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posted by Fnord666 on Monday August 13 2018, @11:10AM   Printer-friendly
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?


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  • (Score: 2) by sjames on Monday August 13 2018, @05:10PM (4 children)

    by sjames (2882) on Monday August 13 2018, @05:10PM (#721049) Journal
    >p>The problem comes in when bad managers (who are legion) don't recognize that management is just another job done within a team and imagine themselves to be superior to the rest. It's just a short step from there to failing to ask the actual experts and making decisions they're not qualified to make.
    Starting Score:    1  point
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    Total Score:   2  
  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday August 13 2018, @06:36PM (3 children)

    by Anonymous Coward on Monday August 13 2018, @06:36PM (#721085)

    The workplace is not a democracy.
    It is hierarchical, almost dictatorial.
    This reinforces the tendency to tell people what to do rather than getting input from the peons.
    Remember, your boss may have been dictated to with no authority to change things. Passing it along, as it were.
    Plus in any hierarchy, you must constantly strive to maintain your place in it.

    • (Score: 2) by RS3 on Tuesday August 14 2018, @03:36AM (2 children)

      by RS3 (6367) on Tuesday August 14 2018, @03:36AM (#721220)

      I agree that many workplaces are that way, but W. Edwards Deming https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/W._Edwards_Deming [wikipedia.org], Tom Peters https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tom_Peters [wikipedia.org], and many others have studied and understand that a more cooperative and democratic workplace results in happier workers, more productivity, better product quality, overall win-win for everyone.

      The wiki doesn't give much detail, but the story I remember (on a PBS special) is that Deming tried to convince US manufacturers of his methods right after WW II but they rejected him. The Japanese liked him, brought him over, and after years of learning and refinement, made them into the product quality powerhouse they became and are. The Chins are beating them in some areas where people want cheap more than good. Ford brought him in, but they spent more $ on advertising "Quality is Job #1" than actually doing it. Tom Peters worked with Harley-Davidson and turned that company around for many years, after the AMF debacle. Part of it was he got the company to make the employees part owners, and generally got management and workers to work together.

      • (Score: 3, Insightful) by bzipitidoo on Wednesday August 15 2018, @04:58PM (1 child)

        by bzipitidoo (4388) on Wednesday August 15 2018, @04:58PM (#721844) Journal

        Seems the lesson that free people make happier and more productive workers has to be learned over and over. "Those who cannot learn from history are doomed to repeat it".

        The US Civil War is a strong lesson that just won't stay learned. Before they started the war, the slave side was already way behind. Yet rather than admit slavery wasn't working, that they were not able to compete with the free states, and let slavery fade out, they blamed their own failures on others and turned to violence. Their only real hope of victory was that the free side would not fight, or would quickly tire of fighting, and so it was incredibly stupid to start the fighting, and then conduct the war in a manner not only to gain military victory, but also to humiliate the free side. But the slave side really had to do it that way, as they had stuffed themselves full of all kinds of hypocritical propaganda and nonsense such as the "Southern Gentleman" idea that each of their men were worth 2 Yankees. And, the ridiculous wistful thought that a whole legion of blacks wasn't the equal of one white Southern gentleman, any more than a troop of monkeys could overcome one well-prepared human. Of course none of this held up when tested in war.

        A big problem is that often management has a hidden agenda, best expressed as nepotism and cronyism. And some of these utterly unqualified managers enjoy being put in a superior position over others, to grind their betters down and assuage their feelings of insecurity, jealously, and bitterness. It's the resentful, angry, and stupid college dropout in charge of college graduates. They don't understand much, and resort to slave driver tactics to manage the people stuck working under them. in part because that's all they understand (they will know a little about the Civil War, enough to argue in favor of the Lost Cause, and that the war was really about states rights), and in part out of sadistic revenge.

        • (Score: 2) by RS3 on Wednesday August 15 2018, @06:13PM

          by RS3 (6367) on Wednesday August 15 2018, @06:13PM (#721872)

          Wow, don't hold back! Thank you, great post. I echo the sentiment, especially about the sadistic tendencies of some people. But on some level I accept all of it as a failure of humanity; better said, the ways that negative traits gain a stronghold. Looking at society, self-government, "good" people making hopefully good just laws and enforcing them justly, it would be nice if corporations had better internal rules, laws, codes of behavior, watchdogs, whistleblower protections, etc. Generally self-cleaning political structure. On a small scale we have jobsearch websites allowing comments and reviews of company environment, so that's a start, but of course it's the vociferous few, so not highly statistically relevant.