Re: Ethics and Job-Hunting
Ethics is not an absolute, but impacted on by current morals, social
change, and public opinion.
The perception of ethics may change, but do ethics themselves change? At the very least, I think that there are some basic imperatives - although how to interpret them or apply them can be difficult to decide in some cases. Yet I suspect that few people on this list would suggest that there is nothing wrong with working for a company that treats its customers dishonestly - and most of them would probably be taking this position as devil's advocates more than out of any real conviction.
Anyway, even if ethics do change, I still have a responsibility to try to sort them out for myself. No doubt I will make mistakes, but I still feel an obligation to try. Determining ethics by public opinion doesn't do it for me, if only because it seems to involve so much double-think. For example, if I decided my ethics by popular opinion, in the Sixties I would have to found the Vietnam War acceptable, turned against it from about 1970-1990, then found it increasingly acceptable in the last decade (or at least found the anti-war movement objectionable). It may not be easy to come to a general ethical judgement about the Vietnam War, but I'd get mental whiplash from simply going along with public opinion.
As Orwell points out, any sort of thought-control muddies your thinking. It seems much healthier to blunder along, trying to reach my own conclusions.
I'm sure people think Carnivore is not as bad a thing now as they
might have felt pre-9/11.
Nope. Not me. The objections to it seem even more valid than ever, because now we know it's being actively used.
In the last couple of days, both McAffee and Symantec have announced that they won't sell software that will allow the detection of such snooperware, and I think less of both companies because of their positions.
--
Bruce Byfield bbyfield -at- axionet -dot- com 604.421.7177
"Humpty Dumpty was pushed: head over heels all over the wall, Humpty Dumpty was pushed: nobody noticed at all, And all the king's horses and all the king's men Gathered round Humpty and kicked him again; And they called for a priest and a couple of friends, And they all stood around and chanted, Amen." -Tommy Sands, "Humpty Dumpty Was Pushed
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Collect Royalties, Not Rejection Letters! Tell us your rejection story when you submit your manuscript to iUniverse Nov. 6 -Dec. 15 and get five free copies of your book. What are you waiting for? http://www.iuniverse.com/media/techwr
Your monthly sponsorship message here reaches more than
5000 technical writers, providing 2,500,000+ monthly impressions.
Contact Eric (ejray -at- raycomm -dot- com) for details and availability.
---
You are currently subscribed to techwr-l as: archive -at- raycomm -dot- com
To unsubscribe send a blank email to leave-techwr-l-obscured -at- lists -dot- raycomm -dot- com
Send administrative questions to ejray -at- raycomm -dot- com -dot- Visit http://www.raycomm.com/techwhirl/ for more resources and info.
References:
RE: Ethics and Job-Hunting: From: John Posada
Previous by Author:
Re: Ethics and Job-Hunting
Next by Author:
Re: ethics and job-hunting
Previous by Thread:
Re: Ethics and Job-Hunting
Next by Thread:
RE: Ethics and Job-Hunting
Search our Technical Writing Archives & Magazine
Visit TechWhirl's Other Sites
Sponsored Ads