I note the BCS (a professional body of sorts for British technologists) has a "public interest" clause in its code of conduct for members, which arguably prohib

I note the BCS (a professional body of sorts for British technologists) has a "public interest" clause in its code of conduct for members, which arguably prohibits the sort of behaviour described by you & in the submission: http://www.bcs.org/category/6030#publicinterest http://www.bcs.org/category/6030#publicinterest That said, there's no real obligation to be a BCS member, and most people aren't, which somewhat defangs their CoC: like you say, if you refuse the work, someone else will do it. Still, it's a good symbolic gesture, and perhaps points the way to go.