Ethical Development: The responsibility of software developers in society
Summary
Social media has now moved on from an innocent way of staying in touch with remote friends, encouraging collaboration, tolerance and discussion, and has now been weaponised in order to influence opinions, support corrupt organisations, and manipulate the Overton Window . We even have leaders of hugely influential companies abdicating their social responsibility to act against bad actors, allowing their platform to be taken over by fascist and racist agendas, presumably to protect bottom line profit. And so spam was created....And do Ihave to mention Facebook and the Cambridge Analytica scandal?Developers are undoubtedly fantastic at writing software and solving problems, especially when it is an intellectual challenge. I am no stranger to the concept - my personal career started in electrical and electronic engineering, which led me to join the IEE (now the IET ), which sets well defined expectations on how to behave professionally. A civil engineer who is required to advise you correctly or lose her effective licence to operate, or a yes-man who just nods along, does what hes told and cashes the cheques?I would encourageto read these Codes of Conduct, and reflect on how they apply to how and what you are working right now.