Programming Ethics

Community Sharing Apps

A topic that they touch on is the ethics of developing applications that disrupt markets, such as Uber and Airbnb. These are great applications that give users an alternative to using taxis and hotels. Without a doubt do these apps provide a great benefit to both the customers as well as the hosts offering the service. But the dilemma arises when you need to consider the affects on the affected industries. For example, many taxi drivers who held on to their medallions for retirement have seen their value plummet from $1.3 million to $160,000, with the introduction of ride share services. Another thing to consider , is the rise of automated ride share services. Companies like Tesla, Google, and Apple are all working towards self driving cars, and with that people are afraid of the repercussions it will have on the market. Most likely pushing taxi companies to no longer employee cab driver at all.

Privacy?

Back in 2015, the FBI was pressuring Apple to create a backdoor into their security to allow for personals to access any information needed from a device. The dilemma was that the FBI had the work cellphone of a terrorist and needed access to further their investigation. The cellphone was encrypted with a 4 digit pin that would erase all information on the cellphone after 10 failed attempts. Apple declined to create the software to access the phone, knowing that having this backdoor, they could not guarantee the security of the backdoor if it exists.

Marketing

Without a doubt we’ve all been enticed by the free trail, whether it be with gym memberships, streaming services, and Amazon. These are great tools for a company to show what they can offer to a customer. The danger with these lie in the fine print. Many companies after the free membership will renew your membership. Some will make it know to the customers, others not so much. Programming email reminders for the user that your subscription/trail is about to end, and giving them a notification seems like the right thing to do. Others however, would avoid it because it creates a consistent stream of income for the company.

Many companies with active user bases, they need to keep their loyal customers happy, and to stop the ones that are about to uninstall from leaving. They have access to all your activities , they track your usage pattern. And with this they can come up with algorithms that determine if it looks like you are about to leave/uninstall their app. This is when they throw you an offer that you cant resist, reintroducing you into their system.

Last scenario to consider is how addictive should we make our applications? They should be engaging where users want to keep coming back, but what if they spend their whole day on your application to the point of affecting their health?

When it is your turn to create programs and applications for the world. Just remember to ask yourself if you are doing right by the user and how your program will effect the world.

Related posts:

Many steps go into getting ready in the morning. Shower, breakfast, changing clothes, and commuting to where it is that one is supposed to be are the majority of tasks that burn time in everyones…

I have seen many questions like these: “what knowledge should I accumulate?”, “I love cooking, so should I take notes about recipes?”, “I am going to run a marathon, so should I take notes about…

Ensuring data is ingested reliably and securely is a big challenge with governance at the moment. Often, we see clients struggle with data governance. The old ways of doing data governance no longer…