The Morality of Computers

               Computers fundamentally have been used for both moral and immoral actions. From NSA spying to personal email, black markets and social media, computers have greatly increased the ability to communicate on the global scale. This development was done over time, with computers and then the internet being gradually constructed and implemented without always thinking about user accessibility. Computers are considered a value sensitive design, which is an innovation of a technology to take into account both direct and indirect shareholders (analogous to doctors using a program to store information and patients whose information is in the system). Value sensitive design and its role in computers is an important topic concerning users even today.

               Value sensitive design (VSD) is a concept that tries to take into account various human morals into an object’s design. VSD takes place throughout the creation of the object; for computers, this is analogous to the creation of a user-interface in order to increase accessibility for those who are not as knowledgeable in the use of computers. The functionality is increased to a larger scale, allowing use not only in a workplace, but also for personal use and communication on a more international and global scale. When more users have access to a VSD device like a computer, the values and morals of the users can be imparted upon it (not imparted as if they were consistent on the device, but as another medium besides physical books or newspapers for morals to be preached upon). Values like “fairness, justice, human welfare, and virtue” (Friedman 13), all begin to exist as the user base increases. There may be differing opinions on these values, but they show up more and more on differing programs and websites.

Computers as a VSD also have an increase in usability not only on the computer itself, but also by improving the interface of the programs created on it. For a long span of time (roughly 30 years since between the creation and larger-scale propagation of computers) there was rarely any code of ethics for the software being created on computers. “Software engineers” of the time were uneducated, and not necessarily devoted toward ethical use, user accessibility or even business relations. There were not professionals before the push toward a code of ethics similar to that of electrical engineers, at least not in the sense of the computer software engineers of the modern era. After a creation of a code of ethics, jobs became more defined, and although companies relied more and more on their work, the computer scientist became a more respected and less mysterious job in the workplace. Universities began creating and teaching courses on subjects involving computer and hardware, as well as offering degrees, and the computer and software engineer became a professional on the level of a mechanical, electrical or civil engineer.

                The code of ethics developed for computer engineers and software engineers has changed over many years. The Association for Computing Machinery has a fairly common code of ethics, which cover many different issues in the computing world. The first part of the ACM code of ethics discusses personal responsibility, discrimination and harmful actions. The goal of the code of ethics moral section is to “Contribute to society and human well-being, avoid harm to others, be honest and trustworthy, be fair and take action not to discriminate, honor property rights including copyrights and patent, and respect privacy and confidentiality.” These ideals are the personal responsibilities to uphold for computer technicians, and serve as the way to make other direct and indirect shareholders have a positive, unhampered experience. The other section of the ACM code of ethics discusses professional ethics, involving high quality and efficiency of work, honoring contracts and agreements, accepting professional review, maintaining professional competence and other ideals for the business-oriented direct shareholders. All of these ideas outlined in various codes of ethics, the push towards education and professionalism, as well as usability, has made the value sensitive design of the computer more and more efficient and friendly to both direct and indirect shareholders over the course of the past century.