ACM Code of Ethics and Professional Conduct

• It has four sections …– Section 1: Fundamental ethical considerations

– Section 2: Specific ethical considerations

– Section 3: For people in leadership roles

– Section 4: Principles involving compliance with the code

• Lets look at the fundamental in section 1

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ACM Code of Ethics and Professional Conduct• Contribute to society and human well being (1.1)

– Obligation to protect fundamental human rights and to respect the diversity of all cultures.

– Minimize negative consequences of computing systems– Must attempt to ensure that the products of their efforts will be used in

socially responsible ways– avoid harmful effects to health and welfare. – avoid potential damage to the local or global environment.

• Avoid harm to others (1.2).– Harm means injury or negative consequences– Example: loss of information, property, property/environmental damage,

etc. Strive to include features which discourage abuse in the investment world.

– Design systems so that time & effort is not wasted on overhead items such as the time it takes to purge viruses.

– Sometimes well intended actions may lead to harmful results.

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ACM Code of Ethics and Professional Conduct

• Be honest and trustworthy (1.3)– Why should this directive have to be encoded by the ACM – should it not

be obvious - maybe not! Maybe I should have started with the 10 Commandments! … Thou shalt not bear false witness!

– Do not make deceptive or false claims about the system

– Full discloser limitation and problems with the system!

… no sins of omission!

– Sometimes following this one could get you not promoted or even fired … but you must be able to live with yourself.

• Be fair and take action not to discriminate (1.4). – No discrimination based on race, sex, religion, disability, etc.

– Although this seems obvious, violations may be inadvertent, and there may be tradeoffs with cost and performance aspects of the system … what if special but costly features are needed for disabilities.

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ACM Code of Ethics and Professional Conduct

• Honor property rights including copyrights and patent (1.5).– Thou shalt not steal!

– Do you download illegal mp3’s! … bye-bye KaZaA

– No bootleg software

– Violating this rule could result in in lawsuits against your employer

– Also protect intellectual property and “secrets” owned by ytour company even if you came up with them and they are not patented or copyrighted as yet – your ideas could end up in a competitor’s system

– Violations were considered grounds for firing at IBM.

• Give proper credit for intellectual property (1.6). – No taking credit for other people’s work – why must this be said! Is it not

obvious? … thou shalt not covet!

– This must be followed even for intellectual property that is not protected by copyrights or patents.

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ACM Code of Ethics and Professional Conduct

• Respect the privacy of others (1.7). – Because of the awesome power computers have in gathering, storing, and

processing data – including personal data, this principle has immense social consequences.

– Professionals must ensure:• integrity and accuracy of personal data

• take precautions to prevent unauthorized access – even accidental disclosures

• allow individuals whose information is stored to access and check records or correctness.

– Personal example: I was once issued a credit card from a local bank with another persons account number encoded on the magnetic strip. A technical slip up, but it made me nervous!

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ACM Code of Ethics and Professional Conduct

• Honor confidentiality (1.8). – A client may reveal confidential information to you that you may ned in

designing some aspect of a system

– A bit of “lawyer/client”, “doctor/patient”, or “confessor/penitent” constraints are needed here.

– The only exceptions may be when something like a court order is issued.

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ACM Code of Ethics and Professional Conductsection 2 – more specifics

• (2.1) Strive to achieve the highest quality, effectiveness and dignity in both the process and products of professional work.

• (2.2) Acquire and maintain professional competence.

• (2.3) Know and respect existing laws pertaining to professional work.

• (2.4) Accept and provide appropriate professional review

• (2.5) Give comprehensive and thorough evaluations of computer systems and their impacts, including assessment of possible risks.

• (2.6) Honor contracts, agreements, and assigned responsibilities.

• (2.7) Improve public understanding of computing and its consequences.

• (2.8) Access computing and communication resources only when authorized to do so.

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