Introduction

Law: Rules that prohibit certain behavior in the society.

Moral Values: Fixed moral attitude and customs of a certain group.

Ethics: Define socially acceptable behaviours.

Professional Codes of Ethics

Principles and core values that are essential to the work of an occupational group

• Most codes of ethics include:

• What the organization aspires to become

• Rules and principles by which members of the organization are expected to abide

• Many codes also include commitment to continuing education for those who practice the profession

Following a professional code of ethics can produce benefits for the individual, the profession, and
society as a whole

• Ethical decision making

• High standards of practice and ethical behavior

• Trust and respect from general public

• Evaluation benchmark for self-assessment

Software Engineering Code of Ethics and Professional Practice

IEEE code of Ethics
1. PUBLIC

2. CLIENT AND EMPLOYER

3. PRODUCT

4. JUDGMENT

5. MANAGEMENT

6. PROFESSION

7. COLLEAGUES

8. SELF

Public
Software engineers shall act consistently with the public interest .Software Engineer shall, as
appropriate

• Accept full responsibility for their own work.

• Approve software only if they have a well-founded belief that it is safe, meets specifications,
passes appropriate tests, and does not diminish quality of life, diminish privacy, or harm the
environment. The ultimate effect of the work should be to the public good.

• Disclose to appropriate persons or authorities any actual or potential danger to the user, the
public, or the environment, that they reasonably believe to be associated with software or
related document.

• Cooperate in efforts to address matters of grave public concern caused by software, its
installation, maintenance, support, or documentation.

• Be fair and avoid deception in all statements, particularly public ones, concerning software or
related documents, methods and tools.

• Consider issues of allocation of resources, economic disadvantage, and other factors that can
diminish access to the benefits of software.

• Be encouraged to volunteer professional skills to good causes and contribute to public

education concerning the discipline.

CLIENT AND EMPLOYER

Software engineers shall act in a manner that is in the best interests of their client and employer,
consistent with the public interest. Software Engineer shall, as appropriate

• Provide service in their areas of competence, being honest and forthright about any limitations of
their experience and education.

• Not knowingly use software that is obtained or retained either illegally or unethically.

• Use the property of a client or employer only in ways properly authorized, and with the client’s or
employer’s knowledge and consent.

• Ensure that any document upon which they rely has been approved, when required, by someone
authorized to approve it.

• Keep private any confidential information gained in their professional work, where such
confidentiality is consistent with the public interest and consistent with the law.

• Identify, document, collect evidence, and report to the client or the employer promptly if, in their
opinion, a project is likely to fail, to prove too expensive, to violate intellectual property law, or
otherwise to be problematic.

• Identify, document, and report significant issues of social concern, of which they are aware, in
software or related documents, to the employer or the client.
 • Accept no outside work detrimental to the work they perform for their primary employer.

• Promote no interest adverse to their employer or client, unless a higher ethical concern is being
compromised; in that case, inform the employer or another appropriate authority of the ethical
concern.

PRODUCT
Software engineers shall ensure that their products and related modifications meet the highest
professional standards possible.

• Strive for high quality, acceptable cost, and a reasonable schedule, ensuring significant tradeoffs are
clear to and accepted by the employer and the client, and are available for consideration by the user
and the public.

• Ensure proper and achievable goals and objectives for any project on which they work or propose.

• Identify, define, and address ethical, economic, cultural, legal and environmental issues related to
work projects.

• Ensure that they are qualified for any project on which they work or propose to work by an
appropriate combination of education, training, and experience.

• Ensure an appropriate method is used for any project on which they work or propose to work.

• Work to follow professional standards, when available, that are most appropriate for the task at hand,
departing from these only when ethically or technically justified.

• Strive to fully understand the specifications for software on which they work.

• Ensure that specifications for software on which they work have been well documented, satisfy the
users’ requirements, and have the appropriate approvals.

• Ensure realistic quantitative estimates of cost, scheduling, personnel, quality, and outcomes on any
project on which they work or propose to work and provide an uncertainty assessment of these
estimates.

• Ensure adequate testing, debugging, and review of software and related documents on which they
work.

• Ensure adequate documentation, including significant problems discovered and solutions adopted,
for any project on which they work.

• Work to develop software and related documents that respect the privacy of those who will be
affected by that software.

• Be careful to use only accurate data derived by ethical and lawful means, and use it only in ways
properly authorized.

• Maintain the integrity of data, being sensitive to outdated or flawed occurrences.

• Treat all forms of software maintenance with the same professionalism as new development.

JUDGEMENT
Software engineers shall maintain integrity and independence in their professional judgement .

• Temper all technical judgments by the need to support and maintain human values.

• Only endorse documents either prepared under their supervision or within their areas of competence
and with which they are in agreement.

• Maintain professional objectivity with respect to any software or related documents they are asked to
evaluate.

• Not engage in deceptive financial practices such as bribery, double billing, or other improper
financial practices.

• Disclose to all concerned parties those conflicts of interest that cannot reasonably be avoided or
escaped.

• Refuse to participate, as members or advisors, in a private, governmental or professional body

concerned with software related issues, in which they, their employers or their clients have
undisclosed potential conflicts of interest.

MANAGEMENT
• Ensure good management for any project on which they work, including effective procedures for
promotion of quality and reduction of risk.

• Ensure that software engineers are informed of standards before being held to them.

