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First, Do No Harm - A Hippocratic Oath for Coders?

Posted by Cliff on from the code-and-ethics dept.

rhysweatherley asks: "With the increase in spyware, spam, etc, is it time for a Hippocratic Oath for Programmers? Should programmers be able to refuse to write code that harms the public more than it helps? Should they code defensively to prevent software and information being misused for unintended purposes? And how do we protect such programmers from being dismissed unfairly for standing on principle?"

2 of 538 comments (clear)

  1. You mean like engineers? by Pig+Hogger · · Score: 1, Flamebait
    You mean something like engineers?

    However, even such a thing won't work, because there are still too many engineering fuckups; too often those are caused by a goddammed accountant sticking it's nose where it doesn't belong. Likewise, programmers won't be exempt from accountant (and PHBs) pressures.

    And the hippocratic oath never prevented the nazis doctors from doing their experiments on prisoners.

    What you need is something stronger, like the Suk School of Medidine, but those are awefully expensive...

  2. Will your egos never stop? by cheese_wallet · · Score: 0, Flamebait

    A hypocratic oath for programmers? This bloated self righteousness is flabbergasting.

    Dismissed unfairly? What a load of crap! You are hired to write code that your boss wants you to write. If you don't want to write it, don't. If you get fired, go get another frickin' job where you aren't asked to do what you don't want to do. Imagine a guy getting a job painting houses, but he refuses to paint with a roller because it isn't the "right way to do it". Or he refuses to paint a house blue because it "will be harmful to the neighborhood". That painter would be shitcanned in a minute.

    Grow Up. Get Over It. You don't have a divine right to work at a company that doesn't want you. Amazing, isn't it?

    I'm sure this will be marked as flamebait, but it is the truth.

    You people aren't special. You aren't unique. You're about as indispensible as the typical taco bell employee. If you have enough money leftover at the end of the month to buy a snickers bar, you are overpayed.

    I realize that most of you are probably still in college...and have yet to experience the "real world" as it is so frequently called. So your view on reality is pretty out of line with, say, everybody over the age of 30. But good grief, you're just programmers. You are pretty much the lowest guy on the totem pole, and you always will be.

    Where do these egos come from? Intellectual Incest on slashdot probably.