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Microsoft's President Brad Smith is calling for a Digital Geneva Convention:
Microsoft is calling for a Digital Geneva Convention, as global tensions over digital attacks continue to rise. The tech giant wants to see civilian use of the internet protected as part of an international set of accords, Brad Smith, the company's president and chief legal officer, said in a blog post.
The manifesto, published alongside his keynote address at the RSA conference in San Francisco on Tuesday, argued for codifying recent international norms around cyberwarfare and for establishing an independent agency to respond to and analyze cyberattacks.
From the blog post:
Just as the Fourth Geneva Convention has long protected civilians in times of war, we now need a Digital Geneva Convention that will commit governments to protecting civilians from nation-state attacks in times of peace. And just as the Fourth Geneva Convention recognized that the protection of civilians required the active involvement of the Red Cross, protection against nation-state cyberattacks requires the active assistance of technology companies. The tech sector plays a unique role as the internet's first responders, and we therefore should commit ourselves to collective action that will make the internet a safer place, affirming a role as a neutral Digital Switzerland that assists customers everywhere and retains the world's trust.
Also at The Seattle Times and USA Today.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by Grishnakh on Wednesday February 15 2017, @05:04PM
Most software is created by teams of people, not lone coders. Teams of people require management, both to coordinate their actions, and to decide on what to do. Individual developers at a company have no real freedom to decide what to code, or how to do it. One module can be excellent, but if the overall architecture is crap, the product is going to be crap, and the individual developer who wrote the good module isn't to blame, it's the software architect. In other cases, there's not nearly enough time allocated, and that's clearly the fault of management, leading to products rushed out the door far too early.
Ultimately, the responsibility for crappy software lies with management, at all layers in a company.
Worse, at least 99% of software out there is "crappy", so it's not like punishing individual developers is going to improve things.
(Score: 2) by Scruffy Beard 2 on Wednesday February 15 2017, @05:34PM
Robert C. Martin (Uncle Bob) advocates for a professional association that can discipline coders "just following orders".
VW [8thlight.com]
(Score: 5, Insightful) by Grishnakh on Wednesday February 15 2017, @08:52PM
"Uncle Bob" is an idiot. He's trying to make software engineering out to be a profession akin to doctors. We're not. Get over it: we are NOT like doctors. We do not have the same level of responsibility, nor do we have the same levels of education or pay. Most importantly, we do not have the same level of autonomy. Doctors basically work for themselves. So do many other "professionals" that Uncle Bob and people like him compare software engineers to. Those civil engineers who are liable for their bridge designs? They're not low-level monkey workers at some MegaCorp, they're very high-level people at professional engineering firms, and they're licensed by the state as Professional Engineers. They really do answer to a higher authority. We do not. We are nothing more than low-level grunts, who happen to make a pretty good living these days because of the newness of the industry. We follow orders, or we get fired; it's that simple. We don't get vindication if we blow the whistle; this has been seen over and over again throughout our society: whistleblowers end up never working in their industry again, and become pariahs, while their bosses go scot-free and continue running their businesses badly until someone dies, and even then nothing happens except maybe a lawsuit.
So spare me the "professional" BS. We are not doctors, and we're not Professional Engineers. We have no more responsibility for our actions, unless it's plainly obvious someone will get killed (and emissions don't count here, otherwise engineers who work at lawn equipment makers should all be going to prison, as typical 2-cycle lawn equipment is FAR more polluting than any VW diesel engine), than some salesman who sells crappy products.