Software Engineering Code of Ethics
Software Engineers shall adhere to the following Eight Principles:
1. PUBLIC 2. CLIENT AND EMPLOYER 3. PRODUCT 4. JUDGMENT 5. MANAGEMENT 6. PROFESSION 7. COLLEAGUES 8. SELF
How should software engineers commit themselves?
By making the analysis, specification, design, development, testing, maintenance of software a beneficial and respected profession. Commitment to the health, safety and welfare of the public.
Preamble (Full Version)
Computers have a central and growing role in commerce, industry, government, medicine, education, entertainment and society at large. Software engineers are those who contribute by direct participation or by teaching, to the analysis, specification, design, and development, and certification, maintenance, and testing of software systems. Because of their roles in developing software systems, software engineers have significant opportunities to do good or cause harm, to enable others to do good or cause harm, or to influence others to do good or cause harm. To ensure, as much as possible, that their efforts will be used for good, software engineers must commit themselves to making software engineering a beneficial and respected profession. In accordance with that commitment, software engineers shall adhere to the following Code of Ethics and Professional Practice.
Preamble (Short Version)
The short version of the code summarizes aspirations at a high level of the abstraction; the clauses that are included in the full version give examples and details of how these aspirations change the way we act as software engineering professionals. Without the legalistic and tedious; without the details, the aspirations can become high sounding but empty; together, the aspirations and the details form a cohesive code.
3. PRODUCT
Software engineer shall ensure that their products and related modifications meet the highest professional standards possible
5. MANAGEMENT
Software engineering managers and leaders shall subscribe to and promote an ethical approach to the management of software development and maintenance.
Principle 5 MANAGEMENT
Software engineering managers and leaders shall subscribe to and promote an ethical approach to the management of software development and maintenance. In particular, those managing or leading software engineers shall, as appropriate: 5.01 Ensure good management for any project on which they work, including effective procedures for promotion of quality and reduction of risk 5.02 Ensure that software engineers are informed of standards before being held to them 5.03 Ensure that software engineers know the employer's policies and procedures for protecting passwords, files, and information that is confidential to the employer or confidential to others 5.04 Assign work only after taking into account appropriate contributions of education and experience tempered with a desire to further that education and experience 5.05 Ensure realistic quantitative estimates of cost, scheduling, personnel, quality and outcomes on any project on which they work or propose to work, and provide an uncertainty assessment of these estimates 5.06 Attract potential software engineers only by full and accurate description of the conditions of employment 5.07 Offer fair and just remuneration 5.08 Not unjustly prevent someone from taking a position for which that person is suitably qualified 5.09 Ensure that htere is a fair agreement concerning ownership of any software, processes, research, writing, or other intellectual property to which a software engineer has contributed 5.10 Provide for due process in hearing charges of violation of an employer's policy or of this Code 5.11 Not ask a software engineer to do anything inconsistent with this Code 5.12 Not punish anyone for expressing ethical concerns about a project\
1. PUBLIC
Software engineers shall act consistently with the public interest
Principle 1 PUBLIC
Software engineers shall act consistently with the public interest. 1.01 Accept full responsibility for their own work. 1.02 Moderate the interests of the software engineer, the employer, the client and the users with the public good 1.03 Approve software only if they have a well-founded belief that it is safe, meets specifications, passes appropriate tests, and does not diminish quality of life, diminish privacy or harm the environment. The ultimate effect of the work should be to the public good. 1.04 Disclose to appropriate persons or authorities any actual or potential danger to the user, the public, or the environment, that they reasonably believe to be associated with software or related documents 1.05 Cooperate in efforts to address matters of grae public concern caused by software, its installation, maintenance, support or documentation 1.05 Be fair and avoid deception in all statements, particularly public ones, concerning software or related documents, methods and tools 1.07 Consider issues of physical disabilities, allocation of resources, economic disadvantage and other factors that can diminish access to the benefits of software 1.08 Be encouraged to volunteer professional skills to good causes and contribute to public education and concerning the discipline.
2. CLIENT AND EMPLOYER
Software engineers shall act in a manner that is in the best interests of their client and employer consistent with the public interest
Priniciple 2 CLIENT AND EMPLOYER
Software engineers shall act in a manner that is in the best interests of their client and employer, consistent with the public interest. In particular, software engineers shall, as appropriate: 2.01 Provide service in their areas of competence, being honest and forthright about any limitations of their experience and education. 2.02 Not knowingly use software that is obtained or retained either illegally or unethically 2.03 Use the property of a client of employer only in ways properly authorized, and with the client's or employer's knowledge and consent. 2.04 Ensure that any document upon which they rely has been approved, when required, by someone authorized to approve it 2.05 Keep private any confidential information gained in their professional work, where such confidentiality is consistent with the public interest and consistent with the law. 2.06 Identify , document, collect evidence and report to the client or the employer promptly if, in their opinion, a project is likely to fail, to prove too expensive, to violate intellectual property law, or otherwise to be problematic 2.07 Identify, document, and report significant issues of social concern, of which they are aware, in software or related documents, to the employer or the client 2.08 Accept no outside work detrimental to the work they perform for their primary emplyer 2.09 Promote no interest adverse to their employer or client, unless a higher ethical concern is being compromised; in that case, inform the employer or another appropriate authority of the ethical concern
6. PROFESSION
Software engineers shall advance the integrity and reputation of the profession consistent with the public interest.
