Ethics & ACM Code of Ethics PDF

Ethics & Codes of Conduct Ethics System of Moral Principles Ethics represent the moral values of a culture or society. Rules of Conduct Defines acceptable behaviors for specific groups (e.g., medical ethics, Christian ethics). Individual Moral Principles Personal belie...

Ethics & Codes of Conduct Ethics System of Moral Principles Ethics represent the moral values of a culture or society. Rules of Conduct Defines acceptable behaviors for specific groups (e.g., medical ethics, Christian ethics). Individual Moral Principles Personal beliefs about what is right or wrong (e.g., avoiding betrayal). Philosophical Study A branch of philosophy focused on evaluating human actions and their motivations in terms of good, bad, right, or wrong. Motivation for Code of Ethics Purpose of Mechanisms Professional Identity: A code of ethics highlights standards, setting the profession apart from unregulated fields. Membership Criteria: Ensures only qualified, ethical individuals are included. Public Trust: Builds credibility and justifies self-regulation through ethical practices. Self-Regulation as a Solution Code of Ethics: Outlines acceptable behavior clearly. Ethics Review Board: Monitors compliance and enforces rules. Deterrence: Rules and consequences discourage unethical actions. ETHICAL OR UNETHICAL? What Computer Science / What Computer Science / Software Engineering Software Engineering Activities are considered Activities are considered Ethical? Unethical? ETHICS IN COMPUTER SCIENCE How are Ethics established for an entire field? How do ethics get established for Computer Science / Software Engineering? PROFESSIONAL SOCIETIES Various Professional Computer Science Societies establish Ethical Guidelines and Encourage their members to follow them Association for Computing Machinery (ACM) Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineer(IEEE) ACM CODE OF ETHICS Adopted 10/16/92, most recent 6/22/2018 Commitment to ethical professional conduct is expected of every member 25 imperatives formulate as statements of personal responsibility http://www.acm.org/about/code-of-ethics ACM Code Of Ethics Section 1 : General Ethical Principles Section 2 : Professional Responsibilities Section 3 : Professional Leadership Principles Section 4 : Compliance with the Code  1. General Ethical Principle 1. General moral imperatives: “As an ACM member I will…” 2. Contribute to society and human well-being. 🌍 3. Avoid harm. 🚫 4. Be honest and trustworthy. 5. Be fair and take action not to discriminate. 6. Honor property rights including copyrights and patents. 📚 7. Give proper credit for intellectual property. 8. Respect privacy of others. 9. Honor confidentiality. 🔐  2. Professional Responsibility Specific professional responsibilities: “As an ACM computing professional I will”: 1. Strive to achieve the highest quality, effectiveness and dignity in both the process and products of professional work. 2. Acquire and maintain professional competence. 3. Know and respect existing laws pertaining to professional work. 4. Accept and provide appropriate professional review. 5. Give comprehensive and thorough evaluations of computer system and their impacts, including analysis of possible risks. 6. Honor contracts, agreements, and assigned responsibilities. 7. Improve public understanding of computing and its consequences. 8. Access computing and communication resources only when authorized to do so. 3. Professional Leadership Principles Organization leadership imperatives: “As an ACM member and an organizational leader, I will:” 1. Ensure that the public good is the central concern during all professional computing work. 2. Articulate, encourage acceptance of, and evaluate fulfillment of social responsibilities by members of the organization or group. 3. Manage personnel and resources to design and build information systems that enhance the quality of working life. 4. Articulate, apply, and support policies and processes that reflect the principles of the Code. 5. Create opportunities for members of the organization or group to grow as professionals. 6. Use care when modifying or retiring systems. 7. Recognize and take special care of systems that become integrated into the infrastructure of society. 4. Compliance with the Code 1. Uphold and promote, and respect the principles of this Code. 2. Treat violations of this code as inconsistent with membership in the ACM. Ethical decision making: Case 1 Joe is a database programmer large statistical program needed by his company (actuarial requirements) company programmers are encouraged to publicize their work Joe has found himself stuck on a problem Has persisted at this for several months. His manager does not recognize complexity of problem. She insists job be completed in the few days. Joe remembers: co-worker had given him source listings of their current work he also has an early version of commercial software developed at another company Ethical decision making: Case 1 Joe studies these programs Sees two areas of code which 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? Applying the code: Case 1 This case highlights issues involving intellectual property 1.6: “Give proper credit for intellectual property” Specifically, do not take credit for other’s ideas or work. Property rights principle (1.5) copyrights, patents, trade