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from the Keep-everything-under-digital-lock dept.
Computer Programmers get new Tech Ethics Code
The guidelines come from the Association for Computing Machinery
Technological professionals are the first, and last, lines of defense against the misuse of technology. Nobody else understands the systems as well, and nobody else is in a position to protect specific data elements or ensure the connections between one component and another are appropriate, safe and reliable. As the role of computing continues its decades-long expansion in society, computer scientists are central to what happens next.
Personally, I am quite concerned that our Congress has not attached Responsibility with Rights when it comes to software. If someone is going to claim ownership and rights to a piece of code then protect it with electronic lock or obscurity, why aren't they also held 100% responsible if that code causes mayhem?
We just had a story here about the concerns we have about a hemoglobin based meat substitute ... and what we go through to make damn sure the substance is harmless to life before we introduce it into the food chain... and even *that* has to be completely described and its molecular structure demonstrated.
Can you imagine the uproar if Chemists started releasing anything tasty, that people would eat, and call it "food"? And would our Congress grant them the right to withhold information as to what it was? Then hold them harmless for whatever it did to people?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday August 13 2018, @11:53AM (5 children)
You imagine they don't?
NEWSFLASH: they do.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Food_additives [wikipedia.org]
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Template:Food_Substitutes [wikipedia.org]
Given large enough PR budget and legal department, every unimaginable thing can become food for the masses.
(Score: -1, Flamebait) by Anonymous Coward on Monday August 13 2018, @12:28PM
Found the incel!
Incel misogynerds are responsible for all the evils in the world. Plumber, electrician, sandhog, construction, all professions that have perfect gender balance of at least 50% women.¹ It's only programming that attracts you incel misogynerds who have a worse grasp of ethics than LITERAL HITLER.
If only you'd stop chasing women out of your field. But you hate women because you can't get laid! Death to incels! Ethics committees be upon them!
¹ Note: I'm a gaslighting capitalist asshole, so I only looked at the demographics for ownership of companies in those fields. I don't give a shit about you working class incels.
(Score: 2) by Freeman on Monday August 13 2018, @03:20PM (2 children)
Case in point, Carmine. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carmine [wikipedia.org]
Joshua 1:9 "Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed: for the Lord thy God is with thee"
(Score: 2) by HiThere on Monday August 13 2018, @05:45PM (1 child)
Do you have any evidence that it *does* cause an allergic reaction in anyone? Just because some groups are afraid that it might doesn't mean that this is a reasonable stance.
P.S.: If you're allergic to insects, don't eat wheat, rye, corn flour, etc. Those are all allowed to contain small amounts of ground insects. So are most other foods, as it's almost impossible to keep insects out of the food, so all that's required is limiting the amount.
Javascript is what you use to allow unknown third parties to run software you have no idea about on your computer.
(Score: 2) by Freeman on Monday August 13 2018, @06:33PM
I wasn't meaning to imply that it was inherently bad for you. I just was going with the noted factor that carmine is directly derived from insects. Which isn't something most people would think.
Joshua 1:9 "Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed: for the Lord thy God is with thee"
(Score: 2) by urza9814 on Tuesday August 14 2018, @11:24AM
I was gong to say that they DID...took a lot of research, many years, and many deaths to bring about the current (and still rather lax as you point out) level of regulation. And the general public ought to understand food additives and risks a hell of a lot better than they understand technological risks.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harvey_Washington_Wiley [wikipedia.org]
That's the problem IMO...and you can't possibly solve it just by adding some ethics discussions as a required part of a computer science degree. You can't solve it just by looking at the coders. We have this entire society that was convinced to start buying computers without really knowing what they did or how they worked; and controlling and exploiting these people is sufficiently profitable that someone is going to try. The only real solution is to educate the end users so they can stop buying this garbage.