4 ms·

Disagree. The idea that whatever you are asked to do has been vetted by others is an abdication of ethical responsibility. At present, a lot of what tech comp

Disagree. The idea that whatever you are asked to do has been vetted by others is an abdication of ethical responsibility. At present, a lot of what tech companies do is still legal, but that doesnt make it right. It's still legal because the maps of cyber law are largely still uncharted. An engineer working on a project that tracks user behavior without consent (for example) shouldn't be absolved or responsibility because their manager said it was okay.

eitland 7y ago
Sometimes it is not clear cut. Getting the same result in different ways can legal or not: Obvious example: Saving a x amount of money from taxes using a legal loophole is legal. An exact equal company trying to save the exact same amount of money by lying to is doing something illegal. Far less obvious example: Around here (and possibly elsewhere, I don't know) if you make a drink from wine and spirits you have to pour the spirit first because increasing the strength of wine is illegal, but decreasing the strengt of spirits are OK.
- shard 7y ago
  A curious alcohol law with an interesting side effect. Where are you located?
  - eitland 7y ago
    Norway. I thought it was an old joke, but someone I have reason to believe said it was true and you could get in trouble for it.
- anovikov 7y ago
  Last point is hilarious! Can't upvote that enough.
strken 7y ago
I'm not sure that moral responsibility for investigating the legality of instructions should rest with the employee, in cases where the instructions aren't clearly repugnant. Consider the example of engineers getting the details of tax compliance in a payroll system wrong because their boss provided the wrong instructions. To my mind, they should not be at fault for this unless they demonstrably knew what they had been asked to do was illegal.

4 ms·

Disagree. The idea that whatever you are asked to do has been vetted by others is an abdication of ethical responsibility. At present, a lot of what tech comp

by goatherders 7y ago

eitland 7y ago
Sometimes it is not clear cut. Getting the same result in different ways can legal or not: Obvious example: Saving a x amount of money from taxes using a legal loophole is legal. An exact equal company trying to save the exact same amount of money by lying to is doing something illegal. Far less obvious example: Around here (and possibly elsewhere, I don't know) if you make a drink from wine and spirits you have to pour the spirit first because increasing the strength of wine is illegal, but decreasing the strengt of spirits are OK.
- shard 7y ago
  A curious alcohol law with an interesting side effect. Where are you located?
  - eitland 7y ago
    Norway. I thought it was an old joke, but someone I have reason to believe said it was true and you could get in trouble for it.
- anovikov 7y ago
  Last point is hilarious! Can't upvote that enough.
strken 7y ago
I'm not sure that moral responsibility for investigating the legality of instructions should rest with the employee, in cases where the instructions aren't clearly repugnant. Consider the example of engineers getting the details of tax compliance in a payroll system wrong because their boss provided the wrong instructions. To my mind, they should not be at fault for this unless they demonstrably knew what they had been asked to do was illegal.