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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, @03:47PM (2 children)
Well, if you want to win TMB over to your side, it might help to suggest to the reader what career she should choose instead.
Welding, CNC operation, industrial robotics, all good things that anybody thinking about being a programmer should choose instead. Those jobs are more in demand, can't be outsourced, and in my neck of the woods, they (consequently) pay more too!
(Score: 2) by HiThere on Monday August 13 2018, @05:50PM
I *think* the demand for CNC operator has peaked. Of course, there are still jobs for Cobol programmers.
Javascript is what you use to allow unknown third parties to run software you have no idea about on your computer.
(Score: 3, Informative) by The Mighty Buzzard on Tuesday August 14 2018, @01:36PM
Industrial electrician. It's not ever going to make you rich but there will never be too many of them and their jobs will never in a million years be automated away.
My rights don't end where your fear begins.