Ꮯhristian Ꮲietsch 🍑 is a user on chaos.social. You can follow them or interact with them if you have an account anywhere in the fediverse.
A very timely idea: An ethical oath for programmers - http://feeds.boingboing.net/~r/boingboing/iBag/~3/KbKBPROXQY4/pon-my-oath.html
(think #HippocraticOath)
#software #programming #ethics
@chpietsch This is ok, but individual responsibility of the programmer is not enough. Unless there is collective organization then nobody will have your back if the boss is telling you to do something which against the code of ethics.
@bob Right. I think it's a laudable initiative, but you're right: It's not enough.
Do you know an existing organization that could back ethical programmers, or should a new org be built around this oath?
@chpietsch I don't. It's a difficult issue which has already been discussed a lot. Should there be a union of software engineers? In the past this was usually rebutted by saying that unions are primarily about pay and conditions, and the pay and conditions of most commercial software engineers is usually at least adequate. Maybe enforcing a code of ethics would be something to rally around instead.
But I don't underestimate how hard this type of problem is, because underneath it all and driving the unethical forces is the leviathan of Capitalism. Surveillance Capital is one of the many heads of the hyrda.
But I don't underestimate how hard this type of problem is, because underneath it all and driving the unethical forces is the leviathan of Capitalism. Surveillance Capital is one of the many heads of the hyrda.
@chpietsch But if I'm working for my machine overlords, I can't follow that oath… :-)
