Information Technology Reference
In-Depth Information
In January 1941, the Germans began a special census of the Jews in the Netherlands.
All Jews were required to register at their local census office. There was widespread
condemnation of this edict across Dutch society, but the Jews complied. The penalty
for failing to register was five years in prison and the loss of one's property. Besides,
those who failed to register could be tracked down because the government had up-to-
date information about them that was gathered when the Lentz identification cards were
issued.
Lentz did not simply comply with the directives of the Germans, he anticipated their
needs. When they contacted him in May 1941 about producing an alphabetical register
of the Jewish population, Lentz replied that his office had already begun setting up a
system to do just that. In his memoirs Lentz wrote, “I rented a Hollerith installation
with which the professional statistical survey has been composed, which satisfied the
Germans very much, and gave them the convictions that my opinions had been correct”
[1, p. 312].
In July 1942, twice-weekly trains began deporting Jews from the Netherlands to
concentration camps in Eastern Europe. The alphabetized lists provided by Lentz's office
allowed the Germans to conduct this operation with great efficiency: rounding up Jews
in an orderly fashion and keeping the trains running on schedule. Of the 140,000 Jews
in the Netherlands at the time of the German invasion, 107,000 were deported, and of
these 102,000 died [1].
Informally, a
profession
is a vocation that requires a high level of education and
practical experience in the field. Professionals have a special obligation to ensure their
actions are for the good of those who depend on them, because their decisions can
have more serious consequences than the choices made by those holding less respon-
sible positions in society. Jacobus Lentz had great expertise in the world of data pro-
cessing. As inspector of population registries, he was in a position of great respon-
sibility. Sadly, he focused on demonstrating his creativity, technical abilities, and in-
dustriousness and ignored the consequences of his actions. Lacking a moral compass,
he allowed himself to play an important role in Hitler's “Final Solution” of the Jewish
question.
In this chapter we focus on moral decisions made by people who design, implement,
operate, or maintain computer hardware or software systems. We begin by considering
the extent to which a computer-related career is a profession along the lines of medicine
or law. Next we present and analyze a code of ethics for an important computer-related
discipline: software engineering. Four case studies give us the opportunity to use the
software engineering code of ethics as a tool for ethical analysis.
Finally, we discuss whistle-blowing: a situation in which a member of an organi-
zation breaks ranks to reveal actual or potential harm to the public. Whistle-blowing
raises important moral questions about loyalty, trust, and responsibility. Two accounts
of whistle-blowing illuminate these moral questions and demonstrate the personal sac-
rifices some have made for the greater good of society. We consider the important role
management plays in creating an organizational atmosphere that either allows or sup-
presses internal dissent.