secrets, license agreements Restrictions also ground in: integrity (1.3) complying with existing laws (2.3) Applying the code: Case 1 Joe violated professional ethics in two areas: Failure to give credit for another’s work. Using code from a commercial package that (presumably) was copyrighted. If Joe only “looked” at co-worker’s source code: Could he then write his own program and still have an obligation to give credit? Yes: He should have acknowledged credit in documentation. (Some professional discretion possible here, especially if intellectual material is trivial.) Applying the code: Case 1 Use of commercial software code was also not appropriate: Joe should have checked to determine whether or not company was authorized to use source code before using it. In general: Desirable to share and exchange intellectual materials But using bootlegged software is definitely a violation of code. Ethical decision making: Case 2 Three years ago, Susanne started her own consulting business She is so successful she now has several people working for her. Has many clients. Includes work such as advising on network architectures, designing DBMSes, security. Presently designing a DBMS for the personnel office a medium-sized (100 person) company. Susanne has involved client in design process Informs CEO, CTO and human resources head about system progress Ethical decision making: Case 2 Now it is time to make decisions about the kind and degree of security to build into system. Susanne has described several options. Because of cost overruns, client has decided to opt for a less secure system. Susanne believes information they will store is extremely sensitive (performance evaluations, medical records for insurance claims, salaries, etc.) With weak security: Employees on workstations could figure out how to access this data. Online intruders would also have access Ethical decision making: Case 2 Susanne feels strongly that system should be much more secure. She has tried to explain the risk. CEO, CTO and HR all agree that less security will do. What should Susanne so? Should she refuse to build the system as they request? Applying the Code: Case 2 This case highlights issues involving privacy Principle 1.7 deals with privacy Principle 1.8 deals with confidentiality Code guidelines state that: “computer professionals are obligated to preserve the integrity of data about individuals…” “… from unauthorized access or accidental disclosure to inappropriate individuals” Code also specifies for organizational leaders: Principle 3.5 (enhance personal dignity) Principle 3.4 (assess needs of all those affected by system) Applying the Code: Case 2 Company officials: Have an obligation to protect privacy of their employees. Therefore they should not accept inadequate security. Susanne’s first obligation: Attempt to educate company officials (implied by principle 2.7) If that fails, she needs to consider her contractual obligations (principle 2.6) in honouring assigned responsibilities. We don’t have Susanne’s contract, but she may have to choose between her contract and her obligation to honour privacy and security. Ethical Decision Making: Case 3 Mary works in a large provincial agency dealing with alcoholism and drug abuse. Agency administers programs for individuals with alcohol and drug programs. Maintains a large database of information on clients who use agency services. Some data files contain names and current addresses of clients. Mary has been asked to look at the track records of treatment programs. Reporting # of clients seen each month for past five years, length of client treatment, number of clients who return after program completion, criminal histories of clients. Ethical Decision Making: Case 3 Mary has been given access to all files in the agency’s mainframe computer This data is needed to put together the report. After assembling data: She downloads it to the computer in her office. The agency is pressuring her to finish report on the deadline. Mary decides she must work from home over the weekend. She copies data onto several disks and takes them home. After finishing report she leaves the disks at home and forgets about them. Applying the Code: Case 3 This case resembles case 2, but raises several additional issues. Issues involving confidentiality Principle 1.7 deals with privacy Principle 1.8 deals with confidentiality Principle 2.8 also applies: Constraining access to authorized systems Principle 3.5: Organizational leaders have obligations to “verify systems are designed and implemented to protect personal privacy and enhance personal dignity” Also Principle 3.3: (Appropriate and authorized uses of organization’s resources) Applying the Code: Case 3 Government agency should have had policies and procedures to protect identity of its clients Mary’s friends and relatives might accidentally discover files and inappropriate uses information. Note that the files Mary used did not need to have names or other information in the records. Agency should have removed identifying information from files Mary was allowed to use. If this happened, it wouldn’t have mattered that Mary copied files to her computer. Mary, unfortunately, was not attentive to ethical issues ahead of time. References ACM code of Ethics : https://www.acm.org/code-of-ethics https://heat.csc.uvic.ca/coview/course/2019011/SENG401