Ethics in IT - Database Weekly (Nov 17, 2008)

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Ethics in IT - Database Weekly (Nov 17, 2008)

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Steve Jones - SSC Editor

Posted Saturday, November 15, 2008 12:47 PM

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Comments posted to this topic are about the item Ethics in IT - Database Weekly (Nov 17, 2008)

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Post #603259

Jeff Moden

Posted Saturday, November 15, 2008 8:18 PM

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Good editorial, Steve. I noticed the following statement...

"On one hand I can understand that ethics and morals are becoming more important."

Heh... when were they ever not the most important thing to good people? All I could think of was that ethics and morals should always be the most important and if everyone else thought so, the world wouldn't be going through the current economic crisis that it is. For example, who's brilliant idea was it to give sub-prime ARM mortgages to people who couldn't afford to make regular mortgage payments on houses they wouldn't have been able to afford to begin with? They just had to know how much trouble people were going to get into, yet, they did it anyway because it was initially good for profits. Now, those same profits are making flushing sounds.

Of course, the people who got the sub-prime ARM mortgages were also greedy which, I suppose, is a form of being unethical...

Same goes for IT... Ethics should always be prime in IT... I would much rather have someone come to me and say they made a mistake than to just hide it or ignore it. I'll never kill the messenger... well, unless it's the 3rd or 4th time they screwed up after showing them how to avoid the screwup. ;) Ethics without responsibility is just about useless.

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Post #603294

norbyf1

Posted Sunday, November 16, 2008 7:55 PM

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Data breeches would be pants wore by little items of data. Data breaches are much worse!! :)

Post #603414

Steve Jones - SSC Editor

Posted Sunday, November 16, 2008 8:38 PM

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They should always have been important, but I think their relative value diminished relative to skills and certifications for awhile.

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Post #603422

jcrawf02

Posted Monday, November 17, 2008 10:01 AM

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more and more I think the way you present yourself, and your track record online, will have a huge impact on your changes of employment.

While I agree with you, and understand your point, I wonder if this shift in importance opens up more possibility for online mudslinging, making up fake issues in order to discredit innocents.

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Post #603791

Loner

Posted Monday, November 17, 2008 10:02 AM

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I totally agree with you !!!!!!

Post #603792

David Reed-223505

Posted Tuesday, November 18, 2008 11:45 AM

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It's interesting how morality (at all levels) becomes more important during more difficult economic times and less so during more prosperous times. In personal relationships, in politics and in business. Humans haven't changed much in the last couple millennia. Meh.

I'll have to disagree with Steve. Ethics don't start at the top. Ethics start with YOU. And me. Each of us.

It's up to each individual to fight the human tendency toward poor behavior when "nobody is watching" or "when everybody else is doing it". There's a reason why more horrific examples of bad behaviors materialize in larger companies: as individuals feel anonymized, they are more likely to act on their baser impulses.

Speaking from experience, it can be tough to fight off the whispered self-justifications for unethical behavior, especially when you feel taken advantage of by management or the company at large. Ultimately, we each have to choose to behave well (regardless of "why" we choose to do so) or we all suffer.

But, yes, we should stake out the egregious executive violators for the crows. I'll bring the rope if you'll bring the stakes and the crows.

Post #604627

jcrawf02

Posted Tuesday, November 18, 2008 11:54 AM

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David Reed (11/18/2008)

Speaking from experience, it can be tough to fight off the whispered self-justifications for unethical behavior, especially when you feel taken advantage of by management or the company at large.

Terry, is that you? :P

http://www.techworld.com.au/article/253823/why_san_francisco_network_admin_went_rogue

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Post #604634

David Reed-223505

Posted Tuesday, November 18, 2008 12:16 PM

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jcrawf02 (11/18/2008)

Terry, is that you? :P

d00d, don't blow my cover! Hehe

Post #604645

Vivien Xing

Posted Monday, November 24, 2008 9:38 PM

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A very good article. Ethics and morals are not only in IT but also at everywhere, and in everyone and during his/her life-span.

“Ethics start with YOU. And me. Each of us.” I like this statement. I believe that the same like people like to work together in the long run; and the same like people will attract the same like people. If the management has high morals, the same type of people mostly would like to stay/work with them. This is my understanding about “Leadership starts from the top.”

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