The parable of the locksmith

What social responsibility do you have as a software developer?

(Adapted from an editorial by Edmund Berkeley published in January 1958 in the journal “Computers and Automation”.)

One day, a mysterious stranger walked into a locksmith’s shop. The locksmith had never seen this man before, but he could tell from the way he was dressed that the stranger was well-to-do. He came to the locksmith with a proposition.

‘I have a job that needs doing, and it requires someone with your highly specialized skills,’ he said. ‘I’ve done my research and you are one of the smartest and most capable locksmiths I’ve ever heard about.’

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