"Ethics" codes are in practice a mechanism for a formal institutional body to exercise power over a profession. Case in point:
"But what developers really need is an organization that governs and regulates their profession like other industries have"
What this inevitably turns into is a collection of content-free truisms (eg "programmers shouldn't write programs that break the law") combined with credentialism ("we won't let you join the Society of Programmers without a degree in computer science, and it's 'unethical' to hire a non-SOP programmer to work on your project") and politically motivated de-credentialing ("we have determined your work on the Trump advertising program targeting white voters was implicitly racist; you're disbarred").
If you think the last part is silly, here's an article citing architects claiming it would be "unethical" to work on the border wall.
"If you think the last part is silly, here's an article citing architects claiming it would be "unethical" to work on the border wall."
That reminds me of the American Psychological Association's (APA) position on torture:
"Any direct or indirect participation in any act of torture or other forms of cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment or punishment by psychologists is strictly prohibited. There are no exceptions."[1]
This might seem unfortunate to some, or may smell to them of unwarranted political meddling. But I for one am glad these professions are taking these strong and clear ethical stances, and doing so on what I consider to be the "right" side (ie. anti-torture and anti-xenophobia).
I'm also not sure how one could separate ethics from politics. Some people even believe that every action is political.
You evidently think your livelihood should in principle be contingent on the desires of whomever controls the governing apparatus. If tomorrow you need a certification of racial purity, or a Temple recommend, in order to practice your profession, that's just how it shakes out. If everyone agreed on ethical codes, after all, we wouldn't need them.
Why are people like you so desperate to hand someone else the whip hand? Do you actually think Your Kind Of Guy is going to be in power in perpetuity? Does it actually seem to you like these guys are reasoning from some set of elucidated & unchanging moral principles?
Ironically the nightmarish story of how ineffective the APA's "ethics code" was should permanently disabuse you of the notion that they're useful for anything other than economic protectionism and occasionally crushing the outgroup du jour.
"But what developers really need is an organization that governs and regulates their profession like other industries have"
What this inevitably turns into is a collection of content-free truisms (eg "programmers shouldn't write programs that break the law") combined with credentialism ("we won't let you join the Society of Programmers without a degree in computer science, and it's 'unethical' to hire a non-SOP programmer to work on your project") and politically motivated de-credentialing ("we have determined your work on the Trump advertising program targeting white voters was implicitly racist; you're disbarred").
If you think the last part is silly, here's an article citing architects claiming it would be "unethical" to work on the border wall.
http://www.businessinsider.com/trump-wall-impossible-build-a...