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Ethical reporting

publish date: 2026/05/28 07:21:48.786642 UTC

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Sometimes engineers discover issues that management prefers to ignore, such as security vulnerabilities or safety defects.

Which action is ethically correct?

Ignoring the issue to avoid conflict

Waiting until after release to mention it

Deleting evidence of the issue

Reporting the issue to the appropriate authority

Reporting the issue to the appropriate authority

Engineers must report issues that could harm users or the public, even if doing so is uncomfortable or unpopular.

Software Engineering Ethics — Sommerville