Ethics

We, the developers, have a great responsibility, [EthicsWeRuleTheWorld] and we can cause a great harm. We need to be aware to a great ethics principle.

There are three main ways of protecting the others:

• Protecting the society: In the worst case, a faulty software can kill people. We have seen it in the Toyota vs Bookout and in the Boing 737 Max 8, in which programmers killed more than 400 people. But there are other effects, like the Volkswagen Emissions Scandal, in which programmers created a software to cheat authorities and pollute the environment harming the people sensitive to air pollution. And we also know about algorithms that discriminate people or polarize the society.

• Protecting the client: In the worst case, a faulty software, can destroy a company, like the case of BancSabadell and TSB. But there are other effects, like code debt. A programmer can haste deliveries by introducing technical debt, which will make the next developments take longer and harder. At this point the company will pay from 10 to 100 times more for the same delivery.

• Protecting your colleages: Beyond human interactions, the programmer code can harm their colleagues. A programmer, or group of programmers, can decide to seem better by introducing lots of technical debt, which will make the rest of the colleages be slower and damage their professional career.

I have been teaching about it in the university, and you can find more information in [EthicsClassroom].

There is already work in progress in the community about ethics and how we, the programmers, can behave professionally:

• [EthicsTDDRules]
• [EthicsAgileManifesto]
• [EthicsSoftwareCraftsmanshipManifesto]
• [EthicsBillOfRights]
• [EthicsAtwoodTheProgrammersBillOfRights]
• [EthicsMartinProgrammersOath]
• [EthicsZivanovicProgrammersOath]

Addendum: The Catalan Case

On September 20th of 2017, in Catalonia, the Spanish police raided multiple companies and held in custody incommunicated for more than 48 hours several ICT professionals. The Spanish were trying to prevent a referendum in Catalonia, and they wanted to shut down many several services and domain names by force. System administrators, developers, and ICT professionals were considered strategically dangerous and dealt with them as weapons. All human rights for those people were suspended.

Here you can find some of the articles related to those days:

• DotCat Registry Offices Raided by Spanish Police
• Internet Society statement on Internet blocking measures in Catalonia, Spain
• L’ISOC (Internet Society) carrega contra la censura d’internet que viu Catalunya
• Simplement llibertat
• Ja n’hi ha prou!
• Qui són els 15 detinguts?
• Com fer un país ciberprotegit
• Els “bots russos” entren en la campanya pel referèndum l’1 d’octubre
• Diuen que el passat 1 d’octubre va començar la primera Ciberguerra de la Unió Europea