{"id":46401,"date":"2018-09-10T14:21:39","date_gmt":"2018-09-10T14:21:39","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.sickgaming.net\/blog\/2018\/09\/10\/acms-code-of-ethics-offers-updated-guidelines-for-computing-professionals\/"},"modified":"2018-09-10T14:21:39","modified_gmt":"2018-09-10T14:21:39","slug":"acms-code-of-ethics-offers-updated-guidelines-for-computing-professionals","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/2018\/09\/10\/acms-code-of-ethics-offers-updated-guidelines-for-computing-professionals\/","title":{"rendered":"ACM’s Code of Ethics Offers Updated Guidelines for Computing Professionals"},"content":{"rendered":"
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The Association of Computing Machinery (ACM) has released an update to its Code of Ethics and Professional Conduct<\/a> geared at computing professionals. The update was done \u201cto address the significant advances in computing technology and the degree [to which] these technologies are integrated into our daily lives,\u201d explained ACM members Catherine Flick and Michael Kirkpatrick, writing in Reddit<\/a>.<\/p>\n

This marks the first update to the Code, which the ACM maintains \u201cexpresses the conscience of the profession,\u201d since 1992. The goal is to ensure it \u201creflects the experiences, values and aspirations of computing professionals around the world,\u2019\u2019 Flick and Kirkpatrick said.<\/p>\n

The Code was written to guide computing professionals\u2019 ethical conduct and includes anyone using computing technology \u201cin an impactful way.\u201d It also serves as a basis for remediation when violations occur. The Code contains principles developed as statements of responsibility in the belief that \u201cthe public good is always the primary consideration.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ethical Decision Making<\/h3>\n

In its entirety, the ACM says the Code \u201cis concerned with how fundamental ethical principles apply to a computing professional’s conduct. The Code is not an algorithm for solving ethical problems; rather it serves as a basis for ethical decision-making.\u201d<\/p>\n

It is divided into four sections: General Ethical Principles; Professional Responsibilities; Professional Leadership Principles; and Compliance with the Code.<\/p>\n

The General Ethical Principles section discusses the role of a computer professional, saying they should contribute to society, with an acknowledgement \u201cthat all people are stakeholders in computing.\u201d This section addresses the \u201cobligation\u201d of computing professionals to use their skills for the benefit of society. <\/p>\n

\u201cAn essential aim of computing professionals is to minimize negative consequences of computing, including threats to health, safety, personal security, and privacy,\u2019\u2019 the code advises. \u201cWhen the interests of multiple groups conflict, the needs of those less advantaged should be given increased attention and priority.\u201d<\/p>\n

Computing professionals should perform high quality work and maintain professional confidence. They should also take into consideration diversity and social responsibility in their efforts and engage in pro bono or volunteer work benefitting the public good, the ACM recommends.<\/p>\n

They should also try to avoid harm, in areas including \u201cunjustified physical or mental injury, unjustified destruction or disclosure of information, and unjustified damage to property, reputation, and the environment.\u201d\u00a0To minimize the possibility of unintentionally\u00a0or indirectly hurting others, computing professionals are advised to follow \u201cgenerally accepted best practices unless there is a compelling ethical reason to do otherwise.\u201d They should also carefully consider the consequences of \u201cdata aggregation and emergent properties of systems,\u201d the ACM advises.<\/p>\n

Computing professionals should also be honest and trustworthy and transparent. They should \u201cprovide full disclosure of all pertinent system capabilities, limitations, and potential problems to the appropriate parties. Making deliberately false or misleading claims, fabricating or falsifying data, offering or accepting bribes, and other dishonest conduct are violations of the Code,\u201d the ACM stresses.\u00a0This also applies to honesty about their qualifications and any limitations in their ability to complete a task. They should also be fair and not discriminate against others, and \u201ccredit the creators of ideas, inventions, work and artifacts, and respect copyrights, patents, trade secrets, license agreements, and other methods of protecting authors\u2019 works.\u201d<\/p>\n

With a nod to the ability of technology to collect, monitor and disseminate personal information, another call to action under the Ethical Principles section is respecting the privacy, rights and responsibilities associated with collecting and using personal information. Use of personal information should only be done for \u201clegitimate ends and without violating the rights of individuals and groups,\u201d the Code states.<\/p>\n

A Position of Trust<\/h3>\n

Noting that computing professionals \u201care in a position of trust,\u201d they have \u201ca special responsibility to provide objective, credible evaluations and testimony to employers, employees, clients, users, and the public.\u201d Consequently, the Code says these individuals \u201cshould strive to be perceptive, thorough, and objective when evaluating, recommending, and presenting system descriptions and alternatives.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Code also stresses that \u201cextraordinary care should be taken to identify and mitigate potential risks in machine learning systems.\u201d Other mandates in the Professional Responsibilities section include maintaining high standards of competence, conduct and ethical practice. Computing professionals should also only perform work in areas in which they are competent. They should also design and implement systems that are \u201crobustly and usably secure,\u201d the Code states.<\/p>\n

The Professional Leadership Principles section, as the name suggests, deals with the attributes of a leader. These principles deal with the importance of ensuring computing work is done, again, with the public good in mind, and having procedures and attitudes oriented toward the welfare of society. Doing so, the Code suggests, will \u201creduce harm to the public and raise awareness of the influence of technology in our lives.\u201d<\/p>\n

Leaders should also enhance the quality of work life, articulate, apply and support the Code\u2019s principles and create opportunities for people to grow as professionals. They should use care when changing or discontinuing support for systems\/features, and help users understand \u201cthat timely replacement of inappropriate or outdated features or entire systems may be needed.\u201d<\/p>\n

Lastly, the ACM urges compliance to the Code\u2019s principles and to treat violations \u201cas inconsistent with membership in the ACM.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Association of Computing Machinery (ACM) has released an update to its Code of Ethics and Professional Conduct geared at computing professionals. The update was done \u201cto address the significant advances in computing technology and the degree [to which] these technologies are integrated into our daily lives,\u201d explained ACM members Catherine Flick and Michael Kirkpatrick, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":46402,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[40],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-46401","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-linux-freebsd-unix"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46401","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=46401"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46401\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/46402"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=46401"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=46401"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=46401"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}