CHAPTER Professional Ethics

1 CHAPTER8 ProfessionalEthicsWehavecomethrougha strange cycle inprogramming,startingwith thecreationofprogrammingitself as ahumanactivity. Executiveswiththe tiniestsmatteringofknowledgeassumethatan yonecan write aprogram,andonlynowareprogrammersbeginni ngto win their battle forrecognitionas true ,ThePsychologyojComputerProgramming, ,APROFESSIONIS AVOCATIONTHATREQUIRESAHIGHLEVELOFEDUCATI ON andpracticalexperience in the field. Medicine and law are paydoctorsand lawyers well,trustingthatthey will correctlyascertainandtreatourmedical and legalproblems,respectively. Professionals have a specialobligationto ensure their actions are for the goodofthose whodependonthembecausetheirdecisions can have more seriousconsequencesthanthe choices made by thoseholdinglessresponsiblepositionsin thischapterwe focus onmoraldecisions made by people who design, imple-ment,ormaintaincomputerhardwareor software systems.

2 We begin byconsideringtheextent to which acomputer-relatedcareer is aprofessionalong the lines ofmedicineorlaw. Next, wepresentand analyze a code of Ethics for animportantcomputer-relateddiscipline: leads us into a discussionofvirtueethics,386 CHAPTER8 PROFESSIONALETHICSan ethicaltheorybased on the ideathatgoodcharacteris the source ofcorrectmoralde-cisions. Three case studies give us theopportunityto use the softwareengineeringcodeof Ethics as a tool for ethical , we discuss whistleblowing: asituationin which amemberof an organi-zation breaks ranks to reveal actual orpotentialharmto the public. Whistleblowingraisesimportantmoralquesti onsaboutloyalty,trust,and responsibility. Two accountsofwhistleblowingilluminatethesem oralquestionsanddemonstratethepersonalsa c-rifices some have made for the greater good of society. Weconsidertheimportantrolemanagementplay s in creating anorganizationalatmospherethateither allows or of people have acomputer-relatedjob title, such ascomputerengineer, com-puterscientist,programmer,software engineer, systemadministrator,or systems ana-lyst.

3 Is acomputer-relatedcareer aprofessionlikemedicineor law? Let'sconsiderthecharacteristicsof a well-developed fully developedprofessionhas awell-organizedinfrastructurefor certifying new mem-bers andsupportingthose who already belong to and Gibbs haveidentifiedeightcomponentsofa matureprofessionalinfrastructure[1]: Initialprofessionaleducation-formalcours e workcompletedbycandidatesbeforethey beginpracticingthe profession Accreditation-assuresthatthe formal course work meets thestandardsof the pro-fession Skillsdevelopment-activitiesthatprovidec andidateswith theopportunityto gainpracticalskillsneededtopracticethepr ofession Certification-processby whichcandidatesareevaluatedtodetermineth eirreadi-ness to enter the profession Licensing-theprocess givingcandidatesthe legalrightto practice the profession Professionaldevelopment-formalcourse workcompletedby professionals in ordertomaintainand developtheirknowledge and skills Code ofethics-mechanismby which a profession ensuresthatitsmemberswill usetheirknowledge and skills for the benefit of society Professionalsociety-organizationpromotin gthe welfare of theprofession.

4 Typicallyconsistingofmostifnotall of themembersof theprofessionFigure thesecomponentsworktogethertosupportthe profes-sion. Apersondesiring to join the professionundertakessome initial Professional process ofaccreditationassuresthattheeducational process :2 ARECOMPUTEREXPERTSPROFESSIONALS? mature profession has eight attributes that enable it to certify new membersandsupportexisting members[1].completingtheirformaleducatio n,candidatesgain skillsthroughpractical experienceworkingin the thecandidateis ready to be licensed to practice the public cantrustthecompetenceandintegrityof themembersof a pro-fession,everyoneof itsmembersbenefits. For this reasonprofessionalshave a stakeinensuringthatfellowmembersof theprofessionare capable and ,professionalsocieties establish codesofethics and requiretheirmembersto keep their who donotfollow the codeofethics or fail to keep up with changes in thefield can steps, let'sconsiderhow apersonbecomes a Certified Public Accoun-tant(CPA).

5 We chooseaccountingbecause it is a fully this respect it is moresimilarto a typ-icalcomputer-relatedcareerthanthemed icalor legalprofessions, first step forsomeonewishing tobecomea CPA is tograduatewith150semestercredithoursanda t least abachelor'sdegree from anaccreditedcollege or CPA choose tomajorinaccounting,althoughit isnotstrictlynecessary. However, thecandidatemusthavecompletedat least 24semestercredithoursinaccounting,auditi ng,businesslaw, finance,andtax ,thecandidategetspracticaltrainingin theprofessionby findingemploymentas anaccountantworkingunderthesupervisionof a ,candidatesmustsit for the CPA exam, which has four donotpass at least pass atleast twopartsof the exammustpass theremainingpartswithinfive the necessaryformaleducation,plussatisfactor yscores on everysectionof the CPA exam, plus two years' workexperienceenable anaccountanttobecomea ,CPAsmustfulfillcontinuingeducationrequi rementsandabide by theprofession'scode of easy to find a crucial differencebetweensystem analysts,computerprogrammers,andsystemad ministratorson the onehandandaccountants,lawyers.

