Ethical responsibilities: The smart card engineer

摘要

Albert Einstein in one of his philosophical notes stated: “I do not believe in immortality of the individual, and I consider ethics to be an exclusively human concern with no superhuman authority behind it”. Arguably, ethics does not necessarily mean law abiding, but rather knowing the difference between what you have the right to do and what is right to do. Authorities can unquestionably propose rules; however, true morals should not be made subjective to superhuman powers. Ethical values are priceless, precious and can never be biased to legislations. Ethics helps to ensure accurate conduct and competence in every profession; engineering is no different, it has responsibilities and it is guided by ethical principles. Today, ethical issues are becoming popular with smart cards and thus raise concerns that need to be addressed. Ignoring ethical challenges particularly in terms of potential disasters may cause serious harm or injury. Given that most engineering undertakings are guided by laws, the crux of the matter is to determine whether the addition of ethical principles into smart card engineering can play vital role in influencing the actions of smart card engineers at the heart of every invention thereof. Notably, a quintet of ethical responsibilities is presented.