"I think a code of professional ethics around software engineering is long past due." I can think of several existing codes of ethics that might apply to softw

"I think a code of professional ethics around software engineering is long past due." I can think of several existing codes of ethics that might apply to software engineering. For starters, the ACM Code of Ethics was adopted over 20 years ago. http://www.acm.org/about/code-of-ethics http://www.acm.org/about/code-of-ethics The IEEE Code of Ethics dates to 1963, which is when AIEE merged with IRE. http://www.ieee.org/about/corporate/governance/p7-8.html http://www.ieee.org/about/corporate/governance/p7-8.html IEEE's Computer Society also has its own code of ethics, adopted jointly with the ACM in 1999. http://www.computer.org/portal/web/certification/resources/code_of_ethics http://www.computer.org/portal/web/certification/resources/c... Finally, there's the Obligations of the Order of the Engineer, which has been around since 1970. http://www.order-of-the-engineer.org/?page_id=6 http://www.order-of-the-engineer.org/?page_id=6 NCSU's Ethics in Computing website has links to most of these, and more. http://ethics.csc.ncsu.edu/basics/codes/ http://ethics.csc.ncsu.edu/basics/codes/ My own experience in the software industry is that professional society membership and conference attendance is relatively rare, especially when I compare it to other fields I have exposure to, like the library world, where membership in at least one professional society is de rigueur. I wonder if the problem is not a lack of a code of professional ethics but rather a lack of exposure to them?