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2.software Engineering Ethics

The document discusses software engineering ethics and responsibilities. It covers issues like confidentiality, intellectual property, computer misuse, and professional codes of ethics. The document provides details on the ACM/IEEE Code of Ethics which contains eight principles for software engineers.

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shivakumar
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99 views9 pages

2.software Engineering Ethics

The document discusses software engineering ethics and responsibilities. It covers issues like confidentiality, intellectual property, computer misuse, and professional codes of ethics. The document provides details on the ACM/IEEE Code of Ethics which contains eight principles for software engineers.

Uploaded by

shivakumar
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Software engineering ethics

1
Software engineering ethics
• Software engineering involves wider
responsibilities than simply the application of
technical skills.
• Software engineers must behave in an honest
and ethically responsible way if they are to be
respected as professionals.
• Ethical behaviour is more than simply
upholding the law but involves following a set
of principles that are morally correct.

2
Issues of professional responsibility
• Confidentiality
– Engineers should normally respect the
confidentiality of their employers or clients
irrespective of whether or not a formal
confidentiality agreement has been signed.
• Competence
– Engineers should not misrepresent their level of
competence. They should not knowingly accept
work which is outwith their competence.

3
Issues of professional responsibility
• Intellectual property rights
– Engineers should be aware of local laws governing the use of
intellectual property such as patents, copyright, etc. They should be
careful to ensure that the intellectual property of employers and
clients is protected.
• Computer misuse
– Software engineers should not use their technical skills to misuse
other people’s computers. Computer misuse ranges from relatively
trivial (game playing on an employer’s machine, say) to extremely
serious (dissemination of viruses).

4
ACM/IEEE Code of Ethics
• The professional societies in the US have
cooperated to produce a code of ethical practice.
• Members of these organisations sign up to the
code of practice when they join.
• The Code contains eight Principles related to the
behaviour of and decisions made by professional
software engineers, including practitioners,
educators, managers, supervisors and policy
makers, as well as trainees and students of the
profession.
5
Rationale for the code of ethics
– Computers have a central and growing role in commerce,
industry, government, medicine, education, entertainment
and society at large. Software engineers are those who
contribute by direct participation or by teaching, to the
analysis, specification, design, development, certification,
maintenance and testing of software systems.
– Because of their roles in developing software systems,
software engineers have significant opportunities to do
good or cause harm, to enable others to do good or cause
harm, or to influence others to do good or cause harm. To
ensure, as much as possible, that their efforts will be used
for good, software engineers must commit themselves to
making software engineering a beneficial and respected
profession.

6
The ACM/IEEE Code of Ethics
Software Engineering Code of Ethics and Professional Practice

ACM/IEEE-CS Joint Task Force on Software Engineering Ethics and Professional Practices

PREAMBLE
The short version of the code summarizes aspirations at a high level of the abstraction; the
clauses that are included in the full version give examples and details of how these
aspirations change the way we act as software engineering professionals. Without the
aspirations, the details can become legalistic and tedious; without the details, the
aspirations can become high sounding but empty; together, the aspirations and the details
form a cohesive code.
Software engineers shall commit themselves to making the analysis, specification, design,
development, testing and maintenance of software a beneficial and respected profession. In
accordance with their commitment to the health, safety and welfare of the public, software
engineers shall adhere to the following Eight Principles:

7
Ethical principles
1. PUBLIC - Software engineers shall act consistently with the public interest.
2. 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.
3. PRODUCT - Software engineers shall ensure that their products and related
modifications meet the highest professional standards possible.
4. JUDGMENT - Software engineers shall maintain integrity and independence in their
professional judgment.
5. MANAGEMENT - Software engineering managers and leaders shall subscribe to and
promote an ethical approach to the management of software development and
maintenance.
6. PROFESSION - Software engineers shall advance the integrity and reputation of the
profession consistent with the public interest.
7. COLLEAGUES - Software engineers shall be fair to and supportive of their colleagues.
8. 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.

8
Conclusion
• Software engineers have responsibilities to
the engineering profession and society. They
should not simply be concerned with technical
issues.
• Professional societies publish codes of
conduct which set out the standards of
behaviour expected of their members.

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