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Ethics, Yes Ethics in Software

Unless you have led a sheltered life and have not heard about the Volkswagen software scandal, the gist of it is, they used software in their cars to bypass emissions tests.

The worse part is 1) they where warned by Bosch in 2007 not to use this feature and 2) they where warned again (by internal personal) in 2011.

Software development is not a free for all against moral repercussions.  It may seam like it is, but it's not.

There are ethical issues for how you code, what you code and what you ship.  Open source licenses does not mean anything goes.  Including source code that was pulled from the internet may have concerns.

Then there are issues for just coding.  It's possible (I've seen it) where a person codes logic that is just wrong, and the programmer knows it's wrong.  Somethings this is done with guidance from above and others, it's just a shortcut to getting something done.  It's even possible that you have written some code, knowing that someone else will have to deal with the side effects you have created.

In the past the liability for software was almost never addressed because of the transient nature of the company, product or level of effect.  But in todays ever connected iOT (Internet Of Things), apps, security and privacy, the repercussions can be must greater.  It's time that engineers take to heart the code they create, with an eye towards ethics.

Ethics is very personal.


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