THE NATIONAL ACADEMY OF ENGINEERING

Discussion and Conclusions from Ethics and Reverse Engineering

Author(s): John L. Wallberg

Discussion

Conclusions

Discussion

The scenario discussed seemed to be very relevant according to all of the interviewees. It brought up some interesting points about what is actually property and what can be owned. The last interviewee brought up some interesting points comparing the scenario with similar problems in the pharmaceutical industry. The motivation for this project is to explore the issues surrounding reverse engineering. If you discover something which an opponent has done and been successful with, how much freedom do you have to use this knowledge and does it matter how much or how detailed the knowledge is? Is there a clearly defined demarcation of what is permissible and what is not? In the course readings, I discovered an interesting strategy for dealing with ethical gray areas. This strategy, which is called the "newspaper test," is used at Texas Instruments. This strategy simply asks the employee to consider the question, "How would this look in the newspaper?" As TI is very much a large part of Texan industry, bad publicity could damage the company reputation severely. This simple test encourages engineers to consider how the average person would perceive his or her actions. Would it cause a loss of respect for the company?

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Conclusions

Both company employees agreed that reverse engineering was a valid practice; however, they agreed it must be done in with care. Learning from what others have done is a valid method, but copying what they have done is dishonest. This issue arises mostly on the system level, where understanding of what competitors have done actually means something. Engineers do not photograph and the enlarge pictures of silicon chips to copy every exact detail. In the long run this practice would be silly; by the time you've figured out what the competitor has done, his next generation of chips will be out, and you'll be left behind. However, if there is an architectural question, such as whether to use one function twice, or have to different functions used once, understanding what your opponents have been able to make work becomes vital information.

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