As I watched the Frontline special on the "Madoff affair" I learned that for years, this crook was printing and mailing out trade confirmations and false statements. I had to wonder; 'There must be a database somewhere that is being tweaked with false information, and what DBA is involved in that and the publishing of false reports?'. We never hear about those kinds of deeper level stuff - but I do wonder if there is some DBA under some indictment for such behavior.

On the other hand, yesterday, drug maker PFizer admitted to fraud and 6 "whistle blowers" will split a share of the 102 Million Dollar settlement for reporting this crime. I truly hope one (or more) of those people might be a DBA who came forward when he or she saw data was being played with.

When I went to school for my degree and post-grad degree, it was very normal for people in the IT field to take Ethics classes, and more than once we were given the axiom "Do no harm" when managing data. Today, I don't think Ethics courses are even required - but they should be.

The role of a DBA in part at least, is to 'shepard' data. They should always be honest, even if it means reporting any abuses. Those who delve in the "dark side" with false reporting, lying or such shenanigans should be banned from the IT field for life. No amount of money is worth lying - and as we have seen eventually, anyone who thinks it is gets caught.

Do no harm.