1. Ensure that there is a fair agreement concerning ownership of any software, processes, research, writing, or other intellectual property to which a software engineer has contributed.
2. Ensure that clients, employers, and supervisors know of the software engineer's commitment to this Code of ethics, and the subsequent ramifications of such commitment.
3. Improve their understanding of the software and related documents on which they work and of the environment in which they will be used.
4. Software engineers are those who contribute by direct participation or by teaching, to the analysis, specification, design, development, certification, maintenance and testing of software systems.
5. Principle 5: MANAGEMENTSoftware engineering managers and leaders shall subscribe to and promote an ethical approach to the management of software development and maintenance .
6. To ensure, as much as possible, that their efforts will be used for good, software engineers must commit themselves to making software engineering a beneficial and respected profession.
7. Identify, document, and report significant issues of social concern, of which they are aware, in software or related documents, to the employer or the client.
8. In particular, software engineers shall, as appropriate:Temper all technical judgments by the need to support and maintain human values.
9. These Principles should influence software engineers to consider broadly who is affected by their work; to examine if they and their colleagues are treating other human beings with due respect; to consider how the public, if reasonably well informed, would view their decisions; to analyze how the least empowered will be affected by their decisions; and to consider whether their acts would be judged worthy of the ideal professional working as a software engineer.
10. Ensure that specifications for software on which they work have been well documented, satisfy the users’
1. Be accurate in stating the characteristics of software on which they work, avoiding not only false claims but also claims that might reasonably be supposed to be speculative, vacuous, deceptive, misleading, or doubtful.
2. Review the work of others in an objective, candid, and properly-documented way.
3. Improve their knowledge of relevant standards and the law governing the software and related documents on which they work.
4. Ensure realistic quantitative estimates of cost, scheduling, personnel, quality and outcomes on any project on which they work or propose to work, and provide an uncertainty assessment of these estimates.
5. Take responsibility for detecting, correcting, and reporting errors in software and associated documents on which they work.
6. Work to follow professional standards, when available, that are most appropriate for the task at hand, departing from these only when ethically or technically justified.
7. Ensure that they are qualified for any project on which they work or propose to work by an appropriate combination of education and training, and experience.
8. Accept no outside work detrimental to the work they perform for their primary employer.
9. Ensure realistic quantitative estimates of cost, scheduling, personnel, quality and outcomes on any project on which they work or propose to work and provide an uncertainty assessment of these estimates.
10. Ensure an appropriate method is used for any project on which they work or propose to work.
1. To ensure, as much as possible, that their efforts will be used for good, software engineers must commit themselves to making software engineering a beneficial and respected profession.
2. Principle 3: PRODUCTSoftware engineers shall ensure that their products and related modifications meet the highest professional standards possible.
3. In particular, software engineers shall, as appropriate:Temper all technical judgments by the need to support and maintain human values.
4. Software engineers are those who contribute by direct participation or by teaching, to the analysis, specification, design, development, certification, maintenance and testing of software systems.
5. Ensure that software engineers are informed of standards before being held to them.
6. Not unfairly intervene in the career of any colleague; however, concern for the employer, the client or public interest may compel software engineers, in good faith, to question the competence of a colleague.
7. In particular, software engineers shall, as appropriate:Encourage colleagues to adhere to this Code.
8. However, even in this generality, the Code provides support for software engineers and managers of software engineers who need to take positive action in a specific case by documenting the ethical stance of the profession.
9. Principle 2: CLIENT AND EMPLOYERSoftware engineers shall act in a manner that is in the best interests of their client and employer, consistent with the public interest.
10. The Code helps to define those actions that are ethically improper to request of a software engineer or teams of software engineers.
1. The Code prescribes these as obligations of anyone claiming to be or aspiring to be a software engineer.
2. Support, as members of a profession, other software engineers striving to follow this Code.
3. The Code is not simply for adjudicating the nature of questionable acts; it also has an important educational function.
4. Express concerns to the people involved when significant violations of this Code are detected unless this is impossible, counter-productive, or dangerous.
5. It is not intended that the individual parts of the Code be used in isolation to justify errors of omission or commission.
6. In all these judgments concern for the health, safety and welfare of the public is primary; that is, the "Public Interest" is central to this Code.
7. In particular, software engineers shall, as appropriate:Encourage colleagues to adhere to this Code.
8. Recognize that violations of this Code are inconsistent with being a professional software engineer.
9. Provide for due process in hearing charges of violation of an employer's policy or of this Code.
10. Report significant violations of this Code to appropriate authorities when it is clear that consultation with people involved in these significant violations is impossible, counter-productive or dangerous.
1. Ethical tensions can best be addressed by thoughtful consideration of fundamental principles, rather than blind reliance on detailed regulations.
2. Promote no interest adverse to their employer or client, unless a higher ethical concern is being compromised; in that case, inform the employer or another appropriate authority of the ethical concern.
3. As this Code expresses the consensus of the profession on ethical issues, it is a means to educate both the public and aspiring professionals about the ethical obligations of all software engineers.
4. In particular, software engineers shall, as appropriate:Help develop an organizational environment favorable to acting ethically.
5. The Code is not a simple ethical algorithm that generates ethical decisions.
6. However, even in this generality, the Code provides support for software engineers and managers of software engineers who need to take positive action in a specific case by documenting the ethical stance of the profession.
7. The Code provides an ethical foundation to which individuals within teams and the team as a whole can appeal.
8. The Principles identify the ethically responsible relationships in which individuals, groups, and organizations participate and the primary obligations within these relationships.
9. Principle 5: MANAGEMENTSoftware engineering managers and leaders shall subscribe to and promote an ethical approach to the management of software development and maintenance .
10. The Code helps to define those actions that are ethically improper to request of a software engineer or teams of software engineers.