Code of Ethics and Professional Conduct
Computing, in general, and software engineering, in particular, has the risk of causing harm to others and society. The ACM Code of Ethics and Professional Conduct highlights the important responsibilities this risk places on software developers, project managers, other project team members, users, stakeholders, instructors, and students. Starting with a policy that "the public good is always the primary consideration", it presents supporting principles and guidance for understanding and applying them.
Reflect on the ethical principles, professional responsibilities, and professional leadership principles. Which principles apply to you as students in this course and to the authors of this course? What software engineering student responsibilities can you infer from the Professional Responsibilities? What can you do in this course that will prepare and enable you to apply Professional Leadership Principles in the future? In your opinion, will compliance with the code ever be enforced? If so, when?
Preamble
Computing professionals' actions change the world. To act responsibly, they should reflect upon the wider impacts of their work, consistently supporting the public good. The ACM Code of Ethics and Professional Conduct ("the Code") expresses the conscience of the profession.
The Code is designed to inspire and guide the ethical conduct of all computing professionals, including current and aspiring practitioners, instructors, students, influencers, and anyone who uses computing technology in an impactful way. Additionally, the Code serves as a basis for remediation when violations occur. The Code includes principles formulated as statements of responsibility, based on the understanding that the public good is always the primary consideration. Each principle is supplemented by guidelines, which provide explanations to assist computing professionals in understanding and applying the principle.
Section 1 outlines fundamental ethical principles that form the basis for the remainder of the Code. Section 2 addresses additional, more specific considerations of professional responsibility. Section 3 guides individuals who have a leadership role, whether in the workplace or in a volunteer professional capacity. Commitment to ethical conduct is required of every ACM member, and principles involving compliance with the Code are given in Section 4.
The Code as a whole is concerned with how fundamental ethical principles apply to a computing
professional's conduct. The Code is not an algorithm for solving ethical problems; rather it
serves as a basis for ethical decision-making. When thinking through a particular issue, a
computing professional may find that multiple principles should be taken into account, and that
different principles will have different relevance to the issue. Questions related to these kinds of
issues can best be answered by thoughtful consideration of the fundamental ethical principles,
understanding that the public good is the paramount consideration. The entire computing
profession benefits when the ethical decision-making process is accountable to and transparent
to all stakeholders. Open discussions about ethical issues promote this accountability and
transparency.
Source: Association for Computing Machinery, https://www.acm.org/binaries/content/assets/about/acm-code-of-ethics-and-professional-conduct.pdf
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