[BSDCert] code of ethics

[Evan Leibovitch]

patrick coeman wrote:

>I was thinking BSD was a operating system. If I read some of the info on
>the links you give and you wish to adopt these for BSD cert it is more a
>'belief' or a some church or so. I don't see what this has to do for a
>OS certification.
>  
>
While this project is called "BSD Certification", its purpose is not to 
evaluate or certify software. As such it is not an "OS certification" in 
the strictest sense. It is to evaluate and certify practitioners who use 
BSD platforms to accomplish various tasks.

As such, it is relevant to ask whether such an evaluation should be 
limited to simple technical awareness, or whether it extends to 
character and ethics. Ethical components of skills certification exist 
in many fields, but are relatively rare in IT. You can't become a 
lawyer, doctor, teacher  or engineer in most countries, not matter how 
good your technical skills, if you do not abide by a code of conduct.

It is not obvious that an ethical component belongs (or doesn't belong) 
in a BSD practitioner certification. However, it's a totally valid 
question for debate and resolution. And while many ethical codes can be 
tied to religion, most professionally-based codes of this kind are not.

At its heart, the debate over whether or not to have an ethics code goes 
to a deeper question related to the certification: whose interest is it 
designed to serve?

If the primary purpose of the certification is to serve the public 
interest (including those who contract or hire certified people), then 
an ethical code is completely appropriate and desirable (though its 
composition will inevitably be controversial). If the primary purpose is 
mainly to serve the direct interests of the certifiers and certified 
people, then an ethics code is unwarranted and likely an obstacle.

- Evan