> I find it very easy to imagine management making a series of requests for changes to the software that seem innocent but allow for this exact outcome: changing the way the system performs when being tested for emissions.

Off the top of my head, I've written many pieces of code that 'game the system' but are used only for testing purposes. I know full well that if those pieces get into production they could be hazardous, but there is nothing ethically wrong with me creating them. If a superior takes that code and uses it, that's not my fault.

It would be supremely easy for management to put in a bunch of requirements for the VW emissions system that are blatantly dangerous, but 'for testing purposes'. The developers need to be able to trust the higher-ups and certainly shouldn't be held responsible for their decisions.

To clarify on my OP, I want to say that there is a distinction between a legal and ethical obligation.

In engineering only a PE really has the legal obligation. Their on the hook if something goes wrong. But at the same time everyone involved has an ethical obligation to ensure that best practices are being followed and nothing is being done that would result in harm. This is even if they wouldn't get in any legal trouble.

Or that a doctor has both legal and ethical obligations. Their ethical obligations can many times supersede their legal ones.

I am not arguing that we who write software need to be held legally accountable, but that we need to think about any potential ethical concerns with what we write. And if you are saying "well yeah" then we're in agreement. And I think this should be pervasive. I think we should frequently talk about it.

But we are in high demand right now. Many of us have the leverage to say "I don't agree with this" and go work somewhere else. If you personally have that ability I think it should be used as well. But I understand not everyone has that leverage.

I think I understand what you're saying and I agree that no software developer should willingly write code that will be used to break or circumvent the law. I believe that if I was put in such a position that I would walk rather than implement the feature. I don't think we are alone in that feeling, I believe many developers feel the same way.

I worry that a feature meant to circumvent or break the law will not be easy to spot. Many projects are broken into smaller pieces that interact, many times the laws or rules change from state to state. Even in regular day to day work I'll see a feature request that effectively undoes another request. Often developers are working in areas in which they are not subject experts.

I think it's easy to write code that could (or even will) be misused; it may not look troubling until it's interacting with the larger system.

But that's why I'm arguing that we have to think about it. As well as why I'm not arguing for legal accountability.

We have to be aware that the things we create aren't always going to be used for what we intend them to be used for. So you frequently have to ask yourself "how could this be abused?" That is something that engineers frequently ask themselves. I don't understand why developers can't be asked to do the same.

You are totally right, I honestly agree with you. It's an important question, it's worth asking and we should all be asking it. I think there's a lot more grey in software development, grey people may not have as much of in other fields. But that does not mean we can simply ignore the question and it certainly doesn't diminish it's importance. More than that, it doesn't diminish our responsibility.

My concern really revolves around the scapegoating and protecting developers from situations where there is more grey than black or white. But that is not a sheild from personal responsibility or moral obligation, the questions you raise are important in their own right.

I definitely think the ethical concerns are a little more abstracted with software than general engineering. I mean it is more obvious how a bridge affects people than a social network.

But because of that I'm not calling for legal obligation. But I'm calling for more people thinking about the abstraction and how what they write could be abused. But it is no easy matter. Ethics are hard.

You are right. From what I have seen that most of the time even quite senior engineers are not aware of larger implications beyond technical architecture of software they are developing.