About the ACM Committee on Professional Ethics (COPE)
The Committee on Professional Ethics (COPE) is responsible for promoting ethical conduct among computing professionals by publicizing the Code of Ethics and by offering interpretations of the Code; planning and reviewing activities to educate membership in ethical decision making on issues of professional conduct; and reviewing and recommending updates to the Code of Ethics and its guidelines.
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Committee on Professional Ethics (COPE)
- Chair
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Marty Wolf
- Vice Chair
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Catherine Flick
- Secretary
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Keith Miller
- Past Chair
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Don Gotterbarn
- Educational Coordinator
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Michael Kirkpatrick
- Social Media Coordinator
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Karla Carter
- Technical Coordinator
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Bo Brinkman
- Code Outreach Coordinator
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Catherine Flick
- Publications Liaison
- Jesmin Jahan Tithi
- Member
- Sally Applin
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Richard Blumenthal
- Emanuelle Burton
- Kenneth Christensen
- Shannon French
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Frances Grodzinsky
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Kai Kimppa
- Evelyn Lulis
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Helena Mentis
- Thomas Owens
- Norberto Patrignani
- Tom Yeh
Related Organizations
The Committee on Professional Ethics works with a wide variety of other entities.
Other ACM Entities
- Special Interest Group on Computers and Society (SIGCAS) is the ACM SIG most directly concerned with all aspects of computer ethics.
- The ACM Publications Board is most responsible for handling ethical concerns regarding ACM publications.
- The ACM Education Board and Education Advisory Committee promote computing education, including computer ethics. Computer ethics educators may wish to join the Special Interest Group on Computer Science Education (SIGCSE).
Non-ACM Entities
We work closely with other major computing professional societies, and with the professional societies of other closely related disciplines.
- The IEEE Society on Social Implications of Technology (IEEE-SSIT)
- The IEEE Computer Society (IEEE-CS)
- COPE highly recommends that educators promote The Pledge of the Computing Professional. For more info, see our official endorsement of the pledge.
Recent Activities
- SIGCSE 2019 – Presented a workshop, “Using the ACM Code of Ethics in Technical Computing Topics,” and a special session, “ACM Code of Ethics: Looking Back and Forging Ahead”
- ETHICOMP 2018 – Presented a panel on the ACM Code of Ethics update
- SIGCSE 2018 – Presented a workshop, “Strategies for Integrating the Updated ACM Code of Ethics into the Computing Curriculum”
- SIGCSE 2017 – Presented a birds-of-a-feather session, “The ACM Code of Ethics and Professional Conduct: Teaching Strategies and the Coming Update,” and a special session, “The Code of Ethics Quiz Show”
- IEEE ETHICS 2016 – Presented a workshop, “Improve Professional Practice by Encouraging a Moral Engineering Culture”
- SIGCSE 2016 – Presented a pre-symposium event, “Integrating Computing Ethics and Professionalism into the Technical Curriculum”
- ACM Learning Webinar, Jan 2014 – “Computing Professionalism: Do Good and Avoid Evil”
Governance
The Committee on Professional Ethics (COPE) is a Committee of the Executive Committee of the ACM Council. (See: Organizational Structure of the ACM and ACM Boards and Committees).
Get Involved
There are several potential ways to get involved with the Committee on Professional Ethics.
- Join SIGCAS, the ACM SIG most directly involved with the code and with ethics in the profession.
- Attend one of our workshops on teaching computer ethics, commonly held at the SIGCSE and IEEE-ETHICS conferences.
- Or, if you have something else on your mind, Contact Us.
Contact Us
Just want to stay in touch? Follow us on X (formerly Twitter) at @ACM_Ethics, and on Mastodon at @[email protected]
Have business for the committee? Email [email protected]