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Who is to say that ethically challenged businesses cannot be legitimate targets for investors? I hate these sites, but my bet is that they pay off for investors

Who is to say that ethically challenged businesses cannot be legitimate targets for investors? I hate these sites, but my bet is that they pay off for investors as well as your average YC company...Investors are in the business of making money, not making judgements about ethics. Legal challenges are the ones that matter to a business, not ethical ones.

pavel_lishin 16y ago
Maybe we should change that.
- zoomzoom 16y ago
  The question is: how? The sentiment (in the US, at least) still seems to be towards less regulation at the moment. Enforcing ethics as well as laws would seem to require even more regulation, unless you have a magic potion that will convince all business directors to self-regulate all at once!
  - watchandwait 16y ago
    Regulations are only as ethical as the regulator -- just ask Bernie Madoff's victims how well that worked. Indeed, more regulation leads to a false sense of security, and certainly stifles innovation. Better to have the market, and market players like TechCrunch, sort out this type of low-level malfeasance.
    - zoomzoom 16y ago
      I am definitely not advocating more regulation, only pointing out that laws and ethics are not the same thing. The parent of the above post is the one suggesting to "change that" (implying more regulation) and I am answering that comment. I agree that this kind of "malfeasance" is not really worth any more attention from regulators.
    - pavel_lishin 16y ago
      But then you'd have to have a financial reward system in place that rewards ethical firms. I don't know how you would do that.
      - dantheman 16y ago
        It's called refusing to do business with people who are ethically challenged.
  - lsc 16y ago
    reputation. If we socially scorn businesspeople who only focus on extracting value without adding any, if programmers who work at those sorts of companies feel ashamed rather than proud, we won't eliminate the behavior, but we can certainly make it more expensive.
cabinguy 16y ago
Your not going to get very far.
mitel007 16y ago
"Investors are in the business of making money, not making judgements about ethics. Legal challenges are the ones that matter to a business, not ethical ones." That may be how things are, but that doesn't mean they have to be. There's no law of nature or 'business' that dictates that is how it should be, like there's no other weay. It's all a human choice. Some people choose to act this way. How can we change this? Simple, don't interact with folks that choose to act this way.

pavel_lishin 16y ago

Maybe we should change that.

zoomzoom 16y ago
The question is: how? The sentiment (in the US, at least) still seems to be towards less regulation at the moment. Enforcing ethics as well as laws would seem to require even more regulation, unless you have a magic potion that will convince all business directors to self-regulate all at once!
- watchandwait 16y ago
  Regulations are only as ethical as the regulator -- just ask Bernie Madoff's victims how well that worked. Indeed, more regulation leads to a false sense of security, and certainly stifles innovation. Better to have the market, and market players like TechCrunch, sort out this type of low-level malfeasance.
  - zoomzoom 16y ago
    I am definitely not advocating more regulation, only pointing out that laws and ethics are not the same thing. The parent of the above post is the one suggesting to "change that" (implying more regulation) and I am answering that comment. I agree that this kind of "malfeasance" is not really worth any more attention from regulators.
  - pavel_lishin 16y ago
    But then you'd have to have a financial reward system in place that rewards ethical firms. I don't know how you would do that.
    - dantheman 16y ago
      It's called refusing to do business with people who are ethically challenged.
- lsc 16y ago
  reputation. If we socially scorn businesspeople who only focus on extracting value without adding any, if programmers who work at those sorts of companies feel ashamed rather than proud, we won't eliminate the behavior, but we can certainly make it more expensive.

cabinguy 16y ago

Your not going to get very far.

mitel007 16y ago

"Investors are in the business of making money, not making judgements about ethics. Legal challenges are the ones that matter to a business, not ethical ones." That may be how things are, but that doesn't mean they have to be. There's no law of nature or 'business' that dictates that is how it should be, like there's no other weay. It's all a human choice. Some people choose to act this way. How can we change this? Simple, don't interact with folks that choose to act this way.