Is the ACM Code of Ethics and Professional Conduct Effective?

Essay Instructions:

Please choose one of the prompts listed below and submit an essay responding to that prompt. Your final submission should be around 1250 words in total (±10%), excluding references.
1. Does the ACM Code of Ethics and Professional Conduct make any presuppositions about normative ethics? Using specific and concrete examples from the Code of Ethics and Professional Conduct, describe what presuppositions are being made (if any) and whether one normative theory seems to be prioritised (explicitly or implicitly) over another. Then, discuss (i.e., provide an argument in favour of or against) whether these presuppositions detract from the code in any way—e.g., in terms of its authority, expected compliance with the code, efficacy considerations, etc. In your discussion, you should make explicit reference to at least one of Sossin and Smith (2003) or Green (2019).
2. Does the ACM Code of Ethics and Professional Conduct make any presuppositions about metaethics? Using specific and concrete examples from the Code of Ethics and Professional Conduct, describe what metaethical commitments are being presupposed (if any), and discuss (i.e., provide an argument in favour or against) whether these commitments detract from the code in any way—e.g., in terms of its authority, expected compliance with the code, efficacy considerations, etc. In your discussion, you should make explicit reference to at least one of Sossin and Smith (2003) or Green (2019).
3. Considering the ACM Code of Ethics and Professional Conduct, in the context of Sossin and Smith's (2003) discussion of non-legislative policy agreements, should we expect the Code (or other documents like it) to be effective? Discuss the reasons why (or why not), being sure to include at least one specific and concrete example from the Code.
4. Consider whether Green's (2019) criticism of 'AI for Social Good' movements applies to the ACM Code of Ethics and Professional Conduct. Using specific and concrete example from the Code of Ethics and Professional Conduct, describe what normative terms are being used by the Code and whether the use of these terms is subject to the type of criticism that Green (2019) offers.
Your essay submission is subject to the following restrictions:
• Your essay should be 1125-1375 words in length.
• Your essay should be submitted in .pdf or .docx format.
• Your essay should be double-spaced with standard formatting (12 point, times new roman or similar font, 1 inch Margins, etc.)
• Any quotations or paraphrases of other people's ideas must be properly cited.
• A complete and properly-formatted list of 'works cited' should be included at the end of the document.
o Note 1 : the 'works cited' does not count toward the word limit.
o Note 2 : a properly-formatted citation for each of the articles is included in the first and second modules, respectively.
• Your submission should be generally free of grammatical and typographical errors—i.e., you should spend some time editing before you submit. A few minor mistakes will not warrant a deduction in points; however, significant typographical and grammatical errors, which lead to unclarity in exposition, will be penalised according to the rubric (below).
A rubric for how this essay will be graded has been posted on the Additional Resources section of the course webpage. You should look at it before you begin writing so that you understand how your work is being graded.
A summary of the breakdown of points is given in the table below, but more details are provided in the rubric.
Thesis Statement 5 Points
Arguments: Inferential Structure and Consistency 15 Points
Arguments: Strength 15 Points
Consideration of Alternatives / Counterarguments 10 Points
Insightfulness, Creativity, Novelty 5 Points
Explanation and Analysis of Topic/Question/Problem 15 Points
Exposition, Analysis, and Evaluation of Others' Arguments & Position 15 Points
Integration of Background Explanation and One's Own Position 5 Points
Roadmapping 2.5 Points
Guide-Posting 2.5 Points
Structure 5 Points
Readability 5 Points
OVERALL 100 Points

Essay Sample Content Preview:

Is the ACM Code of Ethics and Professional Conduct Effective?
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Is the ACM Code of Ethics and Professional Conduct Effective?
The Association for Computing Machinery (ACM) enforces procedures and expects all members to be committed and abide by the ACM’s Code of Ethics. Lorne Sossin and Charles Smith (2003) argue that fairness, impartiality, and accountability are primary concerns for administrative law (Sossin & Smith, 2003). However, governments address these issues by coming up with policy guidelines and codes of ethics to govern officials' decision-making in public organizations. In some cases, policy guidelines and ethical codes might obscure instead of revealing more about administrative decision-making. Sossin and Smith refer to this as “soft law,” and it has the potential to render discretionary judgments more coherent and transparent. Nevertheless, the potential of the ACM Code of Ethics and Professional Conduct is frustrated by various misleading dichotomies between law and discretion, administration and politics, and discretion and ethics. In that light, one must first move beyond the above dichotomies to enhance fairness, accountability, and impartiality in administrative decision-making. As such, taking into account the ACM Code of Ethics and Professional Conduct in the context of Sossin and Smith’s (2003) discussion of non-legislative policy agreements, we should not expect the code to be effective.
For one to understand the effectiveness of the ACM Code of Ethics and Professional Conduct, the best question to ask oneself should be, who develops these codes, what processes are followed, and which objectives are to be achieved. In particular, policy guidelines and ethical codes are distinctive across different bureaucratic and political settings. They are usually developed to respond to specific external pressures (Sossin and Smith, 2003). Some bureaucratic settings do not have existing policy guidelines of ethical codes. That is why the establishment of the ACM Code of Ethics and Professional Conduct and other similar documents are questionable when it comes to their fairness, coherence, effectiveness, and accountability. In particular, the non-legislative policy guidelines and ethical codes are not regulations implemented by the legislature (Sossin and Smith, 2003). Instead, they are passed by specific ministries, public-sector institutions, and departments as a guide for bureaucracy in decision-making. That means that an organization might develop its ethical codes of conduct or policy guidelines intending achieve particular objectives. As a result, these codes are not always effective since it depends on the reason behind their formation.
People in a specific organization are allowed to submit complaints if they suspect that others have violated the ACM Code of Ethics and Professional Conduct. The complainant is allowed to identify the provisions of the code that have been violated and report within 180 days (ACM Inc., 2022). In that case, it means that some members might engage in false allegations and provide false evidence against others. Although the code should promote ...

Updated on January 26, 2024

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Is the ACM Code of Ethics and Professional Conduct Effective?

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