This principle, which concerns the quality of life of all people, affirms an obligation of computing professionals, both individually and collectively, to use their skills for the benefit of society, its members, and the environment surrounding them. Computing professionals should consider whether the results of their efforts will respect diversity, will be used in socially responsible ways, will meet social needs, and will be broadly accessible.

In this document, “harm” means negative consequences, especially when those consequences are significant and unjust. Avoiding harm begins with careful consideration of potential impacts on all those affected by decisions. When harm is an intentional part of the system, those responsible are obligated to ensure that the harm is ethically justified.  To minimize the possibility of indirectly or unintentionally harming others, computing professionals should follow generally accepted best practices unless there is a compelling ethical reason to do otherwise. A computing professional has an additional obligation to report any signs of system risks that might result in harm. If leaders do not act to curtail or mitigate such risks, it may be necessary to “; blow the whistle”; to reduce potential harm.

Honesty is an essential component of trustworthiness.

•  A computing professional should be transparent and provide full disclosure of all pertinent systemComputing professionals should be honest about their qualifications, and aboutany limitations in their competence to complete a task. 

•  Computing professionals should be forthright about any circumstances that might lead to either real or perceived conflicts of interest or otherwise tend to undermine the independence of their judgment. 

• Computing professionals should not misrepresent an organization’s policies or procedures, and should not speak on behalf of an organization unless authorized to do so.

Fairness requires that even careful decision processes provide some avenue for redress of grievances.

• Computing professionals should foster fair participation of all people, technologies and practices should be as inclusive and accessible as possible and computing professionals should take action to avoid creating systems or technologies that disenfranchise or oppress people.

• Failure to design for inclusiveness and accessibility may constitute unfair discrimination.

• Computing professionals should therefore credit the creators of ideas, inventions, work, and artifacts, and respect copyrights, patents, trade secrets, license agreements, and other methods of protecting author’s works. 

• Computing professionals should not unduly oppose reasonable uses of their intellectual works. 

• Computing professionals should not claim private ownership of work that they or others have shared as public resources.

• Computing professionals should become conversant in the various definitions and forms of privacy and should understand the rights and responsibilities associated with the collection and use of personal information.

•  Computing professionals should only use personal information for legitimate ends and without violating the rights of individuals and groups. 

• Computing professionals should establish transparent policies and procedures that allow individuals to understand what data is being collected and how it is being used, to give informed consent for automatic data collection, and to review, obtain, correct inaccuracies in, and delete their personal data.

• Computing professionals are often entrusted with confidential information

• Computing professionals should protect confidentiality except in cases where it is evidence of the violation of law, of organizational regulations, or of the Code.

•  A computing professional should consider thoughtfully whether such disclosures are consistent with the Code.