Code of Ethics and Professional Practice

Requirement (50%) – Apply appropriate components of a relevant Code of Ethics and Professional Practice (either ACM or IEEE) to explain what, if anything, failed to conform to the Code. Be sure to indicate which professional code of ethics you are referring to.1Tipper is a programmer in a large telecommunications company. She has been tasked with writing a large statistical program needed by her company. Tipper likes the fact that programmers in the company are encouraged to write about and publish their results and algorithms in professional journals. After months of tedious programming, Tipper has found she is stuck on several parts of the program. Her manager wants the program completed in just a few days.

Not knowing how to solve the problems, Tipper remembers that a co-worker had given her source listings from his current work and from an early version of a commercial software package developed at another company. After studying these programs, she sees two areas of code which could be directly incorporated into her own program. Firstly she uses segments of code from both her co-worker and the commercial software, but does not tell anyone or mention it in the documentation. Secondly she completes the project and delivers it on time. 2Three years ago Laynee started her own consulting business. In addition she has been so successful that she now has several people working for her and numerous clients. Their consulting work includes designing and implementing corporate intranets, database management systems, and security systems.

Further Description

Laynee is currently designing a database management system for the personnel office of a medium-sized company. She has involved the client in the design process, informing their CEO, director of computing, and director of personnel about the progress of the system. It is now time to make decisions about the kind and degree of security to build into the system. Laynee has described several options to the client. Because the system is going to cost more than they planned, the client has decided to opt for a less secure system. Laynee believes the information they will be storing is extremely sensitive. It will include performance evaluations, medical records for filing insurance claims, salaries, etc. With weak security, employees working on client machines may be able to figure out ways to get access to this data, not to mention the possibility of on-line access from hackers.

Laynee feels strongly that the system should be much more secure. She has tried to explain the risks, but the CEO, director of computing, and director of personnel all agree that less security will do. She is not sure what to do, and considers refusing to build the system they request. 3Hank works in a large agency that administers programs for individuals with alcohol and drug problems. The agency maintains a huge database of information on the clients who use their services. Some of the data files contain the names and current addresses of clients. Hank is going take a look at the success rates of the treatment programs. He is to put together a report that contains the number of clients seen in each program each month for the past five years.

Additional Information

Length of each client’s treatment, number of clients who return after completion of a program, criminal histories of clients, etc. In order to put together this report, Hank has been given access to all files in the agency’s mainframe computer. After assembling the data into a file that includes the clients’ names, he downloads it to the computer in his office. Under pressure to get the report finished by the deadline, Hank decides he will have to work at home over the weekend in order to finish on time. He burns the information onto a CD and takes it home. Finally after finishing the report he leaves the CD at home and forgets about it

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