1.7.1 Ethics

The IEEE CS/ACM 8 categories Code of Ethics:

Software engineers code of ethics

1. PUBLIC - Software engineers shall act consistently with the public interest.2. CLIENT AND EMPLOYER - Software engineers shall act in a manner that is in the best interests of their client and employer consistent with the public interest.3. PRODUCT - Software engineers shall ensure that their products and related modifications meet the highest professional standards possible.4. JUDGMENT - Software engineers shall maintain integrity and independence in their professional judgment.5. MANAGEMENT - Software engineering managers and leaders shall subscribe to and promote an ethical approach to the management of software development and maintenance.6. PROFESSION - Software engineers shall advance the integrity and reputation of the profession consistent with the public interest.7. COLLEAGUES - Software engineers shall be fair to and supportive of their colleagues.

8. SELF - Software engineers shall participate in lifelong learning regarding the practice of their profession and shall promote an ethical approach to the practice of the profession.

The Association for Computing Machinery (ACM) is the world’s largest educationaland scientific computing society. It has its own Code of Ethics and another set ofethical principles that were also approved by the IEEE as the standard for teachingand practicing software engineering.

* Contribute to society and human well-being. Programmers should work todevelop computer systems that can reduce negative consequences to society, suchas threats to safety and health, and that can make everyday activities and workeasier. It is “an obligation to develop to high standards”

* Avoid harm to others. Computer systems have an indirect impact on third parties.They can cause loss of information and resources that might result severely harmfulfor users, the general public, or employers. Therefore, software developers shouldminimize the risk of harming others due to coding errors, or security issues, byfollowing standards to design and test systems

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* Be honest and trustworthy. This principle encourages programmers to be honest

and aware of their limitations in knowledge and education when writing computersystems. Also, if a programmer knows there is something wrong with a computersystem, he or she should report it immediately to avoid undesirable consequences.

* Give proper credit for intellectual property. It is mandatory for every softwaredeveloper to never use and take credit for someone else’s work, even when it hasnot been protected by a copyright law, patent, etc. They must recognize and fullycredit other people’s works, and they should use their own ideas to developsoftware.

* Respect the privacy of others. Computer systems are wrongly used by somepeople to violate the privacy of others. Software developers should write programsthat can protect users’ private information and that can avoid other undesiredpeople to have unauthorized access to.

* Honor confidentiality. Unless required by law or any other ethical guideline, aprogrammer must keep secret any additional information related to his or heremployer that arises from working in a project.

* Approve software only if they have a well-founded belief it is safe and

meets specifications. Programmers cannot assume that a system is ready to use onlybecause it performs the tasks needed. They should make sure these systems arealso safe and meet every specification required by the user. If programs are notsafe, users are unprotected from hackers that could steal important information ormoney. Therefore, several tests should be performed in order to ensure a system’ssecurity before approving it.

* Accept full responsibility for their own work. If a program presents errors, thesoftware developer should accept full responsibility for his or her work, and shouldwork on revising, correcting, modifying, and testing it.

* Not knowingly use software that is obtained or retained either illegally orunethically. If a computer system will be used as a base for the creation of another,then permission to do so should be asked by the programmer. This principleprohibits using any other software for any purpose if the way it was gotten is not

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clear or is known to be illegal or unethical.

* Identify, define, and address ethical, economic, cultural, legal and environmentalissues related to work projects. If a programmer notices and identifies thatworking on a project will lead to any kind of problems, then the programmer shouldreport it to his or her employer before continuing.

* Ensure that specifications for software on which they work satisfy the users’ requirements and they have the appropriate approvals. Software developers should come to their employers to ask for the correspondent approval to the system they are creating before continuing working on the next part. If it doesn’t meet the requirements, then a modification to the source code of the system should be made.

* Ensure adequate testing, debugging and review of software. Programmers should perform the appropriate tests to the pieces of software they work with, and should check for errors and system security holes to make sure that the programs are well implemented.

* Not engage in deceptive financial practices such as bribery, double billing, or other improper financial practices. Programmers are exposed to be participants onillegal activities to get money. They get involved in them due to threats, economicalissues, or simply because they want to obtain easy money taking advantage of theirknowledge about how computer systems work. This guideline prohibits programmerto form part of such unlawful actions.

