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Ask HN: A discussion on Ethics
In light of recent events, can we please have a discussion about ethics? What does ethics mean to you, particularly when it comes to code? Where is the line? Who is responsible if something is deemed unethical? How can we educate ourselves more on these matters so that we aren't caught in a illegal spiderweb later.
- tlb 9y agoEthics is too broad a topic to have a useful discussion on. Better to start with a proposition like "programmers should refuse to participate in X", where X is specific enough to predict the consequences of it existing or not.
- kwhitefoot 9y ago> where X is specific enough to predict the consequences of it existing or not. So, which X would you start with?
- schaunwheeler 9y agoHere are some ideas: https://hackernoon.com/can-we-be-honest-about-ethics-ecf5840b6e07 https://hackernoon.com/can-we-be-honest-about-ethics-ecf5840... https://towardsdatascience.com/an-ethical-code-cant-be-about-ethics-66acaea6f16f https://towardsdatascience.com/an-ethical-code-cant-be-about... https://hackernoon.com/on-the-difficulty-of-creating-a-data-science-code-of-ethics-9ab44f71af52 https://hackernoon.com/on-the-difficulty-of-creating-a-data-...
- mgraybosch 9y agoI ascribe to the ACM Code of Ethics. https://ethics.acm.org/code-of-ethics/ https://ethics.acm.org/code-of-ethics/ In practice that means I... * refuse to work on adtech/corporate social media * refuse to do work for the military or with military applications * refuse to do work for law enforcement or work that might prove useful to law enforcement
- kwhitefoot 9y ago> * refuse to do work for law enforcement or work that might prove useful to law enforcement Is this meant as a universal refusal or does it apply just to US law enforcement? My point is that law enforcement is generally regarded as necessary to the proper functioning of society and while some of those involved in it might be bad people the concept itself is not.
- mgraybosch 9y agoRight now, US law enforcement. I haven't gotten recruiter spam offering contracts to code for INTERPOL, for example. I'll change my mind when driving while black is no longer punishable by summary execution in at least half of the US.
- kwhitefoot 9y ago> How can we educate ourselves more on these matters so that we aren't caught in a illegal spiderweb later. I think you are conflating two related but distinct matters: ethics and the law. It is perfectly possibly to behave unethically while obeying the letter of the law and to break the law while behaving ethically.
- zerostar07 9y agothis is a good book to educate https://www.amazon.com/Fundamentals-Ethics-Russ-Shafer-Landau/dp/0199997233 https://www.amazon.com/Fundamentals-Ethics-Russ-Shafer-Landa...