Antipodal shock: professionalism turned upside down

ABSTRACT

Recently I heard a consultant in the South Pacific discuss a product for developing better software. Later investigation, unfortunately, showed that he had not discussed some of this product's obvious and potentially harmful defects. As I thought about this incident, I was struck by how much harm a lack of candor about a product's failings can do to unsuspecting users, and how inconsistent this failure to warn of potential problems was with professional ethics. I was also reminded of how self-defeating this sort of behavior can be.

REFERENCES

• 1: http://likemom.com/articles/24.html
• 2: http://www.viox-heart-attack.com/pages/vioxx_lawsuits.html
• 3: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/07/11/AR2005071100148.html
• 4: http://www.guidant.com/about/employee_6.shtml
• 5: http://www.ahrp.org/infomail/05/05/24a.php

INDEX TERMS

Primary Classification:
  K. Computing Milieux
  K.7 THE COMPUTING PROFESSION
      K.7.4 Professional Ethics

Additional Classification:
  K. Computing Milieux
  K.6 MANAGEMENT OF COMPUTING AND INFORMATION SYSTEMS
      K.6.1 Project and People Management

General Terms:
Theory