When Ethics and IT Collide

jcatcw writes "IT workers have access to confidential data, and they can see what other employees are doing on their computers or the networks. This can put a good worker in a bad predicament. Bryan, the IT director for the U.S. division of German company, discovered an employee using a company computer to view pornography of Asian women and of children. He reported it but the company ignored it. Subsequently the employee was promoted and moved to China to run a manufacturing plant. That was six years ago but Bryan still regrets not going to the FBI. Other IT workers admit using their admin passwords to snoop through company systems. In a Ponemon Institute poll of more than 16,000 U.S. IT practitioners, 62% said they had accessed another person's computer without permission, 50% read confidential or sensitive information without a legitimate reason, and 42% said they had knowingly violated their company's privacy, security or IT policies. But in the absence of a professional code of ethics, companies struggle to keep corporate policies up to date."

Comments

Why talk about Ethics

[Anonymous Coward]

on Slashdot???

Actually, I'd like to see a slashdot poll on this subject.

Re:Why talk about Ethics

[jddj]

What I wanna know is: "Who's this Pokemon institute?"

Re:Why talk about Ethics

[tengu1sd]

Diebold will release the ethics poll results tonight at 20:05 when the polls close on the west coast. You don't need to vote, Diebold has already totaled your ballot.

Re:Why bother keeping corporate policies up to dat

[Nerdfest]

That would weed out all those unethical assholes in IT.

... and send them back to management and marketing where they belong!

Re:Why bother keeping corporate policies up to dat

[pegr]

That would weed out all those unethical assholes in IT.
 
Sticks and stones may break my bones, but I can read your email...

Re:Ethics?

[Soko]

As a shortcut, ask yourself, what would the BOFH do? He'd go for extortion?

The phone rings. It'll be him again, I know. That annoys me. I put on a gruff voice

"HELLO, SALARIES!"

"Oh, I'm sorry, I've got the wrong number"

"YEAH? Well what's your name buddy? Do you know WASTED phone calls cost money? DO YOU? I've got a good mind to subtract your wasted time, my wasted time, and the cost of this call from your weekly wages! IN FACT I WILL! By the time I've finished with you, YOU'LL OWE US money! WHAT'S YOUR NAME - AND DON'T LIE, WE'VE GOT CALLER ID!!"

I hear the phone drop and the sound of running feet - he's obviously going to try and get an alibi by being at the Dean's office. I look up his username and find his department. I ring the Dean's secretary.

"Hello?" she answers

"Hi, SIMON, B.O.F.H. HERE, LISTEN, WHEN THAT GUY COMES RUNNING INTO YOUR OFFICE IN ABOUT 10 SECONDS, CAN YOU GIVE HIM A MESSAGE?"

"I think so..." she says

"TELL HIM `HE CAN RUN, BUT HE CAN'T HIDE'"

"Um. Ok"

"AND DON'T FORGET NOW, I WOULDN'T WANT TO HAVE TO TELL ANYONE ABOUT THAT FILE IN YOUR ACCOUNT WITH YOUR ANSWERS TO THE PURITY TEST IN IT..."

I hear her scrabbling at the terminal...

"DON'T BOTHER - I HAVE A COPY. BE A GOOD PERVY AND PASS THE MESSAGE ON.."

She sobs her assent and I hang up. And the worst thing is, I was just guessing about the purity test thing. I grab a quick copy anyway, it might make for some good late-night reading.

Shamelessly re-posted from here: http://members.iinet.com.au/~bofh/bofh/bofh1.html

Re:Not entirely ethics

[trolltalk.com]

Come off it ... 70% of ALL porn-viewing is during working hours.

Your boss does it. Your coworkers do it. Get over it.

As long as you get your work done, who gives a shit? Better they look at pr0n than some site that advocates that "Jebus is comiong soon" and they start putting bible tracts on your keyboard ... THAT is a real invasion of a person's "space".

Re:Why bother keeping corporate policies up to dat

[Lord Apathy]

Well reporting it to upper management is possibly one of the worst things you can do. In the example he said he knew about the kiddy porn and report it to upper managment. Well, that was your first mistake. First thing you did was single yourself out as a trouble maker and a snitch. People don't like snitches, even if it is for a good reason.

Well he reported the shit and nothing happened. Well possibly nobody believed him so he outed himself for no good reason. Then most upper management blokes tend to run in packs. So odds are he outed his mark to a friend of his mark. The person he outed and the person he outed to could have booth been trading kiddy porn or the person he outed just simply said he wasn't to his frined. Who would you believe? So the only thing he did was paint a fat ass target on his ass.

I would have anonymously figure out a way to rig his computer to send all his kiddy porn to a "public" printer. The biggest fucking color printer in the place. Maybe one of those big ass HP with paper rolls on it. For extra kick I would have set it to go off when the office prude or church lady was standing next to it. Then I would fire the bitch off and stand back and watch the fun.

Mr Kiddy porn gets what's coming to him. I'm not on anyone elses shit list and I have a good laugh at someone elses expense. Of course the whole fuckign thing can backfire. I might not be as good as I think I am and the whole barking mess could fall right back in to my lap with a fat ass thund follwed by a clang.

but I'm that good.. so no worries...

Re:At the end of the day, it's your reflection.

[Swave An deBwoner]

If I had my way, anyone who sold a poorly made curry would be strung up and boiled in oil.

Thereby creating yet another poorly made curry?

Re:Why bother keeping corporate policies up to dat

[ucla74]

So this professional association might be "Professional Information Technologists Association"? PITA, right?

There's a drawback to secretly reading emails

[dafatthing]

I once worked at an institution who had an asshole as a sysadmin, who was also incompetent - great combination. I was also very sure that he read my emails, which was illegal. So one day when I was really pissed off I send a mail to my friend in which I constantly insulted said admin, at the end I even mentioned that I thought he'd read this but that he couldn't do anything as he couldn't legally read the mail in the first place. Sure enough, the next time I saw him he didn't greet, looked mad and flipped me the bird (while covering it with his other hand so no one else would see it). It was pathetic, but it made clear that he did read the mail, and that I was right, that he couldn't do anything. Every time I read about an asshole sysadmin I think back to this and feel good for coming up with a way to use their tools against them. Btw., not recommend for someone who actually depends on that guy (I was only there for an internship).