Re:The responsibility we have as software engineers
by tomjen3 on Sunday May 24, 2015 @02:14PM
(#9597014)
Depends - Facebook did it to manipulate their feelings, if you change the color on a bottom to see which one gets the most clicks I don't think that would be considered unethical.
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Re:The responsibility we have as software engineers
by BoxKeyboard on Sunday May 24, 2015 @02:21PM
(#9597039)
Still, there's no oversight for either type of experiment (Facebook's or the color change). Where the border gets drawn between ethical and unethical is murky even WITH oversight, let alone without it.
Re:The responsibility we have as software engineers
by tomjen3 on Monday May 25, 2015 @04:11AM
(#9599094)
If that is what bothers you then we could form a group of a/b test reviewers for which companies could submit their tests to - it would still be voluntary but it would be easier to say after the fact that it had been a approved by an ethics board.