Ethics Vs. Morals
30 Nov 2017
Ethics in software engineering go far beyond the realm of using or “borrowing” someone else’s code, or taking credit for work that is not even yours. Without ethics in software engineering, can we fully put our trust in an application that was made?
The thing with ethics is that, to different people, it may mean different things. For example, a doctor has different ethical standards to follow that are not necessarily the same as a grocery store clerk. From a software engineering point of view, ethics could simply be knowing what you are getting yourself into before actually diving into a project.
In The Code I’m Still Ashamed Of, a developer talks about a project he once had that still haunts him to this day. The project was to develop the code for a (rigged) quiz that would recommend a specific drug no matter what the answers to the questions were; the only exceptions were if the user was already taking the drug, or if they were allergic to it. Although he knew there was something iffy about the project, he finished it because it was what the company had wanted, and it was what he was told to do. It was not until he was confronted with the news of a girl dying from this said drug that he finally felt guilty about the project.
Many throw around ethics and morals as if they are the same thing, when they are not. In actuality, ethics can be seen as rules that you should adhere to. Morals, on the other hand, are what you personally feel is right or wrong. For the developer in The Code I’m Still Ashamed Of, I believe that he let go of his personal morals for bit, for the sake of finishing the project. Some may disagree and say that “he was just doing as he was told,” however, he again was unethical on his part by failing to report the news of the girl that passed from the drug. This breaks principle 1.04 in the Software Engineering Code of Ethics, which states: “1.04. Disclose to appropriate persons or authorities any actual or potential danger to the user, the public, or the environment, that they reasonably believe to be associated with software or related documents.”
It’s okay if your morals differ from the ethics that you are expected to follow. As developers, we don’t always have to go with the flow and do every single project that comes to us. Although this is easier said than done, I personally believe that we are responsible for the decisions we make because the one person in the world that has the final decision in what we do, is indeed our self.