Perks & Paintball For Employees At Cybercrime, Inc.

Barence writes "Innovative Marketing Ukraine was in the business of churning out some of the world's most pernicious, and profitable, computer viruses. As the company grew, it added a human resources department, hired an internal IT staff and built a call center to dissuade its victims from seeking credit card refunds. Employees were treated to catered holiday parties and picnics with paintball competitions. Top performers got bonuses as young workers turned a blind eye to the harm the software was doing. 'When you are just 20, you don't think a lot about ethics,' said one former Innovative Marketing programmer. 'I had a good salary and I know that most employees also had pretty good salaries.' The firm has been closed down after the US Federal Trade Commission filed a lawsuit seeking its disbandment in the federal court. But an examination of the FTC's complaint and documents from a legal dispute among Innovative executives offers a rare glimpse into a dark, expanding — and highly profitable — corner of the internet."

Comments

Re:Ethics

[Zumbs]

Indeed. The 20-30 year olds of today's Ukraine are the children of the people who broke 45 years of dictatorship. The first generation to grow up in the newly won political freedom, in a society who believed in the wonders of Capitalism, and were encouraged to dismantle their industry so that everything would become better. Encouraged, partly by the West, partly by idealized illusions on how the West worked, to think of themselves and their own wealth first and foremost - if you worked hard and did not care about others *you* could get rich. It is not surprising that this generation doesn't really care. We taught them well.

Re:Ethics

[maxume]

What special sauce exists to allow you to make a generalization like "American sensibilities" while simultaneously preventing you from making a generalization like "Human sensibilities"?