The concept of computer ethics originated in the 1940s with MIT professor
Norbert Wiener, the American mathematician and philosopher. While working on anti-aircraft artillery during
World War II, Wiener and his fellow engineers developed a system of communication between the part of a cannon that tracked a warplane, the part that performed calculations to estimate a trajectory, and the part responsible for firing. In 1950, Wiener's second book,
The Human Use of Human Beings, delved deeper into the ethical issues surrounding information technology and laid out the basic foundations of computer ethics. To make sure another person did not follow suit, an ethics code for computers was needed. In 1973, the
Association for Computing Machinery (ACM) adopted its first code of ethics. an author on computer crimes, led the committee that developed the code. which talked about how
artificial intelligence is good for the world; however it should never be allowed to make the most important decisions as it does not have human qualities such as wisdom. By far the most important point he makes in the book is the distinction between choosing and deciding. He argued that deciding is a computational activity while making choices is not and thus the ability to make choices is what makes us humans. At a later time during the same year
Abbe Mowshowitz, a professor of Computer Science at the City College of New York, published an article titled "On approaches to the study of social issues in computing." This article identified and analyzed technical and non-technical biases in research on social issues present in computing. During 1978, the
Right to Financial Privacy Act was adopted by the United States Congress, drastically limiting the government's ability to search bank records. During the next year
Terrell Ward Bynum, the professor of philosophy at Southern Connecticut State University as well as Director of the Research Center on Computing and Society there, developed curriculum for a university course on computer ethics. Bynum was also editor of the journal
Metaphilosophy. In 1985,
James H. Moor, professor of philosophy at Dartmouth College in New Hampshire, published an essay called "What is Computer Ethics?" Near the same time, the
Computer Matching and Privacy Act was adopted and this act restricted United States government programs identifying debtors. In the year 1992, ACM adopted a new set of ethical rules called "ACM code of Ethics and Professional Conduct" which consisted of 24 statements of personal responsibility. Three years later, in 1995, Krystyna Górniak-Kocikowska, a professor of philosophy at Southern Connecticut State University, Coordinator of the Religious Studies Program, as well as a senior research associate in the Research Center on Computing and Society, came up with the idea that computer ethics will eventually become a global ethical system and soon after, computer ethics would replace ethics altogether as it would become the standard ethics of the information age. offer ethical accreditation to University or College applications such as "Applied and Natural Science, Computing, Engineering and Engineering Technology at the associate, bachelor, and master levels" to try and promote quality works that follow sound ethical and moral guidelines. == Concerns ==