Professional Practices
Lecture:04
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Professional Ethics & Code of Ethics
❑ Introduction
❑ IEEE Code of Ethics
❑ ACM (Association for Computing Machinery) Code of Ethics
❑ Different Scenarios
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ACM Code of Ethics
❑ The ACM Code of Ethics is a set of ethical principles and
professional standards created by the Association for
Computing Machinery (ACM).
❑ The ACM Code of Ethics tells computer professionals how to
act responsibly, fairly, and honestly when using technology or
creating computer systems.
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ACM Code of Ethics
General moral imperatives: “As an ACM member I will…”
❑ Contribute to society and human well-being.
❑ Avoid harm to others.
❑ Be honest and trustworthy.
❑ Be fair and take action not to discriminate.
❑ Honor property rights including copyrights and official document.
❑ Give proper credit for intellectual property.
❑ Respect the privacy of others.
❑ Honor confidentiality.
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Specific professional responsibilities: “As an ACM computing professional I
will”:
❑ Endeavor to achieve the highest quality, effectiveness, and dignity in both the
process and products of professional work.
❑ Acquire and maintain professional competence.
❑ Know and respect existing laws that apply to professional work.
❑ Accept and provide an appropriate professional review.
❑ Give comprehensive and in-depth evaluations of computer systems and their
impacts, including analysis of possible risks.
❑ Honor/integrity contracts, agreements, and assigned responsibilities.
❑ Improve public understanding of computing and its consequences/penalties.
❑ Access computing and communication resources only when authorized to do so.
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Organization leadership imperatives: “As an ACM member and an
organizational leader, I will:”
❑ Articulate/clear social responsibilities of members of an organizational unit
and encourage full acceptance of those responsibilities.
❑ Manage personnel and resources to design and build information systems that
enhance the quality of working life.
❑ Acknowledge and support proper and authorized uses of an organization’s
computing and communication resources.
❑ Make sure the needs of users and others affected by the design are clearly
explained during the requirement planning stage. Later, confirm that the
system meets these requirements.
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❑ Articulate/clear and support policies that protect the
dignity/self-esteem of users and others affected by a
computing system.
❑ Create opportunities for members of the organization to learn
the principles and limitations of computer systems.
Compliance with the Code: “As an ACM member, I will:”
❑ Uphold/maintain and promote the principles of this Code.
❑ Treat violations of this code as inconsistent with membership
in the ACM.
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Ethical decision making: Case 1
❑ Ali is a database programmer
A large statistical program is needed by his company.
Company programmers are encouraged to publicize their work
❑ Ali has found himself stuck on a problem
He has persisted at this for several months.
His manager does not recognize the complexity of the problem.
He / She insists the job be completed in a few days.
❑ Ali remembers:
The co-worker gave him the source code of their current work.
He also has an early version of commercial software developed at another company
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❑ Ali studies these programs
Sees two areas of code that could be directly incorporated into his
own program
He uses segments of code both from his coworker and from the
commercial software
❑ He does not tell anyone or mention it in the documentation.
❑ He completes the project and turns it in a day ahead of time.
❑ How does the Code of Ethics help us understand this case?
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Applying the code: Case 1
❑ This case highlights issues involving intellectual property
❑ Ali violated professional ethics in two areas:
1. Failure to give credit for another’s work
2. Using code from a commercial package that was copyrighted
❑ If Ali only “looked” at a co-worker’s source code:
Could he then write his own program and still have an
obligation/responsibility to give credit?
❑ Yes: He should have acknowledged credit in the documentation.
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Continued…
❑ The use of commercial software code was also not
appropriate:
Ali should have checked to determine whether or not the
company was authorized to use source code before using it.
❑ In general:
Desirable to share and exchange intellectual materials
But using software is definitely a violation of the code.
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Ethical decision making: Case 2
❑ Aisha’s company has been hired by a client to build a security system.
Because of cost overruns, the client has decided to opt (choose) for a less
secure system.
❑ Aisha believes the information they will store is extremely sensitive.
❑ With weak security:
Employees on workstations could figure out how to access this data.
Online intruders/attackers would also have access
❑ Aisha feels strongly that the system should be much more secure.
❑ She has tried to explain the risk.
❑ What should Aisha do? Should she refuse to build the system as they
request?
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Applying the Code: Case 2
❑ This case highlights issues involving privacy.
❑ Company officials:
Have an obligation to protect the privacy of their employees. Therefore they should
not accept inadequate security.
❑ Aisha’s first obligation:
Attempt to educate company officials
If that fails, she needs to consider her contractual obligations in honoring assigned
responsibilities.
❑ We don’t have Aisha’s contract, but she may have to choose between her
contract and her obligation to honor privacy and security.
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Ethical decision making: Case 3
❑ A contractor is determining the requirements for an employment
agency.
❑ The client describes what is needed when displaying applications whose
qualifications appear to match those for a particular job
❑ The client also further states that names of white applicants are to be
displayed ahead of nonwhites
❑ Further states that the names of male applicants are to be displayed
ahead of female applicants
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Applying the Code: Case 3
❑ This case highlights issues involving fairness and discrimination. In this case, the
system designer is asked to build a system that, it appears
❑ Will be used to favor white males and discriminate against non-whites and females
❑ From this, it would appear that:
The system designer should not do what he or she is told, plus
Should also point out the problematic nature of what is being requested
and ask the client why this is being done
❑ If the client answers that they plan to use the information to favor white males,
then: Computer professionals should refuse to build the system as proposed.
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Ethical decision making: Case 4
❑ A software development company has just produced a new software package.
❑ It incorporates new tax laws and prepares both individual and small business tax
returns
❑ The president of the company knows that the program has a number of bugs
❑ He also believes the first firm to put this kind of software on the market is likely to
capture the largest market share.
❑ The company widely advertises the package.
❑ When the product is shipped, it includes a disclaimer of responsibility for errors
resulting from the use of the program.
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❑ The company expects it will receive a number of complaints,
queries, and suggestions for modification. The company plans
to use these to make changes and eventually issue updated,
improved, and debugged versions. The president argues that
this is general industry policy:
❑ “Anyone who buys version 1.0 of a program knows this and
will take proper protections.”
❑ Because of bugs, a number of users filed incorrect tax returns
and were penalized by Rev Canada.
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Applying the Code: Case 4
❑ This case highlights issues involving legal liability for unreliable code.
Software Company (and president in particular) violated several principles in
the ACM code of ethics. Since he was aware of bugs in the product, he did
not strive to achieve the highest quality.
❑ By failing to inform consumers about bugs to system, principle 2.5 was
violated. Here the risks to users are so great they have to pay penalties for
mistakes which result from the program.
❑ By law companies can make disclaimers only when they are in “good
conscience” (Disclaimer does not meet legal test, violated principle 2.3)
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Thank you!
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