Professional Ethics - Ethics for the Information Age - page 415

privacy or harm the environment. The ultimate effect of the work should be to the
public good.
1.04 Disclose to appropriate persons or authorities any actual or potential danger to the
user, the public, or the environment, that they reasonably believe to be associated
with software or related documents.
1.05 Cooperate in efforts to address matters of grave public concern caused by software,
its installation, maintenance, support or documentation.
1.06 Be fair and avoid deception in all statements, particularly public ones, concerning
software or related documents, methods and tools.
1.07 Consider issues of physical disabilities, allocation of resources, economic disad-
vantage and other factors that can diminish access to the benefits of software.
1.08 Be encouraged to volunteer professional skills to good causes and contribute to
public education concerning the discipline.
PRINCIPLE 2: CLIENT AND EMPLOYER
Software engineers shall act in a manner that is in the best interests of their client and
employer, consistent with the public interest. In particular, software engineers shall, as
appropriate:
2.01 Provide service in their areas of competence, being honest and forthright about
any limitations of their experience and education.
2.02 Not knowingly use software that is obtained or retained either illegally or unethi-
cally.
2.03 Use the property of a client or employer only in ways properly authorized, and
with the client's or employer's knowledge and consent.
FIGURE 9.3 Software engineers shall not knowingly use software that is obtained or retained
either illegally or unethically (clause 2.02).