Personal Ethics as a Computing Professional

I recently read the "ACM Code of Ethics and Professional Conduct," and I was struck by how much it seems that these are not followed by computing professionals. Granted, the majority of these professionals are not members of the ACM, but it seems that everyone should follow a basic code of ethics, regardless of membership in any organization. I think that the most important guideline to follow is that one should always try to contribute to society. Because there are so many people with such different skill sets, each person should contribute his expertise to benefit everyone as a whole. This could be, for example, identifying possible solutions to problems or planning an implementation. Personally, I find that contributing to or starting open source projects has been very beneficial to me in that I try to solve a problem as best I can while being exposed to the ideas of others.

Foreign Involvement in American Technology Enterprise

An article I saw recently described the backlash against social networks after a British Army soldier was killed by two extremists, one of whom had discussed such an act 5 months before the murder took place. In the particular case described, Facebook was the target of the discontent, with several government organizations and security agencies expressing their concern that such networks are becoming “[…] safe haven[s] for terrorists[…]”

As of around four days ago, the EU parliament voted “yes” on a motion to break up Google, an act that is purely symbolic in nature, but nonetheless expresses how other countries feel about American enterprise as a whole.

I find it interesting that the world is starting to take more notice of American businesses and, in short, find them responsible for horrific events or negatively impacting economies. In general, I feel that governments should not be involved in economics, so I disagree with a European government or organization trying to change any business, much less American ones, but I do think that the people of those countries should be able to express their opinions.

That said, I feel that one of the biggest differences between countries is the idea of how businesses should be run. For example, the EU may think that Google is a monopoly, but the only legislature that would affect Google would be American, and as of right now, few people in the United States feel that this measure is necessary.

In the case of Facebook, there was some criticism over the lack of policing of content by the company, but many people in the United States and in the world believe in the idea of an open internet with protected privacy. Regardless of Facebook’s policies regarding monitoring of user content, there is a discrepancy between public beliefs and desires in the United States and governmental or organizational beliefs and desires outside.

To summarize, as long as governments exist as they currently are, federal boundaries water down proposed changes. As a side note, an example of this is Presidente Pena Nieto in Mexico; several people outside of Mexico have requested a resignation, but the pressure hasn’t built enough for him to resign.

Sources:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Murder_of_Lee_Rigby

http://www.nbcnews.com/tech/internet/european-monopoly-eu-parliament-urges-regulators-break-google-n257816