• Ensure that software engineers know the employer’s policies and procedures for protecting
passwords, files, and information that is confidential to the employer or confidential to others.

• Assign work only after taking into account appropriate contributions of education and experience
tempered with a desire to further that education and experience.

• Ensure realistic quantitative estimates of cost, scheduling, personnel, quality, and outcomes on any
project on which they work or propose to work, and provide an uncertainty assessment of these
estimates.

• Attract potential software engineers only by full and accurate description of the conditions of
employment.

• Offer fair remuneration(salary).

• Not unjustly prevent someone from taking a position for which that person is suitably qualified.

• Ensure that there is a fair agreement concerning ownership of any software, processes, research,
writing, or other intellectual property to which a software engineer has contributed.

• Provide for due process in hearing charges of violation of an employer’s policy or of this Code.

• Not ask a software engineer to do anything inconsistent with this Code.

 • Not punish anyone for expressing ethical concerns about a project.

PROFESSION
• Help develop an organizational environment favorable to acting ethically.

• Promote public knowledge of software engineering.

• Extend software engineering knowledge by appropriate participation in professional organizations,

meetings, and publications.

• Support, as members of a profession, other software engineers striving to follow this Code.

• Not promote their own interest at the expense of the profession, client, or employer.

• Obey all laws governing their work, unless, in exceptional circumstances, such compliance is
inconsistent with the public interest.

• Be accurate in stating the characteristics of software on which they work, avoiding not only false
claims but also claims that might reasonably be supposed to be misleading, or doubtful.

• Take responsibility for detecting, correcting, and reporting errors in software and associated
documents on which they work.

• Ensure that clients, employers, and supervisors know of the software engineer’s commitment to this
Code of ethics, and the subsequent ramifications(difficulties) of such commitment.

• Avoid associations with businesses and organizations which are in conflict with this code.

• Recognize that violations of this Code are inconsistent with being a professional software engineer.

• Express concerns to the people involved when significant violations of this Code are detected unless
this is impossible, counter-productive, or dangerous.

• Report significant violations of this Code to appropriate authorities when it is clear that consultation
with people involved in these significant violations is impossible or dangerous.

Colleagues
Software engineers shall be fair to and supportive of their colleagues.

• Encourage colleagues to adhere to this Code.

• Assist colleagues in professional development.

• Credit fully the work of others and refrain from taking undue credit.

• Review the work of others in an objective, candid, (open) and properly-documented way.

• Give a fair hearing to the opinions, concerns, or complaints of a colleague.

• Assist colleagues in being fully aware of current standard work practices including policies and
procedures for protecting passwords, files, and other confidential information, and security measures
in general.

• Not unfairly intervene in the career of any colleague; however, concern for the employer, the client
or public interest may compel software engineers, in good faith, to question the competence of a
colleague.

• In situations outside of their own areas of competence, call upon the opinions of other professionals
who have competence in that area.

SELF
Software engineers shall participate in lifelong learning regarding the practice of their profession and
shall promote an ethical approach to the practice of the profession.

• Further their knowledge of developments in the analysis, specification, design, development,

maintenance, and testing of software and related documents, together with the management of the
development process.

• Improve their ability to create safe, reliable, and useful quality software at reasonable cost and within
a reasonable time.

• Improve their ability to produce accurate, informative, and well-written documentation.

• Improve their knowledge of relevant standards and the law governing the software and related
documents on which they work.

• Improve their knowledge of this Code, its interpretation, and its application to their work.

• Not give unfair treatment to anyone because of any irrelevant prejudices.

• Not influence others to undertake any action that involves a breach(break) of this Code.

• Recognize that personal violations of this Code are inconsistent with being a professional software
engineer.

ACM code of Ethics

• Contribute to society and human well-being.

• Avoid harm to others.

• Be honest and trustworthy.

• Be fair and take action not to discriminate.

• Honor property rights including copyrights and patent.

• Respect the privacy of others.

• Honor confidentiality.

More Specific Professional Responsibilities:” As an ACM Computing Professional I will”:

• Strive to achieve the highest quality, effectiveness and dignity in both the process and products of
professional work.
 • Acquire and maintain professional competence.

• Know and respect existing laws pertaining to professional work.

• Accept and provide appropriate professional review.

• Give comprehensive and thorough evaluations of computer systems and their impacts, including
analysis of possible risks.

• Honor contracts, agreements, and assigned responsibilities.

• Improve public understanding of computing and its consequences.

• Access computing and communication resources only when authorized to do so.

Organizational Leadership Imperatives:

” As an ACM Computing Professional I will”:
• Articulate(clear) social responsibilities of members of an organizational unit and encourage full
acceptance of those responsibilities.

• Acknowledge and support proper and authorized uses of an organization’s computing and
communication resources.

• Ensure that users and those who will be affected by a system have their needs clearly articulated
during the assessment and design of requirements; later the system must be validated to meet
requirements.

• Articulate and support policies that protect the dignity of users and others affected by a computing
system.

• Create opportunities for members of the organization to learn the principles and limitations of
computer systems.

Compliance with the Code:” As an ACM Computing Professional I will”:

• Uphold and promote the principles of this Code.

• Treat violations of this Code as inconsistent with membership in the ACM.

Code of Ethics Goals

• Intellectual Property

• Privacy

• Confidentiality

• Professional quality

• Fairness or discrimination

• Liability

• Software risks

• Conflicts of interest

• Unauthorized access to computer systems