Any discussion of ethics requires a decision of one thing first: Is there a set of universal absolutes? If you argue no then everything is relativeand the discussion really cant go on because tehre is no truely comon reference point. On the other hand if you argue yes then you have to discover what the absolutes are. Now I dont intend to make this into a religeous discussion do I wil stop here on what the absolutes are. Assuming you believe in absolutes and have determined them stand by them. Sometimes you will have to pay the price. In your case it was loosing your job, in my case it was being arrested and essentially forced to cop a plea that resulted in my being a felon. Here is a question though, would you have wanted to work in a place that allowed for arbitrary deletion of email? In my case I would say no, just like I would not want to work for a company that routinely pirates software (when i left i deleted my own personal copies of software that was licensed to me, thus resulting in my felony charges - according to the state of georgia i didnt have teh right to do that, though according to the federal govt. copyright law I do.. but try explaining that to a public defender) Ok enough of my ramblings for now... Ja ne
I disable java and java script and turn off nearly all options in Mozilla for browsing. I do this for security, speed and most importantly because I want to.
Now here is the issue: Who pays for the content on the net?
I know in my case I pay my access fee for X amount of bandwidth potential, and I pay by the GB for my colo'd servers at ColoGuys ( - shameless plug for John and Co). In fact, I charge ( or rather my company charges) for access to our servers. As part of my personal connection I have personal and organizational websites set up. Now I choose to make those freely available to anyone at any time. Why? because I want people to come by and take a look see. However, if I make my money off of a site ( as I do with my colo'd servers), I have the right to restrict access. In this case they are wiling to provide content in exchange for marketing. They can do this, I think it is a poor choice and will drive people away, but it is their choice. Think what would happen to slashdot if al advertising were taken away. Would it become subscription only? If not who picks up the tab? I say just don't use the service if you dont want to abide by the terms.
Now I can hopefully migrate the last of out machines from any microisoft code. $ months ago we got the go ahead for open source (after a 2 year battle) and now this!
Here in the US we have a constitutional right to a fair trial which includes due process ( more below) one of the biggest aspects of this is teh ability to challenge your accuser in a court of law. If a machine enforves teh law who is your accuser? This is a serious issue here folks, It means that all those stop light cameras and such are technically only evidence and if no accuser is present then they should not be able to charfe you with a crime of any kind.
Ben Franklin warned us that, "He who gives up liberty for a little temporary security deserves neither liberty nor security."
It is amazing how far from the constitution America has wandered.
I ripped the following from the TAFA website but it is right on Due Process: DEFINITION: The legal process by which U.S. citizens are promised a fair trial in the U.S. Constitution Article XVI Paragraph 1. U.S. Citizens are promised "The Equal Protection of Law" in the Fourteenth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution. These rights have been reaffirmed in numerous federal court cases. A successful civil rights lawsuit against the "State" for unlawful deprivation of law was reaffirmed in "Gault vs Arizona," 87 SupCt 1428
1. The RIGHT to receive notice of charges. 2. The RIGHT of the assistance of Counsel. 3. The RIGHT to confront your accuser and to cross-examination of the complainants. 4. The RIGHT to exercise a privilege against self-incrimination. 5. The RIGHT to a transcript of the proceedings and, 6. The RIGHT to appellate review. 7. The RIGHT to subpoena witnesses and subpoena documentary evidence to support your position or contradict evidence presented against you. 8. The RIGHT to "Trial by Jury of Citizens at Common Law." 9. The RIGHT to receive Equal Protection of the Law. 10. The RIGHT to a "Presumption of Innocence" prior to trial. 11. The RIGHT to raise as an "Affirmative Defense" the protection of the U.S. and State Constitution Bill of Rights. 12. The RIGHT to raise as an "Affirmative Defense" any defense expressly created in statute and case law precedent. 13. The RIGHT to sue any U.S. citizen for "Unlawful Deprivation of any constitutional, statutory, or administrative right." 14. The RIGHT of access and use of any taxpayer-funded law library, government building, and courtroom.
P.S. can anyone show me where in teh constitution it says anything about seperation of church and state? There is that statement that congress shall make no law....
A little Constitutional law will go a long way......
Depending on the laws of your state he may be claiming you have committed a felony. I am being absolutely serious about this. Do not talk to the police at all with out a lawyer present. No matter what they say. they will lie to you, decive you and try and trick you. You make think the charges asinine.. but dont laugh at them.. and make certain you document everything. How do I know all of this..? Because I was hit with a pair of computer related felonies and didnt take legal action quickly enough. Talk to a lawyer Immediately. Just because you are paranoid doesnt mean they are not really after you. feel free to contact me directly. Robert K. Brumbelow rkbrumbelow@go-ssi.com
I spent my time in jail the probation was afterwards.. care not to make assumptions? Also I deleted software I owned to protect it from illegal distribution. If I had left it there I would have been guilty of basically what he did.. further more assuming he stays on good behaviour he will spend less than 1/3 of his time in prison, and will be in a federal facility... want to compare federal vs state? big difference I would have been willing to spend 2 times as much time in a federal facility just to avoid being in a single room for 3 days at a time depreived of my much needed medication with 30 (litewrally) other guys. All for deleting my own software. so chill on the language sir, it is rude and uncalled for.
