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."

Comments

Re:Would you want to work for this guy?

[genixia]

Maybe Tom won't be the only one 'beamed' out of the building.

It's going to be amusing if he turns around and sues the state for slander. After all, it's been very publicly broadcast to millions of people that he's short of intelligence.

Re:Would you want to work for this guy?

[networkBoy]

The one thing to be noted is that running SETI on a server is unwise.
While I have never seen a problem personally I enforce my company policy that it be kept off servers. Desktops/proto machines fine, just not production environment servers. We actually use it to increase load on pre-production servers though :-)
-nB

Been there done that.

[LTSharpe]

I had it running on 5 servers at one time at a gov agency I worked for. Soon it got around that SETI was running on 'production' servers and I was told politely to quit running it for all of the common reasons,, misuse of public funds etc. Keep in mind the servers were only using a fraction of their capability doing what they were doing in the first place,, and what they were doing was pretty useless and just bureacratic pork programs on a small scale.

Re:He should be fired. He should be arrested!

[lottameez]

dude, there is far more fraud, waste, and abuse in government then this piddling little thing. In the scheme of things, it probably cost more in administration costs to fire the poor bastard and hire a new guy than any expense brought on by the SETI program.

Beh

[cookiepus]

Well, mixed feelings...

On one hand what this guy did is clearly wrong - even according to SETI rules - you're warned not to run this shit on computer on which you're not allowed to do so.

SETI uses up a lot of CPU cycles and makes outgoing network connections on its own (well he could have set it up in different ways, I guess) so it's dumb to have it run on a government SERVER without getting explicit permission.

On the other hand - this sort of shit shouldn't get someone fired* - maybe some embarasing talking to followed by an office-wide memo reminding everyone that "in light of recent transgressions, PLEASE BE ADVISED not to do this kind of shit"

*The stories that I've seen do not indicate whether there's been any prior incidents. Perhaps in this workplace, the "don't install shit on the server" policy is so ingrained into the office culture that someone can't be unaware of the severity of the consequences, in which case the firing is in order.

But actually I hink the comments by Tom Hayes are truthful (but unprofessional). Someone who values his SETI workunit count to such an extent as to fuck around at work, isn't brilliant.

hayes

[jmohlmaster]

http://www.governor.ohio.gov/releases/080404hayes. htm/

Looks like he's done anyways. For shame!

Re:As a taxpayer...

[dougmc]

Wasting _unused_ clock cycle[s]

To be fair, even with the priority cranked all the way down, such a program does make other programs run slightly slower (and increases overall latency of the system.) Also, by keeping the CPU busy, the OS cannot execute the HLT (basically a nap of a few nanoseconds) operations, which allow it to save some energy and reduce the heat generated. A system running Seti uses more power than the same system being idle.

And then there's the small amount of bandwidth used ...

Running programs like Seti and RC5 is *not* free. Cheap, maybe, but not completely free.

fixed linky

[josh3736]

http://www.governor.ohio.gov/releases/080404hayes. htm

Hayes was stepping down Oct 1. Why he's still there, I don't know. (Or is Slashdot posting weeks-old news again? No, couldn't be!)

Re:Would you want to work for this guy?

[Fear the Clam]

Not a chance. At least one person has already been charged with a crime for this sort of nonsense.

This warning, combined with probable violations of Ohio computing policies by a programmer (who sure as hell ought to know better), would make calling the guy a dumbass entirely reasonable.

Re:Unauthorized software is unauthorized software

[severoon]

I'd also like you to tell us about your "complex calculations," since you describe them with such flair and exacting numbers.

I'd be happy to tell you all about my analysis. First, I--LOOK OUT!!! What the hell was that!? Did you see it? It just went flying right over your head!

The issue is not merely one of "did something bad."

I'm not saying this guy made a good choice or that we should encourage such behavior. I'm just saying that, unless there were mitigating circumstances like a history, it's awfully cold to bounce someone right out of a job near the end of their career. It very possibly cost him his pension, and he's not likely to work again. If they really wanted him out, at least they could have offered him early retirement or something.

Plus, from the way the boss held himself out in public, it sounds like he was gunning for this guy for a while or he's just generally of a dickish nature.

WRONG

[alizard]

That is an exactly proper use for the tort mechanism.The administrator chose to attack his employee in public for no reason that a reasonable person would take seriously in a way that any reasonable person would expect to compromise the victim's ability to find future employment in his field.

The organization that hired the meathead running the IT organization should be forced to pay out a multimillion dollar damage judgement. Unfortunately, this will come out ot the pockets of the taxpayers, not stockholders, but shit happens.