1. Do software developers have an ethical duty? KELLEN STUART

2. Norbert Wiener  Professor of Engineering at MIT  Set the basis for ethics in mid 1940’s  His system of ethics was considered “cybernetics”  Cybernetics = (Greek word for the pilot of a ship)  Wrote three books on computer Ethics  Cybernetics (1948)  The Human Use Of Human Beings (1950)  God and Golem (1963)

3. Norbert Wiener == return true; Ethics

4. Computer Ethics  Walter Maner built off Wiener ethics to milk it for what it is worth.  Maner felt it was necessary to have a field of Ethics for the computer industry just as the medical and business industries had.  He designed a computer ethics course for students.  Then Donald Gotterbarn came and formed the code of ethics and ethical conduct which was adopted by the ACM and the IEEE.

5. ACM – Association of Computing Machinery  World largest educational and scientific computing society.  Has it’s own code of ethics approved by the IEEE as the standard for teaching and practicing software engineering.

6. Some Basic Guidelines Of Ethics From ACM  Contribute to society and human well-being. Programmers should work to develop computer systems that can reduce negative consequences to society, such as threats to safety and health, and that can make everyday activities and work easier. It is “an obligation to develop to high standards” (Savage). [3] [3]  Avoid harm to others. Computer systems have an indirect impact on third parties. They can cause loss of information and resources that might result severely harmful for users, the general public, or employers. Therefore, software developers should minimize the risk of harming others due to coding errors, or security issues, by following standards to design and test systems (Code of Ethics and Professional Conduct). [2]coding errors [2]  Be honest and trustworthy. This principle encourages programmers to be honest and aware of their limitations in knowledge and education when writing computer systems. Also, if a programmer knows there is something wrong with a computer system, he or she should report it immediately to avoid undesirable consequences.  Give proper credit for intellectual property. It is mandatory for every software developer to never use and take credit for someone else’s work, even when it has not been protected by a copyrightlaw, patent, etc. They must recognize and fully credit other people’s works, and they should use their own ideas to develop software.copyrightpatent  Respect the privacy of others. Computer systems are wrongly used by some people to violate the privacy of others. Software developers should write programs that can protect users’ private information and that can avoid other undesired people to have unauthorized access to it (Code of Ethics and Professional Conduct).  Honor confidentiality. Unless required by law or any other ethical guideline, a programmer must keep secret any additional information related to his or her employer that arises from working in a project.

7. University’s Role in Ethics  University plays a big role because they usually are the teachers of coders  Ohio University trains their computer science majors on the field of programming ethics. They expect every student to adhere to ACM’s principles.

8. Legal Consequences  Breaking any of the guidelines established on the IEEE and ACM’s Code of Ethics will result in termination of the membership to the correspondent professional associations. (whatever that means)  You can also be persecuted under US law because the implicit relationship programming ethics have with business laws, agreements, contracts, etc.  Intentionally making mistakes exposes the programmer to trial.

9. Sources  "Programming Ethics." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation. Web. 10 Nov. 2015.  "Association for Computing Machinery." Software Engineering Code of Ethics and Professional Practice —. Web. 10 Nov. 2015.  "Coding Horror." A Question of Programming Ethics. Web. 10 Nov. 2015.  "Ethics for OO Programming." Brandon Savage. Web. 10 Nov. 2015.