I was convicted in Georgia 1 year ago for deleting my own software (i owned it) off of my former companies computers (I was the IT Director) and was given 4 years probation because I pled guilty (lack of money for defense). You were convicted for 33 months (15 months less than I) for giving away other peoples software. Doesn't this strike you as disproportionate?
Slashdot Mirror
Any discussion of ethics requires a decision of one thing first: Is there a set of universal absolutes? If you argue no then everything is relativeand the discussion really cant go on because tehre is no truely comon reference point. On the other hand if you argue yes then you have to discover what the absolutes are. Now I dont intend to make this into a religeous discussion do I wil stop here on what the absolutes are. .. but try explaining that to a public defender) Ok enough of my ramblings for now ... Ja ne
Assuming you believe in absolutes and have determined them stand by them. Sometimes you will have to pay the price. In your case it was loosing your job, in my case it was being arrested and essentially forced to cop a plea that resulted in my being a felon. Here is a question though, would you have wanted to work in a place that allowed for arbitrary deletion of email? In my case I would say no, just like I would not want to work for a company that routinely pirates software (when i left i deleted my own personal copies of software that was licensed to me, thus resulting in my felony charges - according to the state of georgia i didnt have teh right to do that, though according to the federal govt. copyright law I do
Now here is the issue: Who pays for the content on the net?
I know in my case I pay my access fee for X amount of bandwidth potential, and I pay by the GB for my colo'd servers at ColoGuys ( - shameless plug for John and Co). In fact, I charge ( or rather my company charges) for access to our servers. As part of my personal connection I have personal and organizational websites set up. Now I choose to make those freely available to anyone at any time. Why? because I want people to come by and take a look see. However, if I make my money off of a site ( as I do with my colo'd servers), I have the right to restrict access. In this case they are wiling to provide content in exchange for marketing. They can do this, I think it is a poor choice and will drive people away, but it is their choice. Think what would happen to slashdot if al advertising were taken away. Would it become subscription only? If not who picks up the tab? I say just don't use the service if you dont want to abide by the terms.
Just my 2 cents worth.
make that 4 months. (duh!)
Now I can hopefully migrate the last of out machines from any microisoft code. $ months ago we got the go ahead for open source (after a 2 year battle) and now this!
Ben Franklin warned us that, "He who gives up liberty for a little temporary security deserves neither liberty nor security."
It is amazing how far from the constitution America has wandered.
I ripped the following from the TAFA website but it is right on
Due Process:
DEFINITION: The legal process by which U.S. citizens are promised a fair trial in the U.S. Constitution Article XVI Paragraph 1. U.S. Citizens are promised "The Equal Protection of Law" in the Fourteenth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution. These rights have been reaffirmed in numerous federal court cases. A successful civil rights lawsuit against the "State" for unlawful deprivation of law was reaffirmed in "Gault vs Arizona," 87 SupCt 1428
1. The RIGHT to receive notice of charges.
2. The RIGHT of the assistance of Counsel.
3. The RIGHT to confront your accuser and to cross-examination of the complainants.
4. The RIGHT to exercise a privilege against self-incrimination.
5. The RIGHT to a transcript of the proceedings and,
6. The RIGHT to appellate review.
7. The RIGHT to subpoena witnesses and subpoena documentary evidence to support your position or contradict evidence presented against you.
8. The RIGHT to "Trial by Jury of Citizens at Common Law."
9. The RIGHT to receive Equal Protection of the Law.
10. The RIGHT to a "Presumption of Innocence" prior to trial.
11. The RIGHT to raise as an "Affirmative Defense" the protection of the U.S. and State Constitution Bill of Rights.
12. The RIGHT to raise as an "Affirmative Defense" any defense expressly created in statute and case law precedent.
13. The RIGHT to sue any U.S. citizen for "Unlawful Deprivation of any constitutional, statutory, or administrative right."
14. The RIGHT of access and use of any taxpayer-funded law library, government building, and courtroom.
P.S. can anyone show me where in teh constitution it says anything about seperation of church and state? There is that statement that congress shall make no law
A little Constitutional law will go a long way
Depending on the laws of your state he may be claiming you have committed a felony. I am being absolutely serious about this. Do not talk to the police at all with out a lawyer present. No matter what they say. they will lie to you, decive you and try and trick you. You make think the charges asinine .. but dont laugh at them .. and make certain you document everything. How do I know all of this ..? Because I was hit with a pair of computer related felonies and didnt take legal action quickly enough. Talk to a lawyer Immediately. Just because you are paranoid doesnt mean they are not really after you. feel free to contact me directly.
Robert K. Brumbelow
rkbrumbelow@go-ssi.com
I spent my time in jail the probation was afterwards .. care not to make assumptions? Also I deleted software I owned to protect it from illegal distribution. If I had left it there I would have been guilty of basically what he did .. further more assuming he stays on good behaviour he will spend less than 1/3 of his time in prison, and will be in a federal facility ... want to compare federal vs state? big difference I would have been willing to spend 2 times as much time in a federal facility just to avoid being in a single room for 3 days at a time depreived of my much needed medication with 30 (litewrally) other guys. All for deleting my own software. so chill on the language sir, it is rude and uncalled for.
I was convicted in Georgia 1 year ago for deleting my own software (i owned it) off of my former companies computers (I was the IT Director) and was given 4 years probation because I pled guilty (lack of money for defense). You were convicted for 33 months (15 months less than I) for giving away other peoples software. Doesn't this strike you as disproportionate?