What the Hack Is Wrong with Software Doping?

Today we often deal with hybrid products, i.e. physical devices containing embedded software. Sometimes, e.g., in the VW emission scandal, such hybrid systems aims rather at the fulfillment of interests of the manufacturers than at those of the customers. This often happens hidden from and unbeknown to the owners or users of these devices and especially unbeknown to supervisory authorities. While examples of such software doping can be easily found, the phenomenon itself isn’t well understood yet. Not only do we lack a proper definition of the term “software doping”, it is also the moral status of software doping that seems vague and unclear. In this paper, I try, in the tradition of computer ethics, to first understand what software doping is and then to examine its moral status. I argue that software doping is at least pro tanto morally wrong. I locate problematic features of software doping that are in conflict with moral rights that come with device ownership. Furthermore, I argue for the stronger claim that, in general, software doping also is morally wrong all things considered – at least from the point of view of some normative theories. Explicitly, the VW emission scandal is adduced as a significant specimen of software doping that unquestionably is morally wrong all things considered. Finally, I conclude that we ought to develop software doping detection if only for moral reasons and point towards the implications my work might have for the development of future software doping detection methods.