Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

A Facebook request: Write a code of tech ethics

latimes.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

41–50 of 140 posts

Re: A Facebook request: Write a code of tech ethics

#41

Post by zwkrt »

Kalium wrote: post #10

I can't speak for others on this, but I do have one: https://www.acm.org/code-of-ethics Like medical and legal professionals, it is concerned with professional ethics. Many people would be surprised to find their personal ethics are not present.

'Contribute to society and to human well being'. So your personal ethics are only not present if you wear giant blinders around this statement. So many software devs hold positions that they could probably not defend ethically in casual conversation, it's an epidemic!

Re: A Facebook request: Write a code of tech ethics

#42

Post by TallGuyShort »

I see people in technology doing border-line dishonest and unethical things all the time. They're called marketing, sales, and product management. I've rarely known them to go by the name of software developer - in fact they're usually the ones to dig their feet in against misrepresenting things or doing stuff that violates privacy or user expectations, etc.

Re: A Facebook request: Write a code of tech ethics

#44

Post by matz1 »

maxxxxx wrote: post #36
matz1 wrote: post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You define what the ethics is. If you think creating weapon for defense is not preferable to you then you better work on convincing or forcing other to follow.

I don’t understand what you are trying to say.

Edited some mistake. My point is everyone have different ethics. You must fight for your preference if you want yours to be the winning ethics.

There no one true "correct" ethics

Re: A Facebook request: Write a code of tech ethics

#45

Post by analognoise »

maxxxxx wrote: post #7
seibelj wrote: post #5

Doctors protect life, and lawyers keep you out of jail. I guess software engineers can take an oath not to kill people or put people in jail, but after that it's your morals vs. mine, no? And if I work for the Department of Defense making missile guidance software, then it's OK to kill people, I suppose...

Some people will think creating weapons for defense is an ethical thing to do. I prefer not to do that but I think the point is valid and there is no clear way to determine what’s ethical and what isn't.

What's unethical is to have your countrymen in a fight with substandard equipment that you could have helped them improve.

War is an ever-present possibility - do you want your neighbor's kids (or yours, if they join the service) dying or being maimed because you didn't help with what you know?

1000 years ago, if you were a blacksmith and the Vikings were coming, would you make swords or ornamental railings?

People who think "it's unethical to make weapons" always assume that someone else is making the weapons, which makes them feel good about themselves (not sure why) - they're willing to sacrifice themselves and their neighbor's children for their ethics.

I'm not. I make weapons, and I think the 'ethical' stance on defense is really just virtue-signalling.

/Edited. ;)

Re: A Facebook request: Write a code of tech ethics

#47

Post by briandear »

maxxxxx wrote: post #6

I am usually not averse against regulation but one advantage of tech is that it's still the Wild West where it's possible to innovate quickly and change things. Lawyers and doctors are in much more controlled environment where not much innovation is happening. I am also not sure how to determine what's ethical or not. I much prefer laws like GDPR where there is a set of rules everyone has to follow.

Medicine is innovating a lot more than some ride-sharing, restaurant rating, social-local photo sharing app startup.

Re: A Facebook request: Write a code of tech ethics

#48

Post by azinman2 »

What’s silly here is that things that are harmful only happen with hindsight and scale. I don’t think anyone at FB understood what Cambridge Analytica would turn into, because it came from a program of trying to help advance researchers. When things are new, you assume the best for them. Only once time passes do you understand all the unexpected ways people can abuse it.

Re: A Facebook request: Write a code of tech ethics

#49

Post by drinane »

The challenge here is technologists have shunned labor organization to my knowledge which is what I understand controls the cited fields. Different economic model applies to most people in technology compared to law and medicine. Smells like a buzzword article. Maybe the cloud companies could implement a code and create barriers to deploy "unethical" code... that might work.

Re: A Facebook request: Write a code of tech ethics

#50

Post by shawnz »

mieseratte wrote: post #34
cbhl wrote: post #24

Here's what I don't want: I don't want ethics exams and accreditation requirements to constrain software development to people with traditional software backgrounds. The cost of a traditional college education in the United States is easily five or six figures, and socioeconomic forces means that black people face systemic barriers to getting access to that education (versus whites, indians, asians, etc.). I want the…

> and socioeconomic forces means that black people face systemic barriers to getting access to that education (versus whites, indians, asians, etc.) This is false. Poor, rural whites can and do face the exact same sets of challenges as those from an impoverished black backgrounds, perhaps with the exception of naming but even then I saw a headline last week with a girl named, no joke, Crystal Methany.

The parent never said that there are no white people who face socioeconomic challenges. But whiteness itself does not create any socioeconomic disadvantage.
Post reply on HN