Ethics are Essential

23 Apr 2020

E for Ethics in Software Engineering

In the scope of software engineering, ethics are principles that shape how a professional software engineer should conduct themselves, as well as how their projects should be morally created. Due to the fact that code is implemented in machinery, such as autonomous vehicles and medical equipment, it is vital that the engineers behind the product take full precautions in order to ensure that only good results occur from each use. Software engineers must program righteously.

Since people may have different ideas on what “doing good” is, the ACM Code of Ethics Professional Conduct and the IEEE Software Engineering Code of Ethics has be implemented and enforced. Additionally, from taking ICS 390: Ethics in the Information Age, a computer scientist will learn that the following acceptable theories and frameworks may be used to evaluate the ethicality of a given situation: Virtue Ethics, Social Contract Theory, Kantianism, Rule Utilitarianism, and Act Utilitarianism. These are in place so that programmers make a meaningful contribution to society, be trustworthy, act honestly, fray from discrimination, implement fairness, respectfully innovate with creativity, design secure systems, and honorably maintain their software. They should not have malicious intentions, such as creating a trojan horse type of application or spyware that illegally extracts data from users.

Everyone has a conscience to determine the difference from right and wrong. If everyone in society always acts with high moral standards, then society as a whole will be ethical. By practicing good works that benefit the community, we learn how to act responsibly. Software engineers have a very important job because they are in charge of developing the apps and websites that people all around the world can access anytime. Thus, there is a huge obligation for them to evaluate the effects of their code of the lives of the users. Technology is prevalent and evolving in the 21st century. Thus, ethics are essential.

The Private i in Privacy

After reviewing the case study dealing with privacy, I learned that the challenges surrounding Google Street View led to privacy breaches, illegally and unethically. I often use this feature, in order to navigate around the island and find destinations that I wish to visit. This view makes it easy to precisely see the place that I am looking for.

However, the reading stated that the feature displayed unwanted and immoral photographs, without the people in the photos being aware. Additionally, since this information was available to the public, criminals were able to abuse it. Privacy was compromised, complaints arose, and privacy concerns increased. Even after years of the operation, there still existed violations. Google was collecting and storing personal data without authority. Then they lied about their wrongdoings.

According to social contract theory, all morally significant beings have the right to privacy in order for people to be autonomous moral agents and free citizens with healthy relationships. Privacy is a valuable social agreement where individuals should have control over their data. The moral capability of an AI machine to mimic ethical or unethical behavior is accomplished through human computer interfaces in devices that can understand and process natural language in order to interpret commands and implement operations. AI virtual assistants have proven to be ethical despite difficulties of maintaining privacy in the Information Age. Limitations on artificial general intelligence devices lead to unvirtuous results through accidental task operations and data breaches.

The Verdict

People should not feel like their privacy is being evaded. It is important to develop software functionality. However, the ethical requirements of privacy protection must be in place. Privacy is a valuable social agreement where individuals should have control over their data. It was concerning to read that Google blamed their breach of ethicality on a ‘rogue engineer,’ when they actually were aware of the unauthorized Wi-Fi data collection. Google was found guilty for breaches of privacy or wiretap laws and fined for obstruction. Although the company agreed to fix its wrongdoings, users’ lives were still negatively affected.

Users should have agreed to the Terms of Use and Privacy Policy, which state how information is shared, before sites have access to personal information. This is especially necessary with young users since youth are naive, addicted to keeping up with trends, and uneducated on the dangers of information privacy. Although privacy does not appear in the Constitution, social contract theory values society’s right to privacy. Under Rawl’s principles of justice, we have the right to be safe from harm and should be informed if power is abused. Each application should have layers of privacy protection and strict privacy measures that strengthen the ethicality of the app.

There have been incidents in society where programming errors caused human harm. For example, the accidents with Therac 25, a computer-controlled radiation therapy machine, led to over-radiation and patient deaths. This relates to the mishaps involving Tesla Version 7.0 with autopilot. Moral responsibility is placed on the software engineers in both conditions. Tesla, Inc. acted negligently by releasing a faulty automatic emergency braking system. The developers mistakenly labeled the vehicle as having a level 3 automation without realizing the hands-off problem, where the driver has barely enough time to take over the car in emergency situations. However, Therac 25 went out of commission while Tesla is continuing to develop new models with autopilot. Society should not have to exchange security for privacy.

” No robot, no computer, no deep learning, no artificial intelligence, is a moral, ethical entity. Ethics must be built into the creation, programming & marketing of these tools.”