Jason Wood
02/05/2001

The following is a brief statement of my opinion of the ACM Code of Ethics.

Copyright (c) 2001 by Jason A. Wood (woodja@ieee.org). This material may
be distributed only subject to the terms and conditions set forth in the 
Open Publication License, v1.0 or later (the latest version is presently
available at http://www.opencontent.org/openpub/).

		ACM CODE OF ETHICS

The ACM code of ethics puts a lot of responsibility on the individual
engineer and does not allow for very many mistakes.  For instance from
section 1.2, "If system features are misrepresented to users,
coworkers, or supervisors, the individual computing professional is
responsible for any resulting injury."  It surprises me that such
legal language can appear in a code of ethics.  Normally such
stipulations are outlined between an employee and employer.

At the same time it states that well-intended actions may lead to
harm.  It is possible that an employee may have meant well in the
creation a particular feature and failed completely test it passing it
off to the customer as working.  It would then be the
computing professionals responsibility for this error, when in fact it
could have been because of shortened deadlines or a simple oversight.  

Even in times of ethical choice the decisions outcomes are the
responsibility of the computing professional (2.6).  What is missing
is the same level of responsibility on the leaders as the individuals.
Statements similar to the ones for individuals is missing in the 
section on leaders, such as responsibility for malfunctions.

For the most part I have no problems with following the ACM Code of
Ethics.  In particular I feel very strongly about the importance of
section 2.7.  I spend much of my time explaining the benefits of
computing to various non-profits and showing the positive impacts of
computers.  It is also very important that the privacy of others be
respected, which came up multiple times during our earlier class
discussions on the interviews.

I may have some difficulty following the code, because I do make 
mistakes and have some oversights. In general I feel that following it 
should not be a problem.

In conclusion, I feel that the ACM Code of Ethics is worth following,
but it seems to be written with the employer and the public in mind
while pinning the problems on an individual developer.  Future Codes
should place the same level of responsibility if not more on the
leaders as it does on the individuals.  As a member of
the ACM I will do my best to follow the Code of Ethics and
Professional Conduct.