Blow the Whistle, Lose Your Job?

ccnull writes "You're a systems admin. On a routine PC repair, you discover a trove of child porn on an employee's PC. You call the cops. The employee pleads guilty and goes to jail. Then what do you do? You get fired. InformationWeek has an interesting expose on whistleblowers who lost their jobs, they say, because they publicly embarassed the company. The company has another version of the story. No matter what the reality is, at the center of this is a good question: If you discover illegal goodies on a machine, what should you do about it?"

Comments

Illegal things...

[NamShubCMX]

I don't think I would tell about most "illegal" stuff I could find on a computer...

But child porn... I'd tell for sure. Fire me if you will...

Re:Illegal things...

[Soko]

I agree with you whole heartedly.

Though out of work at the moment, I have in the past drafted company policy regarding things of this nature.

I always made sure that employees understood that the workstation they sat at was the property of the company and to be used for company related business only. I made certain they understood that they were not to use resources as though they were connecting via an ISP, (I helped many people connect to thier ISPs mail system in order to recieve personal messages - I'm not heartless, just professional) and that the company viewed activities of this nature very, very seriously. "Dismissal with cause" was used very often in the wording of the policy, and "seek Legal remedies" was used once or twice as well.

Most people don't realise that even viewing questionalble content with company resources, (But I didn't "download" it, I just looked at it!!!) leaves the company open to legal issues ("Know what a proxy is Bob? How about your browsers cache, hmmmm?) since the file ends up on the comanies system somewhere.

Executive summary: Things like this should be a matter of policy, and made known to each and every employee the day they're hired before they even touch a keyboard.

Soko

What do you do? You do the RIGHT thing.

[Bold Marauder]

For each child in a single picture, how many more are hurt by it propagating along the internet and encouraging more abuse?

I think that there should be a law to protect whistleblowers, and perhaps some form of federal insurance that the can draw from in the event that they are retaliated against.

Whistleblowing, wether it is calling the cops on pedophiles in the workplace, or terrorists in your apartment building, is a critical tool of law enforcement. Sadly, too many privacy nuts would rather shelter pedos for the sake of being able to post anonymous crap on message boards...

Re:What do you do? You do the RIGHT thing.

[KrispyKringle]

I'm more than a little curious how many people are wrongfully accused and seriously injured by whistleblowers vs. how many children are saved. No offense, but the argument that explicit media leads to further abuse or turns people into sex-crazed perverts is SO McCarthy-era.

I would, of course, never defend kiddie-porn, but only because of the children harmed in the actual filming, not because it has some perverting effect on viewers. When Ashcroft wanted to charge those who possesed porn that was "simulated" kiddie porn, the Supreme Court (rightfully, in my opinion) struck it down. There are no thought crimes, and no laws prohibiting things which are explicit simply because they may (according to you; I would dispute the claim) have some sort of perverting effect on people. Extend that, and you end up with bans on explicit (non-kiddie) porn, explicit movies and television, and Mark Twain and J.D. Salinger.

In comparison, quite a number of wrongful imprisonments spring to mind, especially when you comment on "terrorists in your apartment building." A Middle Eastern student (Jordanian, I believe) at NYU was arrested shortly after September 11 and held for a few months without a lawyer and only intermittent contact with his family because a hotel security guard claimed he had found a pilot's radio tranceiver in his room. It had, in fact, been found in the room beneath his, and he was completely exonerated of possessing a radio tranceiver (something that is not a crime, at least, not if you aren't Middle Eastern).

Suspicion and accusations are not what we need to protect our safety, but they do aid in removing our liberties. Are we trying to merely defend our physical safety, or our society which embraces people without suspicions based solely on their accents on the sound of their last names? Some may be heroic whistleblowers, but others are just scared, suspicious fools.

Not so simple

[davmoo]

I've already noted several posts here that say words to the effect of "report it to the boss" and "its not your problem to call the law".

Unfortunately, that is not always such a simple decision.

In some states, and I'm sure many more will follow, it is the law that, should you find evidence of child abuse or child porn, YOU are guilty of a crime if YOU do not report it immediately to authorities.

You may be an agent of the company, but you are also subject to the laws of the state you are working in.

Nothing at all

[Eol1]

I work government network security for a living. Part of the ethics instilled in us (along with federal regulations governing the position) is the broad understanding that we are here to protect the security of the network. We are not the porn police or any other type of legal official.

We are legally bound NOT TO report anything even if discovered on a routine call, not our job. We are not legally authorized to invade your privacy. That is why they have policy with warrants. It is also a position I stand behind and advidly enforce on my more moral or do gooder juniors. Your users should trust you to do your job and FIX the computer / issue, not narc them out. Your job is NOT to enforce your morality or ideas of what the law is upon them.

If you want to be a narc join a legal body and put your computer skills to use helping them. If just want to narc on your coworker because they don't fit in your ideas of morality, I have no sympathy for you or anybody like you. Losing your job should be the least of your worries, you should be hung from a tree.

Everybody breaks the law including you. Do you really want to live in a society where the guy behind you on the freeway calls the police on you for doing 57 in a 55.

Mind your own business and do you job unless your job is to bust folk.

Proper channels, eh?

[repetty]

I completely understand what you are saying about the "proper channels".

I worked at particularly large American semiconductor manufacturer for many years.

They have their own fire response team.

If there's a fire on the site, screw the city fire department -- you're supposed to call security.

The company says that the city fire department is unfamiliar with the chemicals and equipment that they're liable to encounter. On the other hand, they have been chastised by the city police department and fire department on more than one occassion because they unnecessarily risked human safety by trying to handle their problems themselves, allowing them to spiraled out of control.

In the end, the company was frequently unable to handle these situations.

Now, here is why I'm very, very skeptical of your suggestion...

Corporations are legal entities in the eyes of the law, sure, but they have no morals. They didn't "grow up"... they are chartered by suits, snapping into life in one afternoon. Unlike real people, their first and only priority in life is financial.

I don't know you. Our parents didn't know each other. I grew up and live in Texas and I have no idea where you live. Still, I'll bet that you and I would probably agree on the "right thing to do" in 99% of the moral delimmas that we encounter, even though everything in the equation is subjective.

That's amazing to me, but it's a testiment to how societies function to keep order.

And how about corporations? Who "raised" them and what are their motives?

The real purpose of a company's "proper channels" is to mitigate their legal liabilities, that's all.

Go find a corporate lawyer and ask. They'll set you straight on this.

An employee discovering illegal porn on a computer or illegal anything is in a tough position: report it to you employer and the problem will magically go away or report it to the proper authorities and get fired because you violated some legal agreement you signed with them (under duress) the year before.

Employees caught in this situation are not fools; they're just unfortunate bastards.

--Richard