6 Andphysicianson theheartof everymatureprofessionis aprofessiontodeterminewho will be allowed example, apersonmaynotpracticelaw in a statewithoutpassing the bar exam and beinggranteda license. Incontrast,people may write com-puterprogramsandmaintaincomputersyst ems,eitherasconsultants,soleproprietors, ormembersoflargerfirms,withoutbeingcerti fied orhavingbeengranteda , the rest of thecharacteristicsof tocompletecollege or serve an ap-prenticeshipundertheguidanceof anexperiencedmentorinorderto gainemploymentas aprogrammer,systemadministrator,or systems analyst. The vastmajorityof peo-ple whoholdcomputer-relatedjobs donotbelongtoeitherofcomputing' up toparticularemployerstomonitorthebehavio roftheiremployeesand guidetheircontinuingeducation-noprofessi onalorganizationhas frommostprofession-als, such ,professionalsworkdirectlywithindividual clients.

7 Adentisttreatsonepatientat a time. Anaccountantauditsonebusinessat a acompanyaspartof ateamthatincludesmanyotherprogrammersas well thisenvironmenttheresponsibilityofanindi vidualpersonis moredifficult to discern. Low-leveltechnicaldecisions are madebygroups,and finalauthorityrests OFCERTIFICATIONANDLICENSINGThe two largestorganizationssupportingthecomputi ngfield are the IEEEC omputerSociety (IEEE-CS), withabout90,000 members, and the Association forComputingMachinery(ACM), withabout63,000 members. Likeorganizationssupportingmatureprofess ions, the IEEE-CS and the ACM strive to advance the discipline andsupporttheirmembersthroughpublication s,conferences, local chapters,studentchapters, technicalcommittees,and softwareengineerissomeoneengaged in thedevelopmentormaintenanceofsoftware, orsomeonewho teaches in this area. In 1993 the IEEE-CS and ACM set upa jointsteeringcommitteeto explore theestablishmentof softwareengineeringas aprofession.

8 Thejointsteeringcommitteecreated several task forces to addressparticularissues. One task forceconducteda survey ofpractitionerswith the goal ofunderstandingthe knowledge and skillsrequiredby software force developedaccreditationcriteriaforundergr aduateprogramsin software engineering. Athirdtaskforce developed a code of Ethics for software May 1999 the ACM Council passed aresolutionthat stated, in part, "ACM isopposedto the licensing of software engineers at this time because ACM believesthatitis prematureand wouldnotbe effective in addressing theproblemsof software qualityand reliability" [2].ABILITY TO HARMPUBLICIn one keyrespect-theability toharmmembersof thepublic-thosewho design,implement,andmaintaincomputerhard ware and software systemssometimesholdre-sponsibilities similar to those held bymembersofmatureprofessions.

9 The Therac-25killed or gravelyinjuredat least six people, inpartbecause of defective software. Whilemost software engineers donotwrite code for safety-critical systems such as linear ac-celerators, society doesdependon the quality of their work. People makeimportantbusiness decisions based on the results they get from relyuponcommercialsoftware to help themproducetheir income inprogramscan result in suchharmsas lost time,incorrectbusinesses decisions,and fines. Systemadministratorsare responsible for keepingcomputersystemsrunningreliablywit houtinfringingon the privacy of ability to causeharmtomembersof the public is a powerful reason why those incomputer-relatedcareersshouldfollow a code of Ethics , even if they are not professionalsin the same sense as physicians, lawyers, a good example of a code of ethicsfor those incomputer-relateddisciplines, wepresentthe Software Engineering Code ofEthics and Professional Practice,endorsedbyboththe ACM and the SoftwareEngineeringCode of Ethics and Professional Practice is a practical frame-work formoraldecision making related toproblemsthatsoftware engineers may SoftwareEngineeringCode of Ethics and Professional Practice,reproducedinitsentiretybelow, iscopyright 1999 by the Association forComputingMachinery.

10 TheInstitutefor Electrical and Electronics Engineers, a central and growing role incommerce,industry,government,medi-cine ,education,entertainmentand society at large. Software engineers are those whocontributeby directparticipationor by teaching, to the analysis, specification, design,development,certification,mainten anceand testing of software systems. Because oftheirroles in developing software systems, software engineers have significantopportu-nities to do good or causeharm,to enableothersto do good or causeharm,or to influ-enceothersto do good or ensure, asmuchas possible,thattheir effortswill be used for good, software engineersmustcommitthemselves tomakingsoftwareengineeringa beneficial and respected profession. In accordance withthatcommitment,software engineers shall adhere to the following CodeofEthics and Professional Codecontainseight Principles related to thebehaviorofand decisions made byprofessionalsoftware engineers,includingpractitioners,educato rs,managers, supervi-sors and policymakers, as well astraineesandstudentsof the profession.