Principle 6 PROFESSION
Software engineers shall advance the integrity and reputation of the profession consistent with the public interest. In particular, software engineers shall shall, as appropiate 6.01 Help develop an organizational environment favorable to acting ethically 6.02 Promote public knowledge of software engineering 6.03 Extend software engineering knowledge by appropriate participation oin professional organizations, meetins and publications 6.04 Support, as member of a profession, other software engineers striving to follow this Coe 6.05 Not promote their own interest at the expense of the profession
7. COLLEAGUES
Software engineers shall be fair to and supportive of their colleagues
Principle 3 PRODUCT
Software engineers shall ensure that their products and related modifications meet the highest profesional standards possible. In particular, software engineers shall, as appropriate: 3.01 Strive for high quality, acceptable cost and a reasonable schedule, ensuring significant tradeoffs are clear to and accepted by the employer and the client, and are available for consideration by the user and the public. 3.02 Ensure proper and achievable goals and objectives for any project on which they work or propose. 3.03 Identify, define and address ethical, economic, cultural, legal and environmental issures related to work projects. 3.04 Ensure that they are qualified for any project on which they work or propose to work by an appropriate combination of education and training, and experience. 3.05 Ensure an appropriate method is used for any project on which they work or propose to work 3.06 Work to follow professional standards, when avaiable, that are most appropriate for the task at han, departing form these only when ethically or technically justified 3.07 Strive to fully understand the specifications for software on which they work 3.08 Ensure that specifications for software on which they work have been well documented, satisfy the users requirements and have the appropriate approvals. 3.09 Ensure realistic quantitative estimates of cost, scheduling, personnel, quality and outcomes on any project on which they work or propose to work and provide an uncertainty assessment of these estimates. 3.10 Ensure adequate testing, debugging, and review of software, and related documents on which they work 3.11 Ensure adequate documentation, including signficant problems discover and solutions adopted, for any project on which they work. 3.12 Work to develop software and related documents that respect the privacy of those who whill be affected by that software 3.13 Be careful to use only accurate date derived by ethical and lawful means, and use it only in ways properly authorized. 3.14 Maintain the integrity of data, being sensitive to outdated or flawed occurrences. 3.15 Treat all forms of software maintenance with the same professionalism as new development
4. JUDGMENT
Software engineers shall maintain integrity and independence in their professional judgment
Principle 4 JUDGMENT
Software engineers shall maintain integrity and independence in their professional judgment. In particular, software engineers shall, as appropriate: 4.01 Temper all technical judgments by the need to support and maintain human values 4.02 Only endorse documents either prepared under their supervision or within their areas of competence and with which they are in agreement 4.03 Maintain professional objectivity with respect to any software or related documents they are asked to evaluate 4.04 Not engage in deceptive financial practices such as bribery, double billing, or other improper financial practices. 4.05 Disclose to all concerned parties those conflicts of interest that cannot reasonably be avoided or escaped 4.06 Refuse to participate, as members or advisors, in a private, governmental or professional body concerned with osftware related issues, in which they, their employers or their clients have undisclosed potential conflicts of interest
8. SELF
Software engineers shall participate in lifelong learning regarding the practice of their profession and shall promote an ethical approach to the practice of the profession
The Clauses of each Principle
are illustrations of some of the obligations included in these relationships. These obligations are founded in the software engineers' humanity, in special care owed to people affected by the work of software engineers, and the unique elements of the practice of software engineering. The Code prescribes these as obligations of anyone claiming to be or aspiring to be a software engineer
It is not intended that the individuat pars of the Code
can be used in isolation to justify errors of omission or commission.
The Code contains
eight Principles related to the behavior of and decisions made by professional software engineers, including practitionars, educators, manages, supervisors and policy makers, as well as trainees and students of the prfession,
The list of Principles and Clauses
is not exhaustive
The Clauses
should not be read as separating the acceptable from the unacceptable in professional conduct in all practical situations.
The Principles identify
the ethically responsible relationships in which individuals, groups, and organizations participate and the primary obligations within these relationship.s