* Improve their ability to create safe, reliable, and useful quality software. Since technology advances faster year by year, and so does virtual criminality, the need of well-structured and designed programs is increasing. Computer systems get old and limited by new ones and new devices. Programmers should “further their knowledge of developments in the analysis, specification, design, development, maintenance, and testing software and related documents”

1.7.2 Ownership

Concept of ownership and copyright of software

What happens when you purchase a specific software application? And if you’vepurchased software, what is the license agreement for? Do you now own thesoftware because you paid for it? Simply put, no. Though you may have paid for the software, what you have actually done is licensed the application, essentially paying

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for the rights to use the software according to guidelines determined by the owner. The owner of the software remains the person or entity that holds the copyright, giving them the sole legal authority power to sell, distribute, copy and/or change the content of the software.And unless the person or organization transfers ownership rights, the rights remainwith the owner no matter how many times the owner legally distributes thesoftware.

When a user either purchases software or freely downloads software from theInternet, the user is not buying the ownership rights to the software but a licenseto use the software according to the licensing agreement, or EULA (for end userlicensing agreement). The EULA is a legal agreement between the two parties andis legally actionable if either party violates the terms of the agreement. While notwo EULAs are exactly the same.

It’s a good idea to actually read all the way through the licensing agreements ofsoftware you buy or download. One way that spyware has been able to proliferateover the Internet is by individuals not paying attention to the licensing agreementsthat state that along with the intended software the program will also be installingspyware on your system.

Legislation to protect ownership, usage and copyright

Computer software is protected by copyright law and international copyrighttreaties as well as other intellectual property laws and treaties. Copyright law andother intellectual property laws in many countries or regions protect the rights of asoftware owner by granting to the owner a number of exclusive rights, including theright to reproduce or "copy" the software. Copying software without the permissionof the owner is "copyright infringement" and the law imposes penalties oninfringers.

You make a "copy" of a software program whenever you:1) Load the software into your computer's temporary memory by running theprogram from a floppy disk, hard disk, CD-ROM, or other storage media;2) Copy the software onto other media such as a floppy disk or your computer'shard disk;3) Run the program on your computer from a network server on which thesoftware is resident or stored.

Almost all commercial computer software is licensed directly or indirectly from thecopyright owner (the software publisher) for use by the customer through a type of

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contract called an "End User License Agreement" (also known as a EULA). Differentproducts may have different types of EULAs.

Data Protection Act 1998

The Data Protection Act 1998 controls the way that companies, organizations andindividuals handle personal data.

It states that:

1. Data may only be used for the specific purposes for which it was collected.2. Data must not be disclosed to other parties without the consent of the individual whom it is about, unless there is legislation or other overriding legitimate reason to share the information (for example, the prevention or detection of crime). It is an offence for Other Parties to obtain this personal data without authorization.3. Individuals have a right of access to the information held about them, subject to certain exceptions (for example, information held for the prevention or detection of crime).4. Personal information may be kept for no longer than is necessary and must be kept up to date.5. Personal information may not be sent outside the European Economic Area unless the individual whom it is about has consented or adequate protection is in place, for example by the use of a prescribed form of contract to govern the transmission of the data.6. Subject to some exceptions for organizations that only do very simple processing, and for domestic use, all entities that process personal information must register with the Information Commissioner's Office.7. The departments of a company that are holding personal information are required to have adequate security measures in place. Those include technical measures (such as firewalls) and organizational measures (such as staff training)8. Subjects have the right to have factually incorrect information corrected.

Free software foundation (FSF)

Free software developers guarantee everyone equal rights to their programs;any user can study the source code, modify it, and share the program. Bycontrast, most software carries fine print that denies users these basic rights,leaving them susceptible to the whims of its owners and vulnerable tosurveillance.

The FSF provides critical infrastructure and funding for theGNU project,

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the foundation of the popular GNU/Linux family of free operating systems and the keystone of the Internet.Campaigns Team creates educational materials about free software, convenes the yearly LibrePlanet conference and goes toe to toe against powerful interests that threaten computer user rights.Licensing & Compliance Lab defends freely licensed software from proprietary hoarding, advises on licensing issues, and certifies devices that Respect Your Freedom.

Open Source Initiative (OSI)

The Open Source Initiative (OSI) is an organization dedicated to promoting open-source software.

SharewareMost shareware is delivered free of charge for trial basis e.g. 30 days, but theauthor usually requests that you pay a small fee if you like the program and useit regularly. By sending the small fee, you become registered with the producerso that you can receive service assistance and updates. You can copy sharewareand pass it along to friends and colleagues, but they too are expected to pay afee if they use the product.Shareware is inexpensive because it is usually produced by a single programmer and is offered directly to customers. Thus, there is practically no packaging or advertising expenses.

Commercial softwareCommercial software, or sometimes payware is a software that is designed forsale to serve a commercial need. Commercial software is usually proprietarysoftware, but in some instances it may be public-domain software.

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