December 1999
SC223 : COMPUTER SECURITY

QUESTION 3

Total Marks: 15 Marks

• Question 1
• Question 2
• Question 4
• Question 5
• Cover Page

SUGGESTED SOLUTIONS
Solutions and allocated marks are indicated in green.
Return to Question 3

Explain the difference between copyrights, patents and trade secrets.
Forms of protection:

Copyrights are designed to protect the expression of ideas;

Patents protect inventions, rather than works of the mind — a patent protects the device or process for carrying out an idea, not the idea itself or its expression;

Trade secrets are pieces of information that give a company a competitive edge, and are only valuable as long as they are kept secret.

(1 mark each; other answers may also be appropriate.)

Out of the above three forms of protection, identify the most appropriate for:
Appropriate forms of protection (1 mark each):

(i) the Lempel-Ziv data compression algorithm;
(i) patent (an algorithm encodes a process);

(ii) the TrueType encoding of the Times Roman font;
(ii) copyright (an expression of the ‘Times Roman’ idea);

(iii) the fabrication process for Pentium processors;
(iii) patent if it is public knowledge, trade secret if it is not;

(iv) the text of the manual for Microsoft Word.
(iv) copyright.

Discuss briefly the implications of Freedom of Speech legislation, with regard to publication on the Internet.
Many consider freedom of speech, including the publication of potentially offensive material, a right of every person (1 mark). Many also consider freedom from offensive, denigrating or dangerous material also a right (1 mark). These interests conflict, and resolving the conflict is tricky (1 mark). (Other reasonable observations should receive credit.)

Explain the term data protection legislation, and explain the ramifications for companies that construct profiles of their customers’ behaviour.
(d) Data protection legislation restricts the use of data about a person to the purposes for which that data was collected (1 mark), unless explicit permission for other uses is obtained from the subject (1 mark). Many companies such as supermarkets and banks construct detailed profiles of customer behaviour, with the aim of selling them related products (1 mark). However, unless the customers consent to this use of personal information, this marketing behaviour might contravene data protection legislation (1 mark). (Be flexible; other relevant points should be credited.)

What is the purpose of the Computer Misuse Act in Singapore?
This was enacted to provide a channel for law enforcement agencies to act on possible computer misuse.