November 2002 - Vol. 45 No. 11

How much privacy are citizens willing to surrender in the interest of public safety?

Software is being used increasingly in systems that affect public safety and where software errors might lead to unacceptable losses. This use has led to suggestions that…

From 1993 through June 2000 ACM worked with the IEEE Computer Society on projects to examine and guide the evolution of software engineering as a profession. This work…

The notion of licensing software engineers has been weighed and argued on global, national, and statewide platforms for many years. Here, we go to the frontlines---Texas…

In June 1998, the Texas Board of Professional Engineers adopted software engineering as a distinct discipline under which engineering licenses can be issued. The…

Such diverse professions as medicine, law, and engineering are self-regulating. In each of these fields: Practitioners deal directly with the general public, most of whom…

Here, I argue strongly against licensing for software engineers. I will not be talking in purely philosophical terms. Instead, I will draw concrete lessons from the…

Following the 2000 presidential election debacle in Florida, government officials promised sweeping reforms that would prevent such chaos from reoccurring. Indeed, the…