phishing scams)
20. Neerja is a student of Class XI. She has opted for Computer Science. Neerja prepared the project assigned to her. She mailed it to her teacher. The snapshot of that email is shown below.
(no subject) Inbox ✕
PFA the required document with this email.
Neerja
123.docx
Find out which of the following email etiquettes are missing in it. Justify your answer.
a)
Subject of the mail
b)
Formal greeting
c)
Self-explanatory terms
d)
Identity of the sender
e)
Regards
Missing email etiquettes in Neerja’s email
From the snapshot: subject shows “(no subject)”, message uses “PFA …” and there’s no greeting/closing.
So, missing:
(a)
Subject of the mail ✅ missing
(b)
Formal greeting ✅ missing
(c)
Self-explanatory terms ✅ missing (uses short form “PFA”)
(d)
Identity of the sender ❌ not missing (sender name is present)
(e)
Regards ✅ missing
21. Sumit got good marks in all the subjects. His father gifted him a laptop. He would like to make Sumit aware of health hazards associated with inappropriate and excessive use of laptop. Help his father to list the points which he should discuss with Sumit.
Health hazards of excessive/inappropriate laptop use
•
Eye strain, headache, disturbed sleep
•
Neck/back pain due to poor posture (lack of ergonomic positioning)
•
Wrist/hand pain (RSI), tiredness
•
Stress, reduced physical activity, over-dependence/addiction
The excessive device use affects physical and psychological well-being and stresses ergonomics/posture.