Ethics

Ethics in Software Engineering

what

a set of moral principles that help us differentiate right from wrong

normative ethics

deal with how things should be, or what one should do

why 1

software is everywhere

why 2

professional and moral responsibility of software engineers to consider the impact of their decisions and actions on all stakeholders

why 3

technical decisions can have ethical consequences on a much wider scale than we think

technical debt

incurring additional effort or cost in the future by deliberately choosing short term goals over quality

ethical debt

potential negative impact on society, including unintended consequences

corporate ethics generation 1

maximise profits without breaking laws

corporate ethics generation 2

respect rights of own workers

corporate ethics generation 3

acknowledge complex consequences of decisions and activities

ethics shopping

choosing ethical principles that justify current behaviour

ethics bluewashing

appearing to be more ethical than they are

ethics lobbying

arguing against or attempting to weaken legal enforcement citing self-regulation

ethics dumping

moving unethical practices to / using outcomes from regions with weaker ethical enforcement

ethics shirking

neglecting ethics where it doesn’t bring other benefits

aspect 1

data security and privacy

aspect 2

transparency of business models

aspect 3

sustainability