I have code I'm ashamed of as well. I was very young, and told the app was for a fairly innocent cause. After the fact, it became apparent the company was also selling it to a fairly controversial foreign government entity.
I think it's worth standing up to this sort of thing, but good luck getting that new job if you stipulate they inform you before hand who they're going to sell your code to. I'm not sure what the solution is if you don't have a ton of leverage (and if you choose to turn down the job, someone will gladly take your place in this economy).
I note the BCS (a professional body of sorts for British technologists) has a "public interest" clause in its code of conduct for members, which arguably prohibits the sort of behaviour described by you & in the submission:
That said, there's no real obligation to be a BCS member, and most people aren't, which somewhat defangs their CoC: like you say, if you refuse the work, someone else will do it. Still, it's a good symbolic gesture, and perhaps points the way to go.
I think it's worth standing up to this sort of thing, but good luck getting that new job if you stipulate they inform you before hand who they're going to sell your code to. I'm not sure what the solution is if you don't have a ton of leverage (and if you choose to turn down the job, someone will gladly take your place in this economy).
Interested in hearing other people's suggestions.