Question

Description : Appraise actions taken in a software development context using a code of ethics or law.

Scenario : Mike and his team have been contracted to update a loan application evaluation program for a regional bank. the loan evalaution program uses a formula that was provided by the bank to score loan applications. the score that the program provides is used as a starting point for the loan officers at the bank in determining credit worthiness. Ike, a member of Mike's taem took some initiative, browsed around the bank's servers, and after reviewing some historical loan data on the bank's servers mades some adjustments to the bank's scoring formula. Ike noticed that some information collected by the web server on a user's browser, OS and IP location correlated fairly well with loan defaults. Ike went ahead and incorporated this change to the formula into update and believes the changes will result in a more useful score. Ike just let Mike know about the change to the formula. Mike has been in regular contact with the regional bank about the progress on the updates for the previous eight weeks. Since he didn't know about the changes Ike was making or the resources that Ike was accessing, none of this was relayed to the bank. Based on team updates, Mike was ready to deliver the updated software to the bank next week. At this point, Ike cannot easily roll-back the changes he made to the formula. Mike does not plan on reporting the changes to the regional bank since it will reflect well on his managerial skillsa nd the changes should benefit the bank. Mike plans on delivering the updated software as scheduled.

Using the ACM code of ethics and our workable ethical frameworks evaluate the actions of Mike and Ike within 250 words.

Answer 1

Mike and Ike's actions in this scenario violate the ACM Code of Ethics and Professional Practice. Ike accessed the bank's servers without proper authorization and made changes to the scoring formula without informing the bank or his team leader. Mike, as the team leader, failed to take action and report the unauthorized changes.

Step-by-step explanation:

Mike and Ike's actions in this scenario can be evaluated using the ACM Code of Ethics and Professional Practice, which provides guidelines for ethical behavior in the field of software engineering. According to the code, software engineers should strive to ensure the quality of their work and should not modify code without proper authorization. In this case, Ike accessed the bank's servers without proper authorization and made changes to the scoring formula without informing the bank or his team leader. This violates the principle of integrity and could have legal consequences.

Mike, as the team leader, has a responsibility to ensure that the project is being carried out ethically and in compliance with the code of ethics. By not reporting the changes made by Ike and planning to deliver the updated software without the bank's knowledge, Mike is also violating the principle of integrity. He should have taken immediate action to rectify the situation and inform the bank of the unauthorized changes.

Overall, both Mike and Ike's actions in this scenario are unethical and go against the ACM Code of Ethics. They should have followed proper procedures and obtained proper authorization before making any changes to the software or accessing sensitive data.