Just because you can do something, doesn't mean you should!

With all the advances of technology, sometimes our abilities to access data far exceeds guidelines that have been set for what we should or should not do as we develop applications. Where do the boundaries of what we can do cross the line of what we should do? What responsibility do we have towards the users of the applications that we create? Quite often the average user of web and mobile applications do not understand privacy policies, have no idea why the application needs certain information (sometimes it doesn't!), and are afraid to not give permissions because the app might not work. They also often have no idea how dangerous it can be to have all their information out there. Some professions have a governing agency to enforce compliance to an ethical standard, but there is no governing agency over software developers. Does this mean we have no responsibility to be ethical in the software that we create or do we need to hold ourselves to some standard? And what would that standard be? With new innovation such as drones and autonomous vehicles, it seems more important than ever to consider ethics in software development. This talk would not provide definitive solid answers to these questions because there is so much gray area in ethics, but it is more to get people thinking about what responsibilities we have as developers to the users of the software that we create.

Transcript

1. Just Because You Can Do Something, Doesn’t Mean You Should Coding With a Code of Ethics
2. About Me Angel Thomas Software Developer - Center for Information Management Chapter Founder - Girl Develop It - Toledo Chapter @starangel75
3. ?
4. About Me Why am I talking interested in ethics? Why am I here talking about it?
5. What would you do?
6. What is Ethics? Moral principles that govern a person’s or group’s behavior
7. Why is there such a gray area with ethics? Everyone sees the world from their own personal perspective There are many different ethical theories Confusion about how to apply ethics when there is conflict
8. Ethical Theories Utilitarianism Virtue Ethics Ethics of Care Egoism Natural Law Social Contract Theory Moral Relativism Religion Deontology Hippocratic
9. Utilitarianism Theory of normative ethics that the best moral action is one that maximizes utility Rule Utilitarianism: Behavior is determined based on principles or rules designed to promote utility Act Utilitarian: Evaluate result of specific actions rather than the rule itself
10. Virtue Ethics Ethical theory that emphasizes an individual’s character as the key element of ethical thinking
11. Ethics of Care A normative ethical theory about what makes actions morally right or wrong
12. Social Contract Theory Social contract theory is the view that a persons moral and/or political obligations are dependent upon a contract or agreement among them to form the society in which they live
13. Hippocratic Theory First, Do No Harm
14. Ethical Dilemma When Ethical Standards Collide Employer / Client Society / End Users Family Self
15. Code of Ethics NSPE Code of Ethics for Engineers
16. Code of Ethics NSPE Code of Ethics for Engineers Act for each employer or client as faithful agents or trustees
17. Code of Ethics NSPE Code of Ethics for Engineers Act for each employer or client as faithful agents or trustees Engineers shall perform services only in their areas of competence
18. Code of Ethics NSPE Code of Ethics for Engineers Act for each employer or client as faithful agents or trustees Engineers shall perform services only in their areas of competence Engineers shall avoid all conduct or practice that deceives the public
19. Scenarios: EULA/Privacy Policy Who is affected? Ethical standard applied Social Contract Ethics of Care
20. Scenarios: EULA/Privacy Policy
21. Scenarios: EULA/Privacy Policy
22. Scenarios: EULA/Privacy Policy
23. Scenarios: To fix a bug or to not fix a bug? Who is affected? Ethical standard applied Social contract Utilitarianism
24. Scenarios: Code that does not adequately secure data Who is affected? Ethical standard applied Social Contract Theory Ethics of Care
25. Scenarios: Web Scraping Who is affected? Ethical standard applied Ethics of Care
26. Scenarios: Web Scraping
27. Scenarios: Foreseeing the future use of the code we write Who is affected? Ethical standard applied Ethics of Care Hippocratic
28. Scenarios: Autonomous Vehicles Who is affected? Ethical standard applied - Is there one? Ethics of Care Utilitarianism
29. Scenarios: Consideration of how code affects other people “Whether you're a woman, poor, an ethnic minority or just from the wrong side of the zip code, there's an algorithm to oppress you.” ~Noel Sharkey
30. Scenarios: Dear tech companies:
31. Scenarios: Dear tech companies:
32. Scenarios: Dear tech companies:
33. Scenarios: Dear tech companies: It decides you’ve given birth, assumes a happy result…
34. Scenarios:
35. Scenarios:
36. Scenarios:
37. Scenarios:
38. Scenarios:
39. Scenarios:
40. Scenarios:
41. Scenarios: https://tinyurl.com/gdi-forum January 11th @ noon and 6pm
42. Conclusion
43. Conclusion Act how you would like others to act
44. speakerdeck.com/astahre angel@xy.org @starangel75 Contact info and slides
45. Sources Used https://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2017/11/expensify-acknowledges-potential- privacy-problem-by-calling-it-a-feature/?amp=1 https://www.makeuseof.com/tag/10-ridiculous-eula-clauses-agreed/ https://www.nspe.org/resources/ethics/code-ethics https://www.forbes.com/sites/noelsharkey/2018/12/11/end-technological-injustice-make-the-safe- face-pledge-today/#27dbc5599af8 https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/2018/12/12/dear-tech-companies-i-dont-want-see- pregnancy-ads-after-my-child-was-stillborn/?noredirect=on&utm_term=.a26af898ae3b https://hashtagcauseascene.com/blog/2019/01/09/marisa-catalina-casey/ https://player.fm/series/causeascene/shanise-barona
46. Egoism Egoism is the ethical theory that one’s self is, or should be the motivation for one’s actions
47. Moral Relativism Moral Relativism (or Ethical Relativism) is the position that moral or ethical propositions do not reflect objective and/or universal moral truths, but instead make claims relative to social, cultural, historical or personal circumstances
48. Religion Most religions have an ethical component, often derived from purported supernatural revelation or guidance
49. Natural Law Natural Law is an ethical theory that states that what is good and evil is derived from the rational nature of human beings
50. Deontology Rule Deontology: Conformity to general moral principles based on logic determines ethicalness Act Deontology: Believe that the action itself determines ethicalness, despite the outcome
51. Deontology cont. Kantian duty-based ethics: Requires that to be ethical must follow the categorical imperative which states that a rule is true in all situations Rossian duty-based ethics: Ethics are based on prima facia duties and actual duties
52. Deontology - Kantian If you are not willing to apply a rule to everyone, including yourself, then it is not ethical If the ethical rule you claim to be following cannot be made universal, then it is not a valid moral rule
53. Rossian Deontology Prima Facia Duties are primary Actual Duties are secondary
54. Prima Facia Duties Self evident and obvious Fidelity Reparation Gratitude Justice Beneficence Self-Improvement Non-maleficence