为电脑行业制定道德规范存在着一个问题，那就是它没有医学业或法律业那样的职业地位。正如瑞森拉理工学院的德伯拉·约翰逊在她有关这个问题的各篇文章中说，电脑专业人员更像工程师，在大部分时间他们像雇员一样工作，无权单独行事。他们有专业知识，却通常拥有非常有限的自主权。他们常团队而不是单独运作，只从事大项目中的几个小部分。他们常常远离所做工作产生的效果和影响，也没有一个联合的有制度的行业组织。关于他们对老板、客户、同行人士以及广大社会的责任，通常会引起纷争。 =L1%gQJJ&
[4YRyx&:++
7. One problem in developing ethical guidelines for the computer profession is that it does not have the status of professions like medicine or the law. As Deborah Johnson of Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute has argued in her various writings on the subject, computer professional are rather like engineers. Mostly they work as employees rather than in their own right. While they have esoteric knowledge, they typically have quite limited autonomy. They often work in teams rather than alone and on small segments of large projects. They are usually distant from the effects of their work, and they do not have a single unifying and regulating professional organization. Conflicts can occur among their obligations to their employer, their client, their co-professionals, and to the wider society. _7';1 D
}S')!3[G
`^on`"\{u
5Rw 2/J
L
尽管电脑专业人员的社会地位较低，但使用电脑储存重要的金融、市场、人事、健康、研究和军事信息，却让那些专业人员--从低微的操作人员到系统开发总管--手中拥有了新型的权力。这种权力不是被刻意寻求的，但电脑专业人员却发现自己拥有了掌握老板、客户、同行人士和大众的权力。这种权力很容易被那些毫无顾忌或易受诱惑的人滥用。 R=,
pv'
sGNHA( ;
8. Yet despite the lower social status of computer professionals, the use of computers for storing vital financial, marketing, personnel, health, research, and military information puts new forms of power in the hands of those professionals, from the humble operator to the chief systems developer. This power is not specifically sought, but nevertheless computer professionals do find themselves in positions of power over employers, clients, co-professionals, and the general public - and it is power that can be easily abused by those without scruples or those who easily fall victim to temptation. KVEc:<|x
HGh)d` 8
e&8Meiv+ d
lFcHE c
老板会被心怀不满的员工要挟，这些员工能改变口令或在软件中插入"定时炸弹"或"逻辑炸弹"，它们会在某个给定的时间让整个系统处于瘫痪状态。比如，据新闻报导，明尼阿波利斯一家公司的一位程序员被指控勒索，他曾威胁说，除非公司在他找到另一份工作前每星期付给他350美元，否则他将要引爆公司电脑系统的"定时炸弹"。一位爱争论的华盛顿特区的政府财政分析员更改了财政部办公室电脑的口令，还拒绝告诉他的上司，因为他不同意他们的政策。加拿大安大略省一家公司的雇员在公司电脑里植入一个"逻辑炸弹"，以使整个系统在某个时间被全部抹掉，因为他对他的加薪被延误不满（分别摘自1985年5月23日《明尼阿波利斯星论坛报》；1986年2月9日《华盛顿邮报》；1987年11月3日《多伦多全球邮报》）。 =MM+(mD
CKFr9 bT{
9. Employers can be held to ransom by disgruntled employees who have the ability to change passwords or insert software "time bombs" or "logic bombs" that can knock out entire systems on a given date. For example, according to press reports, a programmer with Minneapolis company was charged with extortion after threatening to trigger a "time-bomb" in the firm's computer system unless he received $350 per week until he found another job; a controversial Washington, D.C. government financial analyst changed the password to the Treasurer's office computer and refused to tell his superiors because he disagreed with their policies; and an employee of an Ontario, Canada, company planted a "logic bomb" in the company's computer designed to erase the entire system on a certain date - he was unhappy about a delayed salary increase (Minneapolis star Tribune, 23 May 1985; Washington Post, 9 February 1986; Toronto Globe Mail, 3 November 1987, respectively).
