A Rationale for the Proposed Revision of the Association for Computing Machinery’s Code of Professional Conduct - Background of the ACM Code of Professional Conduct - The Research Center on Computing & Society

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Ronald E. Anderson

Background of the ACM Code of Professional Conduct

The current ACM Code of Professional Conduct was developed between 1969 and 1972 and adopted by the ACM Council in 1973. At that time there was no such thing as international data communications networks, and phrases like ‘computer virus’ and ‘computer inequity’ were unheard of. New p73 technology and new ethical issues quickly outdate the code, but the substance of ACM’s Code has not been revised in 20 years. In 1990, the ACM’s SIGCAS (Special Interest Group on Computers and Society) decided to address the need to review and revise the ACM Code. A grant from the ACM SIG Discretionary Fund launched the “Ethics Project” in the summer of 1990. A small task force to revise the code emerged later.

The project held its first public meeting on September 9, 1990. Over 50 people participated in this all day SIGCAS Ethics Symposium. The symposium included reports of research on computer ethics as well as presentations on different approaches to teaching computer ethics. But the main accomplishment was the delineation of a large, diverse set of issues in computer ethics and the clarification of many problems underlying revision of the ACM Code.

In March 1991 during the ACM meetings in San Antonio, an open forum was held to collect additional input and to determine the next steps. From this meeting emerged a consensus on several procedural and policy issues. Prior to this meeting we solicited comments and suggestions from ACM officers and specialists in computer ethics.

At the June 20, 1991 meeting of the ACM Council, the members were polled on their opinions regarding possible revision of the ACM Code of Professional Conduct. In general there was agreement on the directions to revise and expand the Code. The ACM Council is the most important organizational unit with respect to the revision process because the ACM Constitution (Article 6, Section 8) states that the ACM Council “shall adopt, maintain, enforce and conspicuously publish and display to all members and the public a code of professional ethics which shall be binding on all members.” One way it fulfills this function is by requiring that new membership sign that they subscribe to the purpose of ACM “to develop and maintain the integrity and competence of individuals engaged in the practice of information processing.”

The next step is the public review process took place during the week of August 12 – 16, 1991 at the National Conference on Computing and Values (NCCV) in New Haven, Conn. During this week many long and lively discussions were held to revise the first draft of the revision of the ACM Code. The task force has assembled the numerous suggestions from these individual and public meetings in its latest draft (draft No. 18) of the revision.

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