Software Engineer's Code of Ethics

The definition given in the book of a "Profession" is a bit narrow (I think). M-W defines profession as : a calling requiring specialized knowledge and often long and intensive academic preparation b: a principal calling, vocation, or employment. So, in my opinion, a profession does not require a code of ethics, and some of the other things that the book claims professions require. Now, this is not saying that a Code of Ethics is entirely without warrant. They are very useful for guiding people in professions, and keeping professional people accountable.

The Code presented in the chapter makes for some dry reading, but that is how all legalese documents read. It is a fairly straightforward set of ethical guidelines for software engineers, and I think it does a decent job of covering most ethical bases, and giving the leeway to actually be a useful ethical Code.

What I thought was more interesting about the chapter was the latter portion about whistleblowing. I had never really thought about it, but there are tons of complications to "telling" on your superiors. That would make an interesting paper in itself: When to Blow the Whistle or When Managers Go Wrong.

-Reece

Wealth, Modernization, Technology and a lot of other things

There is a ton of stuff in the latest chapter. The book covers everything from AI taking over the world, to division of wealth and technology to whether universities should be state funded. Its a ridiculous amount of information. First, about the outsourcing of jobs: I don't think there is really anything American's can do about it. Because we have a free economy, companies need to produce their goods and services for the lowest cost. Lets face it, it costs much less to hire people from India, whom for the most part do pretty much the exact same thing. The company doesn't really lose anything. The same stands for technology and automation. It is much cheaper for companies to use computers to many jobs, but the chapter did make the point that you need people to make and maintain the machines.

Globalization is another issue dealt with in the chapter. Mostly it seems like the world is quickly becoming a drastically smaller place, and we need to learn to live with each other, or bad things are going to happen. (Or, we can just colonize Mars)

Reliability

I would like to say that developers should be completely and totally responsible for making their software work correctly, all the time. This is not feasible in any way shape or form, regrettably.

I do believe that developers should make their programs as bug free as possible, to the point of fixing all bugs they are aware of. In the case of the linear accelerators, there was absolutely no excuse for the malfunctions in the equipment. I believe the blame should be placed squarely on the shoulders of those who made the machine. That case seemed more like the company was trying the hide the flaws in the machine though, seeing as how they were sued for a malfunction, and then proceeded to tell another hospital that a bug of that nature was impossible.

In th case of an operating system (lets say, Microsoft's Windows, just for laughs), a certain amount of bugs are to be expected, just because of the huge complexity of the software. There is no way to removed all of the problems in the software. The company should be willing to support the software they have made, though. And, they should put as much effort into fixing the bugs before release as possible.

But, as a final thought, what we, as consumers, accept as "finished software" is up to us. If we are willing to purchase Windows, no matter its flaws, then Microsoft isn't going to worry as much about the bugs in its code at the time of release. All they are concerned about is selling software, and if we buy it with bugs, all the better for them. If we required better software out of the box, Microsoft would be required in turn, to provide better software out of the box.

Paper Topic

My paper topic is going to be on DRM. More specifically if DRM does/does not unconstitutionally hinder the doctrine of Fair Use. I will be arguing for the does side, but will show support for the does not side, as well as try and give ways in which DRM could be instituted in a way that does not interfere with Fair Use. Resources I will be using include websites such as the U.S Copyright Office site, and the RIAA's website.

Security

Ahh, Hacking. Such an interesting and entertaining pastime. Well, for some people. I'm not much of a hacker. Anyway, I found it somewhat amusing that the book romanticized hacking. But, it also provided good information on the history of hacking, and some of the greatest hacks. Its also interesting that hacking didn't begin as a malicious thing. It wasn't even dealing with computers, but model railroads. I don't know if that is ironic, but it is rather odd.

Now, I'm not even sure why the book asks the question of the ethics of hacking. I would say that it is a fairly cut and dry issue. In the case of Morris, it was immoral. He could have just pointed out the bugs in the code. In the case of a pen-testing company, its moral. There are specific situations in which the morality of an action could be debated, but overall, I don' think that is much of a debate.

Privacy

So, before my reading of this chapter, I had a bit of a higher view of the American government. One thing that really stuck out about how stupid (and controlling) our government has been in the past about privacy was during the section on encryption. The government invented a cool encryption scheme called Clipper. Then proceeded to tell everyone else they had to use it (because the government could decrypt it whenever they wanted). And by everyone I mean even other governments. Why in the world would any government want any other government to have access to their encryption schemes?

Doesn't make much sense to me.

Anyway, privacy is a big issue. Personally, I haven't been affected by anything like identity theft, but I wouldn't be surprised if it happened to me, because I'm not taking and extra special measures to prevent it.

Data is so prevalent in our world that I hardly think twice about what I post on facebook or whatnot.

There also seems to be this nice trend of the government trying to gain more and more control of the information that is out there, with all the fun acts they are creating.

I realize that some of this is necessary for security and whatever, but there also seems a to be a lot of information concealing and revealing that is for self-preservation only.

Intellectual Property

Well, in my opinion, IP and copyright issues are some of the most pronounced issues with technology today. Probably because I try and follow some of the issues that arise in this area.

The book defines four different kinds of IP:

Trade Secrets: Companies register these, but it is their job to keep them secret, and they last forever.

Trademarks and Service Marks: Literally marks that help a business identify products.

Patents: Prevents others from creating and selling a person's invention.

Copyright: Provides artists with rights in regards to their original works.

The book then talks about some court cases that have dealt with IP, and then discusses fair use, which is where things start to get interesting. Who can use what? Especially in regards to digital media. Mostly, the book talks about what terms such as DRM and the DMCA mean and do. I'm more interested in what is actually happening with electronic piracy, and what authorities are trying to do about it. (Which is a lot, but not much is working).

Then the book goes on to talk more specifically about software and how IP laws apply to something like software. All in all, an interesting chapter, and I am looking forward to the discussion that will happen in class.

-Pieces