Listening to Professional Voices: Draft 2 of the ACM Code of Ethics and Professional Conduct
Document Type
Article
Publication Date
5-1-2017
Description
The ACM Code of Ethics and Professional Conduct (the Code) is being updated for the first time since 1992. The Code Update Task Force in conjunction with the Committee on Professional Ethics is seeking advice from ACM members on the update. One of the primary reasons for updating the Code is the increased influence of computing since 1992. Draft 2 was developed by The Code 2018 Task Force. The Code includes principles formulated as statements of responsibility, based on the understanding that the public good is always a primary consideration. The Code is not an algorithm for solving ethical problems, rather it is intended to serve as a basis for ethical decision making in the conduct of professional work. The entire profession benefits when the ethical decision making process is transparent to all stakeholders. In addition, it may serve as a basis for judging the merit of a formal complaint pertaining to a violation of professional ethical standards. A computing professional should be honest about his or her own qualifications, and about any limitations in competence to complete a task. Computing professionals should be forthright about any circumstances that might lead to conflicts of interest or otherwise tend to undermine the independence of their judgment. Computing professionals should protect confidentiality unless required to do otherwise by a bona fide requirement of law or by another principle of the Code.
Citation Information
Brinkman, Bo; Flick, Catherine; Gotterbarn, Don; Miller, Keith; Vazansky, Kate; and Wolf, Marty J.. 2017. Listening to Professional Voices: Draft 2 of the ACM Code of Ethics and Professional Conduct. Communications of the ACM. Vol.60(5). 105-111. https://doi.org/10.1145/3072528 ISSN: 0001-0782