A computer scientist - and the term is used in its widest sense, to cover all who are concerned with the application, development and use of computers - must be

• alive to ethical issues of right and wrong

• aware of professional responsibilities and opportunities

• familiar with relevant issues of computing and the law, including health and safety responsibilities

• informed about company matters including company and employment law, and questions of finance, costing and contract

We all need to be mindful of these issues

- to be prepared to take them seriously
- to apply to them our powers of thought
- and our powers of deduction

if we want to meet our responsibilities to society in general and to computer science as a discipline ... and to ourselves, for it is ability to manipulate these issues which makes the difference between the skilled worker who remains in that role and the professional who rises in their career.

In practice, these professional issues underpin all the "technical" work which you might have thought was the whole of your concern.