SoylentNews is people
SoylentNews is powered by your submissions, so send in your scoop. Only 15 submissions in the queue.
SoylentNews
posted by
martyb
on Tuesday November 22 2016, @08:04PM
from the "code"-of-ethics-needs-debugging? dept.
from the "code"-of-ethics-needs-debugging? dept.
Earlier this week, a post written by programmer and teacher Bill Sourour went viral. It's called "Code I'm Still Ashamed Of."
In it he recounts a horrible story of being a young programmer who landed a job building a website for a pharmaceutical company. The whole post is worth a read, but the upshot is he was duped into helping the company skirt drug advertising laws in order to persuade young women to take a particular drug.
He later found out the drug was known to worsen depression and at least one young woman committed suicide while taking it. He found out his sister was taking the drug and warned her off it.
By sake of comparison, take a look at the ACM Code of Ethics and Professional Conduct (Adopted by ACM Council 10/16/92.)
This discussion has been archived.
No new comments can be posted.
Programmers Talk About the Unethical and Illegal Things They’ve Been Asked To Do
|
Log In/Create an Account
| Top
| 78 comments
| Search Discussion
The Fine Print: The following comments are owned by whoever posted them. We are not responsible for them in any way.
Alive without breath,
As cold as death;
Never thirsty, ever drinking,
All in mail never clinking.
(Score: 2) by Thexalon on Monday November 28 2016, @04:45PM
Sometimes, we do have choices though. For example, imagine you are faced with choosing between the following employers:
- A scientific research institute trying to design better batteries.
- A non-profit dedicated to providing medical services for veterans.
- A search engine spamming outfit.
My guess is that many of us would choose the scientific institute or the non-profit, even if the pay is lower.
And I have to say, I make the same sorts of decisions with potential clients too when I'm doing contract work: If the company in question is scuzzy, I try to avoid working for them. Among other things, I know sooner or later that they'll be scuzzy to me, not just their clients.
The only thing that stops a bad guy with a compiler is a good guy with a compiler.
(Score: 2) by art guerrilla on Monday November 28 2016, @07:44PM
1. yes, you are making some bright-line distinctions that we may very well not be cognizant of BEFORE getting in the company...
2. as you commendably confessed further upstream, you took a job you felt was marginally ethical because you needed food in your belly ( AND if you are in charge of other bellies, your ethics will not even come into play)...
3. bottom line : practically and generally speaking, you can only afford strict morality and the highest ethical standards if you are independently wealthy with 'fuck you' money... the rest of us can't afford ethics when there are bellies to fill...
4. the idea of having a true 'choice' in which of the many jobs available to me, i could pick one for its high ethical values, TOTALLY presupposes a world which no longer exists, if it ever did: the job market -for most of us- is so shitty, THERE IS LITTLE TO NO CHOICE...
sure, you can 'choose' shitty job A from shitty employer A, or you can 'choose' shitty job B from shitty employer B... some choice, IF you are 'lucky' enough to have two shit jobs to choose from...
(Score: 2) by Thexalon on Monday November 28 2016, @08:45PM
I agree completely that lots of people, myself included, make compromising choices because they need to eat and pay the bills. On the other hand, you shouldn't deny your own ability to make choices entirely. If you have a choice of 2 bad jobs to choose from, you can at least choose the least-bad option.
The only thing that stops a bad guy with a compiler is a good guy with a compiler.