---
name: acm-code-of-ethics
version: "2018"
date: 2026-07-29
category: ethics
title: ACM Code of Ethics and Professional Conduct (2018) — a restatement
language: en
kind: code-of-ethics
type: restatement
license: CC-BY-4.0
source_url: https://www.acm.org/code-of-ethics
accessed: 2026-07-29
notes: "Restatement per IFP-22 Section 2.3. The original instrument is copyrighted by the Association for Computing Machinery and cannot be republished here in full; this entry is the registry's own prose describing what the instrument holds, as of the accessed date. A declaration citing this entry is a declaration of the Code as restated here, not of the Code's own text."
---

# ACM Code of Ethics and Professional Conduct (2018) — a restatement

This entry restates, in this registry's own words, what the Association for Computing Machinery's *Code of Ethics and Professional Conduct* (the 2018 revision) holds. The Code's own text is copyrighted by the ACM and is published at the source URL in this entry's frontmatter. What follows is a description of the instrument, not the instrument; anyone applying the Code in earnest should read the original.

## What the instrument is

The Code addresses everyone who uses computing skills in a way that affects others — ACM members above all, but by its own account the computing profession broadly, students and practitioners alike. It presents itself not as an algorithm for resolving dilemmas but as a statement of the profession's conscience: a set of principles, each followed by explanatory guidance, meant to be weighed together with the public good as the deciding consideration when principles conflict.

## What it holds

The Code is organized as roughly two dozen numbered principles in four parts.

**General ethical principles.** Computing professionals are to use their skills for the benefit of society and human well-being, counting all people — not just technology's direct users — as stakeholders, and taking in themes the Code names explicitly: minimizing the negative consequences of computing, avoiding harm (with an obligation to undo or mitigate harm where it occurs, and to report risks), and being honest and trustworthy in claims, credentials, and disclosures. This part also commits professionals to fairness and non-discrimination; to respecting the effort embodied in others' work — ideas, inventions, creative works, and computing artifacts — including both intellectual-property claims and the interests served by voluntary contributions to the commons; to respecting privacy, with personal data collected and retained only as legitimate ends require; and to honoring confidences.

**Professional responsibilities.** Professionals are to pursue high quality in both the processes and the products of their work; to maintain their own competence and practice only within it; to know and respect the rules — laws, regulations, organizational policies — that govern their work, breaking a rule only when it has a compelling ethical basis and accepting responsibility for doing so; to give and accept honest professional review; to make thorough, comprehensive evaluations of systems and their risks, including impacts of possible misuse; to help the public understand computing and its consequences; to access computing and communication resources only with authorization or clear public-interest justification; and to design systems that are robustly and usably secure.

**Leadership principles.** Those who lead — formally or informally — are to make the public good the central concern of their organizations' computing work; to articulate and encourage social responsibility within the organization; to manage people and resources so that working life is enhanced rather than degraded; to embed the Code's principles into organizational policy and process; to grow the professionals they lead; to take special care when modifying or retiring systems people depend on; and to recognize when a system has become part of society's infrastructure, and accept the heightened stewardship that follows.

**Compliance.** Members of the profession are to uphold and promote the Code's principles, and the ACM treats violation of the Code as inconsistent with membership in the association.

## Standing of this restatement

This restatement was prepared from the instrument as published at the source URL, read as of the accessed date in the frontmatter. If the ACM revises the Code, or if the ACM objects to this characterization, the correction will appear as a new superseding version of this entry; this version remains published because citations to it remain outstanding (IFP-22, Sections 2.3 and 4).