the resources needed to execute them.

Now computing is ubiquitous— controlling our transportation and communication, and facilitating many human interactions. Computing today is in our bodies—prosthetics, pacemakers, and insulin pumps. Computing is also integral to the ways in which societies wage war. Computers impact all areas of our lives and many life-preserving functions are relegated to a piece of computer guided machinery.

Many of the newest impacts of computing are invisible. Computers make decisions about who is audited, who gets a heart transplant, and who gets targeted by dangerous devices, be they cars or missiles. The changes in technology and the kinds and number of impacted stakeholders are changing society in fundamental ways.

Social and technical changes connected to computing are interdependent, and they are changing the way computing is accomplished. Given the ease of communications, there is a rise of global software development. Many software developers have less individual control over what a software project will do or how it will operate. The easy development and dissemination of large aggregated datasets is transformational. We are also addressing concepts like accountable algorithms, inconceivable to many of us in 1992.f

Although the 1992 Code was designed to be flexible, it has not completely kept pace with these changes. ACM’s leadership understands that, and is committed to addressing the interaction of the technical and social worlds in the computing profession. The ACM Council charged COPE to develop an update to the Code, so that the members’ social contract with the ACM better reflects these changes in computing and society. This update project is called “Code 2018.”

Important principles guiding Code 2018 are:

˲ The Code should continue to document the ethical and professional responsibilities and obligations of computing professionals.

 

f Nicholas Diakopoulos. Accountability in Algorithmic Decision Making. Commun. ACM 59,

2 (Feb 2016), 56–62; 10.1145/2844110 http:// cacm.acm.org/magazines/2016/2/197421-ac- countability-in-algorithmic-decision-making/ abstract. Accessed 2016-10-04

˲ The Code should express the consensus of the computing profession on ethical issues.

˲ The Code should be used as a guide to decision making.

˲ The Code should educate both the public and aspiring professionals about the professional obligation of all computing professionals.

 

How will the Code be updated?
The ACM, like software development
in general, is more global than it was
during last century; the updated Code
needs to reflect broad, intercultural pro-
fessional ethics. COPE is establishing an
international Task Forceg of experts on
codes of ethics, current ethical issues of
computers in society, public policy, law,
and philosophy.h
The Code 2018 Task Force will do sev-
eral rounds of draft—review - comment
- rewrite—before recommending a draft
to the ACM Council for approval and
adoption. Each draft will have a wide
distribution; the process is designed to
include many voices. The goal is to de-
velop a Code by 2018 that will be useful
for years to come.

COPE anticipates publishing two updates to this draft version for review and comment (at six-month intervals) before recommending a final version to ACM Council.

Codes, if carefully written and properly promoted, can be powerful instruments when striving for professionalism, and when establishing safeguards for society. But a Code that sits in the unread appendix of a book, or languishes on an unvisited website, has little influence. In addition to the Code 2018 effort, ACM has begun the “Integrity Project,” an effort to promote ethical behavior in the computing professions.

New technologies arise so quickly
that they may be in widespread use be-
fore practitioners can see the social
and ethical consequences. In order to
help ACM members in particular and
the computing community at large to
be mindful of professional computing
ethics, and how its principles can be ap-
plied, the Integrity Project will develop a
variety of multimedia materials for use
g For a list of current taskforce members see
http://ethics.acm.org/code-2018
h Michael Davis. Eighteen rules for writing a
code of professional ethics. Science and Engi-
neering Ethics 13, 2 (2007), 171–189.
The ACM,
like software
development in
general, is more
global than
it was during
the last century;
the updated
Code needs to
reflect broad,
intercultural
professional ethics.