You can choose to interpret my comment as being about corporations if you like; however, I was talking about individual engineers. It is perfectly feasible for a professional oath/code-of-ethics to work, as it does in other industries. It doesn't mean you will never get a bad actor, but it adds a layer of protection to any engineer.
For example, you could imagine that once the code-of-ethics is standardised:
* Organisations that employ software engineers will feel obliged to publicly follow it (like they all have to have public policies around things like modern slavery, etc.)
* They would also be pressured to display it on job ads. Because why would an engineer want to work somewhere that doesn't follow the industry code-of-ethics.
* Engineers have something to point at as a reference to what is, and what is not, ethical. Allowing them to not appear be the only voice in an organisation who can see harm being done.
* It could well enable a union of software engineers take industrial action if the code of ethics is being broken. Which would be a PR disaster for any corporation.
At the extreme end, you could possibly see a future where engineers are 'struck off' of the professional body representing us (for unethical practice).
The only downside I see is that ethics and morals are mutable, so it'd be pretty hard to nail down a concrete set of ethics that are effective without overstepping. There are however plenty of smart people in this industry, so it shouldn't be beyond us to work it out.
For example, you could imagine that once the code-of-ethics is standardised:
* Organisations that employ software engineers will feel obliged to publicly follow it (like they all have to have public policies around things like modern slavery, etc.)
* They would also be pressured to display it on job ads. Because why would an engineer want to work somewhere that doesn't follow the industry code-of-ethics.
* Engineers have something to point at as a reference to what is, and what is not, ethical. Allowing them to not appear be the only voice in an organisation who can see harm being done.
* It could well enable a union of software engineers take industrial action if the code of ethics is being broken. Which would be a PR disaster for any corporation.
At the extreme end, you could possibly see a future where engineers are 'struck off' of the professional body representing us (for unethical practice).
The only downside I see is that ethics and morals are mutable, so it'd be pretty hard to nail down a concrete set of ethics that are effective without overstepping. There are however plenty of smart people in this industry, so it shouldn't be beyond us to work it out.