> And again, for specific app and co, most developer would complain and not like release such user-hostile software but they are forced by business to do it
For every dark pattern, invasive analytics package, adware, malware, spyware that gets added to a product, there is an actual software developer sitting in a chair, voluntarily adding it. Maybe someone here on HN, reading this very thread! Nobody is putting a gun to our heads and forcing us to do it. I've quit jobs in the past where I was asked to work on something I considered unethical. Developers have options. The job market is evidently still going gangbusters now, so who can really say they are "forced" to develop anything?
It's so strange: On one hand, people keep saying developers have tremendous leverage, and high market value, and are being sought after, and then one thread later, developers are powerless victims, having to do the will of their evil "project managers". Which one is it?
Professional Engineers have to take ethics courses and have values which include protecting the public welfare.
I would like to see something similar for people writing software.
What keeps Professional Engineers honest is that they are accountable to the discipline committee and liable for negligence. This is in stark contrast to consumer software which comes with no guarantees other than a click through EULA.
Both, because different organizations prioritize different things. In some places, developers can run the show, in others, it is the marketing team calling the shots.
I think the early startup area is driven by developers, but once a product gets some traction they transition into the product manager/marketer driven mode where dark patterns start to show up.
At the end of the day even if all devs collectively decide they won’t implement these features (which already is utopian), there will be someone in a more desparate position who would just be too glad to take the job. You may have to go looking in other countries. Or raise wages. But it will get done.
For every dark pattern, invasive analytics package, adware, malware, spyware that gets added to a product, there is an actual software developer sitting in a chair, voluntarily adding it. Maybe someone here on HN, reading this very thread! Nobody is putting a gun to our heads and forcing us to do it. I've quit jobs in the past where I was asked to work on something I considered unethical. Developers have options. The job market is evidently still going gangbusters now, so who can really say they are "forced" to develop anything?
It's so strange: On one hand, people keep saying developers have tremendous leverage, and high market value, and are being sought after, and then one thread later, developers are powerless victims, having to do the will of their evil "project managers". Which one is it?