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Worker Fired For Running SETI On State-Owned PCs
Formica writes "A programmer working for the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services was fired for running SETI software on a state server. As quoted in this article,
department head Tom Hayes says, 'I think that people can be comfortable that security has beamed this man out of our building.' More articles from Google."
"I understand his desire to search for intelligent life in outer space, because obviously he doesn't find it in the mirror in the morning," Hayes said.
However justified the firing of the employee, there was no reason to make such a denigrating comment about that employee. Smith should file a complaint and Hayes should publicly apologize. I hope that if Hayes ever makes a mistake he is treated a whole lot better than he chose to treat this man. I sent an email to them asking how this manager can behave in such an awful and slanderous manner. If you feel so inclined you can go here and do the same.
http://www.busyweather.com/
hayest@odjfs.state.oh.us
T: 614/466-6282
Running SETI@home on a modern computer increases power consumption because these days CPUs use more power when they are not idle. Running SETI on a multi-use system also costs administrative resources (to set it up, to make sure it doesn't bog down the other tasks and if something goes wrong to find if it is the cause of the problem). The person whose account is used will be listed among the discoverers if an alien signal is found, so running SETI@home is not entirely altruistic.
Yes, those are machines which the public paid for, so they shouldn't be used for something that they were not bought for, especially if it consumes more taxpayer money and benefits one person more than the general population.
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Dear Governor Taft,
I am writing regarding the despicable conduct of one of your appointees, namely, Tom Hayes of the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services. He recently fired an employee, a computer programmer named Charles Smith, for running a program called SETI@Home on the department machines. The program uses spare computer time (when the computer isn't being used, like when a screensaver is running, for example) to do mathematical analysis on data received via radio telescopes by the SETI Program.
The SETI@Home project is well-respected in the scientific and technology communities, and there was no need for Mr. Hayes to fire the programmer for installing the program on department computers. However, the issue goes much deeper than that.
Mr. Hayes demonstrates not only a lack of knowledge on the subject, but also an unwillingness to learn about things he doesn't already know about. A very small amount of poking about on the Internet would have revealed a wealth of information on the SETI@Home project, including its endorsement by a variety of educational organizations and industries.
http://setiathome.ssl.berkeley.edu/
Instead, Hayes indicates his assumption of intellectual superiority with such witty repartee as this quote from the Cleveland Plain Dealer:
"I understand his desire to search for intelligent life in outer space, because obviously he doesn't find it in the mirror in the morning," Hayes said. "I think that people can be comfortable that security has beamed this man out of our building."
Hayes's complete lack of tact when dealing with the media over what is actually an unjust firing demonstrates that he is incapable of performing his duties in a way that reflects positively on the State of Ohio, and I hope you will take appropriate action in this situation.
As a network admin, I agree with everything you said... BUT this Tom Clueless is totally out of line with his comments to the news. Employer restrictions on what they can say about current and former employees is pretty straightforward. Tom's remarks are probably good for a lawsuit that will waste a lot of the taxpayer's money... Thanks Tom... idiot.
Tom Hayes is set to step down as director this month. I wonder if he maybe had a personal grudge against this guy.
Mr. Hayes is apparently as ignorant as he believes the programmer was. I imagine there are a LOT of people who would get fired if all managers were as ignorant as this tool.
Either way, it's too bad neither of the phone numbers that show up on Google for "tom hayes, ohio" were actually him. I'd certainly love to for him to realize his ignorance.. 24x7.
You don't seem to understand slander and libel laws. You can't sue a person just because they made a comment based on matters that are relative like intelligence, just like it's not slander if I say someone is ugly or boring. For there to be a case, it has to be an accusation of concrete fact, like saying someone has sex with a mare each evening.
I got my share of calls at 5am from system admins freaking out back in the distributed.net days because I was the DNS contact. We've had people get fired for running Folding@home too. This is actually not as rare as you would think.
We do everything we can to tell poeple NOT to do this, and they KNOW they are doing something wrong.
I feel bad for the guy, but only as bad as I feel for people that choose to live in Florida and then bitch about hurricanes.
- Adam L. Beberg - The Cosm Project - http://www.mithral.com/
Please read this.
Its not going to be particularly effective writing him. If you want to do something, contact those in political positions who could be embarrassed by him, such as the Ohio senators Mike DeWine or George V. Voinovich, or representatives. It helps if you are an Ohio resident. Additionally, for those directly responsible for people like Tom, talk to state senators and representatives.
I don't think they are talking about making the employee sue his employer for being fired, but for the insults that he recieved after he got fired, which would be out of line (they fired him already, no need to kick him when he's down already).
All indicators show that the human race is selectively breeding itself for stupidity.
You can't sue a person just because they made a comment based on matters that are relative like intelligence, just like it's not slander if I say someone is ugly or boring
That where defamation law comes in....
