On Wed, 31 Jul 2002 09:34:40 -0400 (EDT)
Russell McOrmond <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
|| You have proven my point - thanks ;-)
Not that I know of??? B->>>
I may disagree with you, but how has this changed the facts?
| You have expressed something that you admit was "to my way of
| thinking" which is not something that is agreed upon by
| everyone.
Don't throw the baby out with the bathwater. The disagreement on
principles is not your problem, it's intolerance. We both agree that
the nix community is quite diverse. The difficulty arises when you
ask different sorts of people to respect each others principles.
Don't abandon principles in principle because you encounter a little
disagreement.
We abide by all sorts of rules every day from traffic regulations to
algorithms. The diversity of opinion that exists in the world does
not mean that anything should be allowed. An inability to reach
agreement on desired ethical standards would indicate that we are
ethically and professionally inferior to other 'real' professions.
Perhaps that we are not really a profession at all? Perhaps that we
are morally inferior human beings?
The fact is that ethics are possible. The number of codes of conduct
in other industries is countless. Do you honestly think that the
diversity of opinion among say nurses or lawyers or stockbrokers
prevents them from establishing desireable codes of conduct? It
certainly does not. Ask yourself if all these other professionals
are just being 'subjective' or 'personal'. It is a brute fact that
they are not. Society without rules produces chaos and anarchy.
The thing you do not seem to understand is that ethics is a
profession regulating itself. It's not one person's or one group's
opinion. It is not law. It is voluntary. If it so happens that a
particular rule becomes problematic then the profession can change
it. The rules it accepts are those it desires for itself, those that
are good for the profession - not those imposed by outside
authorities. I believe you are scared of someone telling you how to
conduct your business - even when you are mistaken. This is not
good. We should all be open to improvement in life. Learning is a
good thing and learning from mistakes is a sign of maturity.
| I have personally 'hacked' into my own customers networks at
| times to demonstrate to them that they have security problems. I
| didn't consider it 'hacking', but other would.
|
| In one case it was trivial as they had no firewall yet, and I
| printed something out on their printer from remote to say "by
| the way, you need a firewall".
|
|
| In your mind, was I unethical? If you think I am unethical, does
| that not prove my point that "ethics" is a very subjective thing?
| If you think I am not unethical, where do you draw the line
| between what I did and what you *personally/subjectively*
| consider to be 'hacking'?
Unethical? Unprofessional? Yes. Most definitely. If a kid in high
school did exactly what you did - even as a prank - we would call
him a cracker. The fact that this was your client mitigates the
matter somewhat. The fact that you went face to face and took
responsibility for your actions indicates that you are an honest
man. You didn't have to. But you certainly abused your client's
trust in you in doing it this way.
What you should have done was make a phone call and get
authorization first. This would be a more ethical way of doing
things. It demonstrates respect for the client. This is the way
tiger teams operate. I know that sometimes it's necessary to be
unorthodox, I'm not suggesting that you should avoid such activity.
Rather you should just be as open, up front and above board about it
as you are with other things. If this sort of thing gets around, it
could damage your reputation. Certainly, other contractors can use
it against you in competitive bidding situations. Ethics is good
business.
Think about this. Could you get support for your actions from the
Better Business Bureau? Would you tell a prospective new client that
you did this and expect him to trust you? Would you put it on your
resume? I don't think so. This is one of the functions of an ethical
code of conduct. It helps professionals distinguish right from
wrong, and acceptable from unacceptable behaviour. Please note that
both scenarios allow you to demonstrate your clients need for
security, but only one can serve as a good example of professional
conduct to that kid in high school. We are not crackers. Ethics will
help to prove that to the world.
bill
---------------------------------------------------------------------
To unsubscribe, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
For additional commands, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
