[ale] OT: Well it is going to hit the list sooner or later.

[Mike Panetta]

I am not quite sure how it clouds the issue.  The boss that he spyed on was an obvious
thief.  He was stealing the companies money by goofing off while being payed to do the
job he was hired for.  Its obvious to me that the higher ups would not have given the
sysadmin permission to spy, because they were probably doing the same thing.  The
sysadmin was trying to save the company money (and thus the state assuming its
a govt institution) which is the moral obligation of anyone working for a company.  
He should not have been fired, in fact there should have been an investigation into
everyone in the company at that point to see where the dead wood was.

I so no clouds here...

Mike

-----Original Message-----
From: Dow Hurst <Dow.Hurst at mindspring.com>
Sent: Aug 1, 2004 10:33 AM
To: Atlanta Linux Enthusiasts <ale at ale.org>
Subject: Re: [ale] OT: Well  it is going to hit the list sooner or later.

Excellent point using SAGE ethics.  This is a situation where the 
obvious outrage at the guy getting fired clouds the issue.  I'll keep 
the SAGE ethics in mind and get a CYA letter from someone higher up 
before pulling a stunt like that guy did.  Sincerely,
Dow


J.M. Taylor wrote:

>My interpretation of the SAGE code of ethics is the following: I do not
>read people's emails, even tho it is within my power.  I do not spy on
>people, even tho it is within my power and in many cases may prove their
>misdeeds.  I do not collect data on people's misdeeds even tho these
>people may be harming me on the job.  I do not make these decisions.  I
>just run the server.
>
>If it is required of me that I do these things, I ask for a signed letter
>from a higher-up, or the law enforcement agency or whatever, to prove that
>I was not acting on my own.  It is never right for a systems administrator
>to give in to his or her baser nature and use their technical knowlege to
>further a complaint against a coworker, unless s/he has been asked to do
>this by a superior for legally and ethically correct reasons.
>
>And yes, if my boss told me to gather data about someone that I knew was 
>goofing off all day but wouldn't give me the signed letter, I would refuse 
>to do it even if it meant my job.  That's how strongly I feel about the 
>importance of my integrity in what I do.  It's also just CYA -- when the 
>fit hits the shan and it's my word against my boss's about who ordered 
>collecting the data....no way am I going to get involved in that.  I'm 
>not completely stupid.
>
>IMNSHO this guy isn't a saint or a martyr.  He did something
>unethical, and unethical acts are unethical regardless of the motivating
>reasons.  If you steal from your company and give the money to starving
>people, it's still stealing.  If all he did was send emails about the
>boss, maybe he should've taken the time to actually go speak to someone
>face-to-face.  If he had gotten the go-ahead from a higher-up to do this,
>then it would've been fine.  It sucks that the boss didn't get fired, but
>ALDOT was entirely correct in firing the admin.
>
>Jenn
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