ABSTRACT
There is a danger that either too much or too little will be expected from codes of ethics in the professions. On the one hand they may be seen as the solution to both the criminal and ethical transgressions which in recent years have so concerned both the clients of professions and the general public. On the other hand codes of ethics can be dismissed as ineffective by those who are more cynical about the ability of groups to regulate themselves or about the very possibility of ethical behaviour. They can also be scorned by those who are aware of the many misuses of codes of ethics in the past to cover up malpractice, for example, orto control dissident members of the professions. This chapter, while admitting misuses of codes, argues that there is a role for codes of ethics as one element in decreasing crime in the professions. However, they will not be a miracle cure. They will not, at least not by themselves, do away with greed and other motivations for crime, including what seems to be the motivation in much computer crime, namely the desire to match wits with the security devisers.
