Lecture 03

PROFESSIONAL ETHICS

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 Course Outline
• Introduction
• Ethics and codes of conduct
• Structure of organization (Software House)
• Financial practices
• Human resource management
• Intellectual property
• Cyber law
• Software related contracts
• Social networking responsibilities and ethics
• Information security and privacy
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Chapter 1: the engineering Profession
Book: Professional Issues In Software
Engineering by F.bott, A.Coleman, J.eaton,
Diane Rowland 3rd edition

PROFESSIONAL ETHICS &

CODE OF ETHICS

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 LECTURE REVIEW

• IEEE Code of Ethics

• ACM Code of Ethics
• Cyber Ethics
• Different Scenarios
 INTRODUCTION
• Law: Rules that mandate or prohibit certain
behaviour in society.
• Moral Values: The fixed moral attitudes or
customs of a particular group
• Ethics: Define socially acceptable behaviours.
 CODE OF ETHICS
Established by various professional organizations.
(why)
• Produce a positive effect on judgment.
• Establishes responsibility of professionals to act
ethically according to the policies and procedures
of their employers, professional organizations, and
laws of society.
• Organizations assume responsibility to develop,
disseminate, and enforce policies.
 CODE OF ETHICS’ GOALS
• Provides an aid to individual decision making,
presentation addresses nine different cases (with some
overlap).
– Intellectual property
– Privacy
– Confidentiality
– Professional quality
– Fairness or discrimination
– Liability
– Software risks
– Conflicts of interest
– Unauthorized access to computer systems
 CODE OF ETHICS
IEEE - Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers
– IEEE is an organization composed of engineers, scientists,
and students
– It is designed to build industry standards, serve
professionals involved in every aspect of electrical,
electronic and computing field.
– It also organizes conferences and provides a platform for
publications.

ACM - Association for Computing Machinery

– an international learned society for computing
– ACM also sponsors other computer science related events
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 IEEE CODE OF ETHICS
Action:
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.
PRODUCT -Software engineers shall ensure that
their products and related modifications meet
the highest professional quality
 IEEE CODE OF ETHICS
Hierarchy
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.
 IEEE CODE OF ETHICS
Peers
6. PROFESSION -Software engineers shall
advance the integrity and reputation of the
profession consistent with the professional
life
7. COLLEAGUES -Software engineers shall be
fair to and supportive of their colleagues.

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 IEEE CODE OF ETHICS
Self:
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.
 PRINCIPLES OF IEEE CODE OF ETHICS
Always,
• Act in public interest
• Act in interest of clients and employers
• Produce quality products
• Maintain independent judgment
• Manage ethically
• Protect integrity of profession
• Support colleagues
• Pursue lifelong learning
 ACM CODE OF ETHICS
1. General moral imperatives: “As an ACM member
I will…”
– 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 patents.
– Give proper credit for intellectual property.
– Respect the privacy of others.
– Honour confidentiality.
 ACM CODE OF ETHICS
2. 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.
(never stop learning)
– Know and respect existing laws pertaining to
professional work.
– Accept and provide appropriate professional
review.
 ACM CODE OF ETHICS
– Give comprehensive and thorough evaluations of
computer system 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.
 ACM CODE OF ETHICS
• Organization leadership imperatives: “As an ACM
member and an organizational leader, I will:”
– Articulate social responsibilities of members of an
organizational unit and encourage full acceptance of
those responsibilities.
– Manage personnel and resources to design and build
information systems that enhance the quality of
working life.
– Acknowledge and support proper and authorized uses
of an organization’s computing and communication
resources.
 ACM CODE OF ETHICS
– Ensure that users and those who will be affected by a
design 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.
 ACM CODE OF ETHICS
• Compliance with the Code: “As an ACM
member, I will:”
– Uphold and promote the principles of this Code.
– Treat violations of this code as inconsistent with
membership in the ACM.
 CYBER ETHICS
• Cyber ethics" refers to the code of responsible
behavior on the Internet
• Just as we are taught to act responsibly in everyday
life with lessons such as "Don't take what doesn't
belong to you" and "Do not harm others," we
must act responsibly in the cyber world as well as
in real world.
• The basic rule is "Do not do something in
cyberspace that you would consider wrong or
illegal in everyday life."
 CONSIDERATIONS FOR CYBER ETHICS
• Do not use rude or offensive language.
• Do not cyberbully.
• Do not plagiarize.
• Do not break into someone else's computer.
• Do not use someone else's password.
• Do not attempt to infect or in any way try to make
someone else's computer unusable.
• Adhere to copyright restrictions when downloading
material from the Internet, including software, games,
movies, or music.
ETHICAL DECISION
MAKING
 ETHICAL DECISION MAKING: CASE 1
• Ali is a database programmer
– Large statistical program needed by his company
– Company programmers are encouraged to publicize their
work
• Ali has found himself stuck on a problem
– He has persisted at this for several months
– His manager does not recognize complexity of problem o
She insists job be completed in the few days.
• Ali remembers:
– Co-worker had given him source listings of their current
work
– He also has an early version of commercial software
 ETHICAL DECISION MAKING: CASE 1
• Ali studies these programs
– Sees two areas of code which could be directly incorporated
into his own program
– He uses segments of code both from his coworker and from
the commercial software
– He does not tell anyone or mention it in the
documentation.
– He completes the project and turns it in a day ahead of
time.
How does the Code of Ethics help us understand
this case?
 APPLYING THE CODE: CASE 1
This case highlights issues involving INTELLECTUAL
PROPERTY
• Ali violated professional ethics in two areas:
1. Failure to give credit for another’s work
2. Using code from a commercial package that was
copyrighted
• If Ali only “looked” at co-worker’s source code:
– Could he then write his own program and still have an
obligation to give credit?
Yes: He should have acknowledged credit in
documentation.
 APPLYING THE CODE: CASE 1
• Use of commercial software code was also not
appropriate:
– Ali should have checked to determine whether or not
company was authorized to use source code before
using it.
• In general:
– Desirable to share and exchange intellectual
materials But using software is definitely a violation
of code.
 Ethical Decision Making: CASE 2
• Aisha’s company has been hired by a client to build a security
system.
• Because of cost overruns, client has decided to opt for a less
secure system.
• Aisha believes information they will store is extremely sensitive.
• With weak security: issues
– Employees on workstations could figure out how to access this data
– Online intruders would also have access

• Aisha feels strongly that system should be much more secure.

• She has tried to explain the risk.

What should Aisha do? Should she refuse to build the system as
the request?
 APPLYING THE CODE: CASE 3
• A contractor is determining requirements for an
employment agency.
• Client describes what is needed when displaying
applications whose qualifications appear to match
those for a particular job
• Client also further states that names of white
applicants are to be displayed ahead of nonwhites
• Further states that names of male applicants are
to be displayed ahead of female applicants
 APPLYING THE CODE: CASE 4
• A software development company has just produced a new
software package.
• It incorporates new tax laws and prepares both individual and
small business tax returns
• The president of the company knows that the program has a
number of bugs
• He also believes the first firm to put this kind of software on
the market is likely to capture the largest market share.
• The company widely advertises the package.
• When the product is shipped, it includes a disclaimer of
responsibility for errors resulting from the use of the program.
 APPLYING THE CODE: CASE 4
• The company expects it will receive a number of
complaints, queries, and suggestions for modification.
• The company plans to use these to make changes and
eventually issue updated, improved and debugged
versions
• The president argues that this is general industry policy:
“Anyone who buys version1.0 of a program knows this
and will take proper precautions.”
• Because of bugs, a number of users filed incorrect tax
returns and were penalized by RevCanada
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