Punctanym: alternate spelling of words using punctuation or numerals in place of some or all of its letters; see 'leet'
The press release about Hayes' retirement states that he has ~4K employees and a budget of $15B. My guess is that Hayes not only did not bear a grudge against the employee, but he probably never even met him.
On Saturday 09 October 2004 4:23 am, John Burrowy wrote:
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s tinfo/colug1
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> http://www.newsnet5.com/news/3793629/detail.html
Actually, he wasn't a programmer. He was a database application specialist
(Oracle). And it wasn't just a server. It was a 4 processor LPAR running on
an IBM p690, with 6GB of RAM assigned. I've known about the SETI project,
but who would have guessed that they made an AIX version?
And contrary to his claim about the system not being used on the weekend, he
was discovered precisely because some of the other developers were
complaining about the reduced performance on the system.
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You can find an online feedback form for Governor Taft here:
http://governor.ohio.gov/contactinfopage.asp
user@host$ diff
He may not be popular, but he has the attitude that I want when I hire a sysadmin. He *gets it*.
Its like the kids with 2 years out of school telling me how they need more languages approved, or more operating systems approved, or how they need some new product that they read about on a web site, or how after that solid 24 months of experience, they think the existing architecture is *stupid* and anyway, its so easy to do in Visual Basic, why do I have to document anything?
I say, fire his sorry ass.
It is law that states a former employer can not say slanderous or "bad" things against a former employee. When asked (assuming the former employee was released under the forementioned "bad" reasons), all the employer is allowed to say is "yes, he did work here from [date] to [date] and was released for (in this circumstance) violation of company policy." If there was no said company policy, he's got a case; if he didn't release the company under a contract to say these things after termination, he's got a case. Sounds win-win to me and yes, he should sue.
I still can't get the screen shots of Castle Wolfenstein for the Apple IIe out of my head.
With all due respect, thats BS. I have been running the client here for about 5.5 years, basicly since the project started, and I have yet, in all those years of running it on a 24/7/365 basis, had a problem that would cause me to point a finger at seti. FWIW, I rank at 99.27+% in the world in seti unit processing. Yes, it keeps the cpu well warmed up, it formerly ran on a old hungry 1400mhz athlon xp, and only if the room was extremely cold did it ever get below 70C. It ran that way for 4 years, finally dying when a video card failed and took the motherboard with it.
However, let me add my voice to the general sounds of outrage over the fireing of an elderly worker, in this case a programmer. If he was indeed a programmer, and I was very productive at writing code when I was his age but I've faded some in the 8 years of seniority I have on this gentleman, then he was obviously of above average intelligence, and to have the head of the dept make public statements in the manner in which he apparently made them is both very childish and immature on the part of the dept head, and IMO an actionable occurance that the state of Ohio may well have to pay for in the long run.
Talented people, generally speaking are, even if they are perceived as being a bit abrasive, are often well worth keeping around. They are doing it with me yet at 70 on a part time and emergency basis, more than willing to put up with a sometimes cantankerous old man for the simple reason that when things go to hell in a handbasket, or a lightning strike, having me available reduces the downtime more than enough to pay for the fringies I'm still getting, like health insurance etc.
Thats not saying that what he did was right. He should have asked for permission and abided by any ruleing TPTB made.
However, if I were in Toms shoes (and I'm glad I'm not ATM, I don't own any asbestos or nomex underwear) I think my 'punishment' would have been to issue a directive that a) seti be cleaned off the machines by the person who installed it, and b) the person who installed it would have lost the keys to the executive pisser for a week. Further action would have depended entirely on the results of that one. Obviously there may be more to the story that we aren't being told. But thats how I see it, and believe it or not, my employees, when I was full time, all respected me and my occasionally short temper, and do to this day.
They took that in stride in exchange for the times when I went into teacher mode trying to lessen the daily load on me by passing on the knowledge collected in 55+ years of chasing electrons for a living. I have tried to condense what to many looks like black magic, into the physical laws that govern how it does, or does not work. I've managed to succeed fairly well from observing the results. What more can a teacher do, but pass on what he knows?
Cheers, Gene
Other possible damage is a minutely higher power consumption of the CPU - worth perhaps couple cents.
Don't underestimate the power consumption of modern CPUs. Mine (an Athlon64 3400) consumes something like 50W between idle and 100%. Measure made with a vectorial wattmeter before the power supply.
Here's what you don't understand. In the world of client confidentiality, it's not necessary to know. And we do know he doesn't have permission, if you'd bothered to RTFA.
The standard of behavior for businesses that handle confidential records is much much less tolerant of misatkes, because the stakes are so much higher. If you worked in an agency like this, you'd understand he stepped way over the line. It's just different, and you have to deal with it to really understand how serious it is.