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: 4, Interesting) by MichaelDavidCrawford on Monday August 13 2018, @12:26PM (1 child)
Andrew Joseph "Joe" Stack III burned his own house to the ground, thereby rendering his wife and children homeless, then crashed his fully-fueled airplane into the Austin Texas IRS building, taking the life of Vernon Hunter, a man with seven children, because Stack was frustrated with his inability to organize programmers to repeal the law being IRS Section 1706.
That I had written an essay about 1706 on my website resulted in my own fifteen minutes of fame [youtu.be].
Did Joe's murder-suicide result in any organized programmers?
It would be far more effective to herd housecats than to convince any reasonably large collection of coders to agree on _anything_ at all.
Yes I Have No Bananas. [gofundme.com]
(Score: 1, Touché) by Anonymous Coward on Monday August 13 2018, @08:44PM
At least we can agree that Vim is superior to Emacs.