Believe me, there was lots of pushing back. It was right before Google dropped panda and basically killed ehow.

You shouldn't refuse. You should document the privacy impact and make sure everybody is aware of the privacy implications.

Moralizing about dawnerd’s employment doesn’t really add to the discussion, IMHO.

A new discussion of the ethics of software engineering might be valuable. Other professions have codes of ethics; maybe it's time for software, too.

Uncle bob agrees

http://blog.cleancoder.com/uncle-bob/2015/11/18/TheProgramme...

cf. ACM Code of Ethics and Professional Conduct: https://www.acm.org/about-acm/acm-code-of-ethics-and-profess...

I like most of the ACM code. I think it could use an update with more direct prohibitions on modern forms of user harm, such as trading in private information and manipulating search results to promote low quality sites.

At least no underhanded techniques have been used to deliver it to you.